Whiteface - Rain - Olympic Skiers

Where shall I start ...

If the best laid plans can turn out poor, then loosely laid plans can turn out worst. Good concept: ski in the ADK for a few days. Bad timing spring skiing. It was quite nice driving up into the adirondacks mountains to catch the end of the ski season and use a few discount passes. First stop was McCauley Mountain in Old Forge, NY. From a distance it appeared like only a few runs were going to be open. As we approached closer into the parking lot; it was empty and the words not today. A quick exit and off for Gore Mountain. Surely, it would be in better shape, but the words that we might be open on Wednesday (being it was Monday) did not give us a good feeling. A quick break for lunch and off again. With the Olympic theme playing on the Ipod, direct north on 87 and exiting at the High Peaks area. A few winding road turns and the Olympic Ski Jumping area appeared along with a light misty rain.

We arrived at the last hold-out of winter, Whiteface Mountain and the 2010 Visa U.S. Alpine Championship featuring many Olympic athletes what could go wrong. Well, the light misty rain turned abruptly and significantly harder as rain fell. The next day would surely be a washout. From the previous year's rich experience of apres-ski in Lake Placid, was the stark reality that most restaurants were closed and there were no significant activities in Lake Placid as it was as deserted as the slopes ... no people, no athletes, no significants events. It seemed like the season had already ended and the Alpine Championship was, at most, a going through the motions exercise. The rain continued, very heavy at times, lasted all night and into the morning. The athletes dragged themselves from the parking lot with their equipment slung over the back and side. The rain had washed any excitement from their faces. The news article postings of the results only tell half the story. The event took place too late in the season, we decided to take a chance to catch the end of the ski season and everything tunred out to be a bust. The poor spring skiing conditions had decayed rapidly and continuing rainy weather made it even worst. My mistake was to trust that Whiteface could delivery in late March when no other New York ski resort was even open. In the future, report the truth and show the real photos of the mountain terrain, not what the condition were weeks before. I will be dissappointed that the ski season if over, but I will trust your ski report in the future.