Whiteface Mountain

Under coach Rudy Gershsteiner….nothing like downhill drills down upper Cloudspin at 65 mph at -4 degrees.

The last time I went to this place was in 1989. This is where I learned to ski. If you can ski on Iceface you can ski anywhere. Skiing on powder was very different. I was stationed at Plattsburgh AFB, it was my first base. We would rent skis from the Recreational services on base and drive into the Adirondacks mountains to Lake Placid. We never had any money but we had the most fun. I cherish those cold memories of skiing Whiteface Mtn.

Whiteface, aka Ice Face, is the first mountain I have ever gone to Snowboard. I’m sure it’s delightful when the ice has thawed.

In winter, the iciness of this mountain is a near deathtrap.

A crew of close friends headed up. Most were total newbies but a couple of guys were pretty good. All of us except those two did a quickie one hour snowboarding lesson. Then we went to the peak of the mountain to check out our new found skills.

Or lack there of.

One friends gave up early. She basically slid down on her bum until it was flat enough to walk down. The rest of us powered through, falling on our bums, elbows, knees, etc.

Since I have a tendancy to go straight away at things, I fell on my face more than any other spot. The good thing is that my bottom was spared. I’d been planning to board without googles but a friend who had decided not to hit the mountain, lent me hers. From all that falling on my face, if I had gone without goggles, I would have given myself a nose job, I fell over so much.

Now I must say these falls weren’t so much from spasticness. It was that we were super newbies and the our more adroit friends were silly enough to suggest be head all the way to the top on the first run. It scared so many of the group that most never did another run that day or even went boarding again.

It’s worth visting the town of Alpine, some fun night spots, shopping and good restaurants, but steer clear of the mountain unless you are skilled or have a lot of bum padding.

from all directions and all slides and faces. it never gets boring. I once slept in a building on the ski slope side and it had elecricity and lights. Ha! And a microwave! But I stayed up all night to watch the stars, it was the clearest black sky. Pristine.

I think it’s both and it makes you a rockin skier. You can handle Whiteface’s glades? Really? Full bore, rock those glades?

I doubt it, tough guy.