Read all the hype about these great slides, how they are the greatest trails in the east, and how they make Whiteface the grnarliest mountain of all time. Was wondering when they will open.

Once we hit another 100 inches of natural and the calendar flips to March, most likely. It takes a lot for the Slides to open, but when they do.........that's some good stuff. A lot of fun. Have you checked out the photo albums in the gallery? There are a number of them. This is mine from last April.

http://forums.skiadk.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album30&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

Sadly, that thaw last week resulted in a serious layer of ice over there. End product is a very unstable base for future storms to build on. I'm no expert on avi danger, but I do know that last year they had to wait for everything to melt off before those late season storms made for a very stable situation, and some great days in the Slides.

NPN wrote:

Sadly, that thaw last week resulted in a serious layer of ice over there. End product is a very unstable base for future storms to build on. I'm no expert on avi danger, but I do know that last year they had to wait for everything to melt off before those late season storms made for a very stable situation, and some great days in the Slides.

Maybe, maybe not. I was under the impression that The Slides, while they are slide paths, got there name and features from rock slides, not avalanch. I not sure the usual snow stability rules that apply to true avalanch terrain really apply to The Slides. Any experts/patrol who can weigh in on this? Last year saw March temps in the 50's (no, that warm up didn't melt off the copious amounts of snow that fell in February) before the subsequent freeze/St Patrick's Day storm, and that layer of ice under the new snowfall didn't create stability problems that prevented The Slides from opening later in the season and into April. So I don't think that this last warming episode will create any long term stability problems that will prevent the slides from opening. But the area does need more than 100 inches and has to consolidate before they can even think about opening it, so it probably will be a while. Can anyone recall the earliest The Slides have opened? Has it ever been before March?

St. Jerry wrote:

Read all the hype about these great slides, how they are the greatest trails in the east, and how they make Whiteface the grnarliest mountain of all time. Was wondering when they will open.

Plenty of slides in the dacks. Don't wait for WF

Any update on the slides opening?

Yes / No ?

When they do open it will be reflected in the conditions report. That, and you can be sure there will be a lot of discussion about it here. Your're just asking the question a good month (more, really) too early. I suppose if it dumped two or three feet next week you might see tham open in February, and I don't even think then, but otherwise it's likely going to be a slow accumulation of snow and mountain management nerve until late March before you'll get in there. The marked glades on the mountain aren't open right now, much less the Slides.

I like to think of the Slides as a Tuckerman's type thing. It may get a lot of snow, but don't even think about skiing it until late in the season. Last February was a prodigious snow month, yet the Slides didn't open until sometime after the St. Patty's day storm. Not that they might not have been skiable prior to that for those with the knowledge and nerve to poach, but the mountian didn't open them up until well into March.

I've heard so much about them, I'm surprised they're not open.

St. Jerry wrote:

I've heard so much about them, I'm surprised they're not open.

That's a ridiculous statement.....what didn't you understand in the previous post about how much snow is needed to open them

skimore wrote:

St. Jerry wrote: I've heard so much about them, I'm surprised they're not open. That's a ridiculous statement.....what didn't you understand in the previous post about how much snow is needed to open them

Skimore - He gets it, he's a Troll. He's cps27 on the AlpineZone board. He loves Gore and feels like he always needs to put WF down for some reason. He has a thread over there saying WF is like Okemo. Even he isn't that stupid, he just wants to get a raise out of people. Some people are just haters.

Thanks for the heads up Drifter. That explains a lot.