Whiteface Mountain Ski Resort — Attraction in Town of Wilmington

Wow...I remember visiting with some Army buddies, including my future wife, here at this ski resort, this mountain, Whiteface, to do some skiing and snowboarding. Way back in the winter of 2000, if I recall correctly. Just approaching the resort from the road, and looking up at Whiteface Mountain was a bit intimidating. It was the biggest set of lifts I'd ever seen of all the others I'd been to. It was snowing heavily while we were on our way there from Fort Drum area, and once we set down at this resort and started doing our thing on the lifts, the snow increased to almost blizzard-like conditions. I remember riding the gondola to the top of a black diamond trail, and how when I came off that gondola to ski, it got to the point where I literally could barely see anything a couple of feet in front of me. We had to come on down off that mountain as they closed the lifts for the day. I remember skiing down that trail, barely hearing and seeing my friends, and my excitement turned quickly to straight fear that we weren't going to make it down there to the ground. I wasn't any expert skiier...none of us were...though two of us who were snowboarders were pretty decent at it. We proceeded slowly and stayed close together. Good thing there were a few other people making their way down as well. They kept making noise so we mostly followed the noise, because it was hard as heck to see anything up there. We somehow managed to do make it to the ground, but I had been skiing at some places before and that one time in all that snow that fell that afternoon scared me good. As I looked back at the resort as we made our way out of there (only got to ski maybe three times that day), I could barely see the mountain and sure as hell couldn't see the summit. I'll never forget...

We visited Whiteface for a long weekend in January, we planned to get in a couple days of snowboarding and enjoy the Lake Placid scene at night.

I would separate our experience at the mountain into two parts, the slopes/lifts/conditions and the staff/dining experience.

The ticket lines and lift lines were not bad, well managed by staff which allowed us to get on the slopes quick and enjoy a great day of riding. Conditions were a little icey in some parts but snow blowing was underway (I suspect to patch up those areas).

The second part of our experience was not the greatest, it was a challenge getting a drink at the bar (one day it appeared overstaffed but the bartenders didn’t seem thrilled to be there), the other day they appeared understaffed and they were scrambling with a large crowd). The waiter who served us when we sat for a small appetizer was a notch above the bar tenders on the friendly meter, but still didn’t seem enthused about his job. I try to rate my experiences on individual visits, but I had a similar experience with dining staff the year before.

All in all we had a good experience, the snowboarding was great, crowds were managed well at the lifts and in the lots. Our expectations are always tempered when it comes to food services at ski mountains, so not a deal breaker, we’ll be back to enjoy the unique terrain and...

The breathtaking view from the top of the mountain on a clear day gets 5 stars…The ski lifts and slopes not that much… this resort needs to be brought out of 80’s into modern days, make it snowboarding-friendly and separate the crowds that ride down the bottom half by skill levels. Right now the advanced rides and beginners are sharing a long narrow slope: lower valley + fox just to reach the gondola and bottom lifts. Also right half of the mountain has been permanently closed for years - not showing this on the map is deceiving. From the left side of the mountain, served by gondola and Summit Quad lift (my favorite!) most of the black rides were closed, on some days all of them, making the beginners and advanced riders share some narrow slopes. Not cool and very unsafe. We tried snowboarding for 5 day, paid $120/day for a few poorly maintained slopes, sharing them mostly with novice and intermediate level skiers mostly. It is too bad there is no green ride coming from the top of the mountain to separate the beginners. At the same time the black rides were closed down, along with many blue rides channeling everyone on one blue ride... There are ski lifts that have the unloading ramp so steep that makes unloading on snowboard impossible. This mountain is not for advanced skiers and not friendly for...