Things to know
Winter Season Prep
Governor George E. Pataki has committed $5 million in state funding for Whiteface Mountain Ski Center to improve snowmaking, grooming and trail maintenance, expand educational programs, and upgrade facilities and operations at this popular, world-class Adirondack winter destination.
The benefits of this funding will be felt by visitors and residents during the coming 2006-07 winter season.
The $5 million in funding has allowed the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) to undertake a variety of projects to upgrade facilities and services at the Whiteface Mountain Ski Center. These include:
- - The renovation and expansion of Kids Kampus at Easy Acres
- - The construction of a new 350-space parking lot
- - Roof repairs at the main base lodge
- - The purchase of energy-efficient snow guns and bringing more water to the intake at pump house 1 to increase snowmaking
- - Replacement of existing air and water lines for snowmaking between pump houses 2 and 3 with larger steel-- welded pipes for the purpose of increased snowmaking capacity
- - The purchase of new snow groomers and transport snow cat
- - Trail maintenance of some existing runs
- - Creation of the Excelsior Bypass to the Connector trail to aid traffic flow
- - Roof repairs at the castle atop the Whiteface Mt. Veterans Memorial Highway, along with improvements to the elevator that brings visitors to the summit castle.
ORDA President and CEO Ted Blazer said, “With the Governor’s great assistance, in the past 10 years we have made Whiteface synonymous with outstanding skiing and riding experiences. The upgrades, which started with gondolas at both areas in the late 90's, have seen our visitations increase consistently over that time, and that means greater economic impact for the respective regions. With this next phase, we will continue the process of enhancing our on-snow products and children’s programming to make us leaders in the competition that is so strong among resorts in the Northeast.”
Whiteface Mountain has the greatest vertical drop east of the Rockies, 3,430 feet, and its race courses are fully sanctioned for international competitions. Whiteface was rated the number one ski resort in the Eastern United States by Ski Magazine readers from 2002-04 and is ranked second entering the coming winter campaign. The Whiteface / Lake Placid region has been rated the number one resort in North America for off-hill activities by these readers for 14 consecutive years. Whiteface also won the National Ski Area Association’s Silver Eagle Award in 2002 for Environmental Excellence in Fish and Wildlife Habitat Protection.
