Went to Whiteface for the first time this season on 1/18/21. It's part of my Ski-3 Pass, and this was only the 5th time that I had been there in 20 years.

Whiteface is a mountain you want to hit when the weather is good. Driving up there in the snow is not the most pleasant experience. Skiing there when the wind is howling and scours the trails down to boilerplate isn't fun either.

Thankfully the 08th was none of that - there was another inversion, with lots of low clouds in the valley, but otherwise mostly sunny skies, temps in the 20s, and only a moderate breeze. Conditions were packed powder/groomed, and got scraped off a bit in the afternoon.

The differences between the two state areas in N'rn NY, Gore and Whiteface, are many. Gore has quite a few old fashioned, narrow, and twisting trails, while Whiteface's are wider on average. Gore has more mileage, but Whiteface has some mega vertical. Both have multiple lodges either at the base or on the mountain. Both have some amazing views. And both have new lifts and improvement this year.

As mentioned, the views here are pretty awesome (when you can see them):

Annotated summits, from the summit, showing the High Peaks, including NY's highest, Mt. Marcy

More views of the summit, showing the low clouds

Lake Placid, from the summit of Little Whiteface

Looking towards the summit from Little Whiteface

Whiteface's improvements include a new Skytrac Quad, the Falcon, which replaced an older Riblet Triple in the beginner area. Whiteface has a better beginner area than Gore, with several easy trails all in one spot, easier than the trails off of the Sunway Quad at Gore. It's tucked away from more advanced trails. Prior to the triple, the beginner lift was shortened a bit there, maybe 20 years ago? and the old liftline is still valid.

Panorama of the Falcon Quad

Riding up the Falcon

Top of Falcon

Lost top of the now shortened beginner lift

The next improvement is the new Legacy Lodge. It's the mid-mountain lodge, near the double-double on Mountain Run. It replaces the old lodge that burned to the ground in Nov 2019. While the lodge isn't totally finished yet (full cafeteria won't be ready until next season, which was always going to be the case), it did have a small snack bar with no hot food. The views are terrific here too, with an expansive deck, and this will become a popular spot.

Legacy Lodge

Legacy Lodge Deck

Mountain Run from Legacy Lodge

Inside Legacy Lodge

Got in quite a lot of vertical. My first 3 full runs were off the Gondola, and then two top to bottom runs. So 3 runs, 9600' of vertical. That's hard to beat anywhere in the NE! Gondola lines were about 15 min. The gondola has new cabins this year which makes the ride up more comfortable. But with covid capacity restrictions, I would wager the lift only has a 600-900/hr capacity as a lot of gondolas go up with just 1 passenger, like me.

Gondola

Summit Quad

Face Quad

So definitely enjoying the Ski 3 Season Pass. With good weather, Whiteface is 1hr 32 min away, which puts it closer to me than Mt. Snow, Killington, and even Stratton, although all of those are shorter mileage wise. It's good to have Whiteface as an option besides the closer Gore. Looking forward to getting to know this mountain better.