WhiteTail, the good, the bad, and the ugly...
January 28, 2005
16 posts
10 users
3k+ views
I hit up WhiteTail yesterday, my 25th birthday. My girlfriend had to work, so I flew solo. I had some observations, including a major complaint.
The good:
-Snow conditions after the snowfall from last weekend were good. I believe all runs were open save one or two where they were making snow.
-The high-speed quad is key. I started about 10am (see below as to why I wasn't on the lifts at 8:30), and was able to comfortably warm up on the blues coming off the whitetail express lift. Without liftlines, skiing that chair is incredibly efficient.
-I spent most of the day skiing the single expert quad. I found Far Side to be nothing special, but enjoyed Bold Decision (I think that was the double black). Also, the moguls under the lift were great to practice technique on.
The Bad:
-As I pulled out of my driveway, I realized something was wrong with my car... A flat tire! Trying to change a flat in 12 degree weather is no fun, and neither is the prospect of driving 90 miles each way on a donut. So I rented a car from Enterprise (they'll pick you up!).
-I checked WhiteTail's website an hour or so before I left Monday morning. It said they would not be making snow on any of the runs that morning. This was not true, as they were making snow on at least 4 of the 19 runs on the mountain.
-After forgetting my thermal underwear, I tried to buy a pair at WT's ski shop. All they had were XXXL's or smalls, no medium's or large's. The shop was pretty picked over in other areas as well. It would be nice to see the shop carry essential items in sizes people buy. I wound up skiing in just cotton boxers and my Fate shell pants.
-The speed of the quad on the expert terrain. Maybe I'm just used to high speed quads in Europe, but that lift was slow... Further, I returned from a week in breck recently. Do any ski resorts in the US have covered chairs??? I didn't see any skiing Breck.
The Ugly:
-WhiteTail's terrain park. I skiied the terrain park in Breck and had a great time, save the one time a buddy flew the landing and wound up with a grade 3 concussion and retrograde amnesia. I was looking forward to some hits at WhiteTail, and seeing how many jumps and rails they had, I was impressed. The first few jumps did not let down, however, at about the third jump in a row, I was in for a big surprise...
The landing was absolutely horrible to the point of being extremely dangerous. Instead of a steep downslope to divert downward force into forward momentum, I landed in what can at best be described as a deep "impression", and at worst in a freakin hole, almost like an upslope. needless to say, I'm still sore.
Is WhiteTail's terrain park either just that crowded, or that poorly maintained, that the impact of thousands of little kids landing in an area packs the snow down to a point where it not only goes flat, but actually a slight uphill? If so, why doesn't the resort have an attendant, as we see in the West, who maintains the features?
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Is WhiteTail's terrain park either just that crowded, or that poorly maintained, that the impact of thousands of little kids landing in an area packs the snow down to a point where it not only goes flat, but actually a slight uphill? If so, why doesn't the resort have an attendant, as we see in the West, who maintains the features?
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Bombholes are tough to get rid of since the only true way to do it is to get the groomer out and if WT is like Roundtop, they only regroom a few times per week.
Couldn't you just shovel snow into it? Either way, if it's that bad they need to fix it or close the jump. Someone could easily get seriously hurt solely due to the bad landing.
Those pits suck but are innevitable on high traffic days. Until they've been filled and had time to "set up" then they are just gonna pit out quicker.
Until they are fixed, if the landing is big enough, you can always land to the side of it or below it. Depends on the kicker and the size of landing.
Look before you jump, or use a spotter, is always a good rule of thumb. If you can't see that there is a pit on the landing from above then maybe you can't see that twelve year old picker laying on the landing. He's probably talking to his picker buddy.
It's harder to ride or ski away after landing on a picker then it is when you land in a damn pit on the landing.
Do pickers make good fill?
Reisen, Happy B-Day.
Bold Decision is usually more bumped up than it was (on saturday) I don't expect the bumps have grown that much by now. It is a fun trail and only gets more challenging from this weeks conditions.
As for snow making, with the weather we have had so far I am glad they are making snow. Were the trails closed or could you ski 'em with the guns on?
The expert quad isn't a detachable so I am not sure what you expected. I have found it runs at a good speed especially relative to many of the lifts in the area. You don't seem to have much experience with skiing in the Midatlantic. Basicly the resorts with nice new and good infastructure usally have 1 detachable quad or 6-pack serving as their primary lift for the front side cruisers. Almost all the expert terrainin the region is served by older, slower, lifts. Most of them much slower than the experts choice quad at WT. As for covered lifts, you need to wear long underware!!!!
The temps in the region are generally not cold enough to justify the covered lifts. There are Gondolas & Bubble lifts in the north sections of the north east.
No bumps on Bold as of today at 5pm. Conditions are about as good as they are likely to get up there this season - short of another extended cold snap and more natural snow fall. No idea, but last year the plowed over the bumps on bold and left them under Exhibition -- which are quite nice this yr, helps to have easy snow to work with. Bold was quite icy, well -- just a thin layer on top from the direct sunshine it seems to take. Farside -- hey that's a great run to bomb top to bottom if you can stand the chatter on our skis. Everything else in great shape as far as I could tell except for a few thin spots on the sides of a few trails. now another foot or two of the fresh stuff, and we'll really be in business!
One correction. Snowshoe's expert slopes (Cupp Run and Shay's Revenge) are served by a high speed quad.
The colonel
Was also at WT yesterday, from 6ish til 9ish in the evening. Spent my night over off the expert quad and had a lot of fun in the bumps on Exhibition. Unfortunately, Far Side wasn't open, no lights?, so no chance to ski there. Bold was interesting with the hardpack. A sun crust was set up, but still quite edgable. Had some good runs there practicing short swing hop turns on the steeper pitches. Final run of the night was a very fast descent of Home Run. Whoooooweeee, open slope, no traffic, big fast arcs, definitely explored the boundaries of comfort on that one.
I'd suggest getting to Whitetail NOW, if you want to enjoy some really good conditions. I'm afraid that once the next round of thaw-freeze passes thru, conditions there are gonna firm up a good bit.
Git it while you can.
Pick-er (pick'er) n -a skier or snowboarder who barely has the skills to make it down a green, but instead of choosing to take a lesson or work on basics elects to move on to expert terrain. Pickers rely strictly on the wedge and sideslip as a method of moving around the mountain. They can often be identified by thier stupid hats, and thier uncanny ability to ignore all posted signage. syn- red booter, touron, idiot
Pickers can often be found wedging or side slipping over tabletops and even hanging out on landings. While they don't do much damage if they are traveling at slow speeds on green terrain, they can destroy the lips of jumps and cause serious traffic jams in terrain parks. You can also find them hanging out in bump fields and walking down steep terrain with skis in hand or dragging the board by the leash. If you tuck your jeans into your ski or snowboard boots before you buckle them up then I would be willing to bet - picker!
Don't they also travel in large flocks, usually lead by someone with either a digital camera or camcorder so they can document their "jump". They also like to try to all hit the jumps at the same time which I'm assuming is primarily for the rest of our viewing enjoyment
They also like to have group yard sales in order to mix and match equipment, funny hats, and goggles.
Quote:
One correction. Snowshoe's expert slopes (Cupp Run and Shay's Revenge) are served by a high speed quad.
The colonel
I was thinking about that when I wrote my earlier post. I was guessing they must have a detachable to cover 1500'. But in reality I don't care about SS and I don't think its worth considereing for people in the DC area. The shoe is so far its like ass. I would prefer to go the extra hour to the catskills and have the options of 3 - 4 hills w/ 1500 vertical than drive to snow shoe.
Pick-er (pick'er) n -a skier or snowboarder who barely has the skills to make it down a green, but instead of choosing to take a lesson or work on basics elects to move on to expert terrain. Pickers rely strictly on the wedge and sideslip as a method of moving around the mountain. They can often be identified by thier stupid hats, and thier uncanny ability to ignore all posted signage. syn- red booter, touron, idiot
I think you are confusing picker w/ gaper. Your definition perfectly describes a gaper. A picker is a more general term for one who skis. Usually this term is used by boarders describing skiers. For instance one may say, "You are pretty good for being a stupid picker." I (a skier) would take that as a compliment. It could also be used in a derogatory manner, similiar to that of a gaper.
yeah, gaper is a good one to. I haven't heard that one in a while. I guess it all depends on where you ski or ride and the local dialect and slang. There all the same if you ask me. Unless your playing a string instrument I've only heard picker used in a deragotory way.
I enjoy telemark skiing and snowboarding both. If anybody called me a picker, gaper, or red booter whether I was on skis or a board we'd probably have words. Then I would challenge him or her to a game of chicken -like in the old movies where the last one to jump out of thier car before it flies over the cliff is the winner. Except if your racing pickers it's kinda the opposite. You just let the picker fly off the cliff because most likely they don't have the skills to stop or turn.
So where does the term "picker" come from? Does it mean nose picker, like when Franz Klammer called Bill Johnson a nasen bohrer (German/Austrian for nose picker)?
at roudntop, we use the surfing term 'kook' which comes from the hawaiian word kuk which means 'sh*t'.
