Whiteface Mountain
Encyclopedia
Whiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest mountain in New York State
, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains
. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summit offers a 360-degree view featuring the Adirondacks and perhaps on a clear day glimpses of Vermont
and even Canada
. The skyscrapers of Montreal, 80 miles away, can be seen on a very clear day. Located in the town of Wilmington
(about 13 miles (20.9 km) from Lake Placid
) the mountain is home to a ski area
with the highest vertical drop in the eastern United States
(3430 feet, or 1,045 m). Part of the post World War II
growth in recreational skiing attributed to the efforts of returning veterans of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, Whiteface also hosted the alpine skiing
competition of the 1980 Winter Olympics
. Unique among the High Peaks, Whiteface features a developed summit and seasonal accessibility by motor vehicle
. Whiteface Memorial Highway reaches a parking area at an elevation of 4600 feet, with the remaining 267 feet being obtained by tunnel and elevator.
Conceived and initiated before the start of the Great Depression
, Whiteface Castle and the Whiteface Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway were funded entirely by the state of New York, though the timing of the project led to a widespread belief that they were Depression Era public works projects arising from the New Deal
. Construction on the toll road began in 1929, after passage of a necessary amendment to the state constitution, with a groundbreaking ceremony featuring then-New York State Governor
Franklin D. Roosevelt
. Eventually costing 1.2 million dollars and ending within 300 vertical feet (90 m) of the summit the roadway is 5 miles (8 km) long (8 km) and features an impressively steep 8% average grade. Officially opened July 20, 1935, in a ceremony featuring Roosevelt, by then President
, the highway was dedicated to veterans of the Great War
.
Whiteface Castle, built with granite
excavated during the road construction, dominates the summit area. From the adjacent parking lot there are two routes to the summit proper. The first route is the Stairway Ridge Trail, a footpath with handrails and intermittent cement and stone steps approximately 0.2 mile (120 m) long. The second is a 424-foot (129 m) long tunnel into the core of the mountain. At the end of the tunnel is an elevator, which rises 276 feet (84 m, or approximately 27 stories) to the summit.
. Known for its big-mountain skiing, Whiteface is consistently ranked as one of the top ski resorts in the Northeast. Whiteface was a site of the 1980 Winter Olympics
, hosting the downhill, giant slalom, and slalom alpine ski
events. It also regularly hosts major alpine ski events such as the U.S. Alpine Championships. Whiteface is a U.S. Olympic Training Site.
Whiteface has lift-serviced terrain from 4386 feet (1,337 m) and hike-to terrain (The Slides) from 4650 feet (1,417 m). With a base elevation of 1220 feet (372 m), Whiteface has the greatest continuous vertical drop in the east at 3430 feet (1045 m). This is higher than Aspen
and Vail
in Colorado; Park City in Utah; Killington
, Stowe
, Jay Peak
, and Stratton
in Vermont; Sugarloaf in Maine; Lake Louise
in Alberta; and Mont Tremblant
in Quebec. Its neighbor, Little Whiteface, tops in altitude at 3676 ft (1,120.4 m). Whiteface has a total of 22 miles (35 km) of ski terrain, spread out over 87 trails. 314 acres (1.27 km²) of skiing area includes 35 in-bounds, off-piste double-black diamond wilderness terrain skiing on "The Slides" (conditions permitting), 85.5 acres (346,006.5 m²) of tree skiing, 35 acres (141,640.1 m²) of expert extreme adventure terrain. The Slides is an unmaintained wilderness area that is rarely open, due to safety hazards. They can only be accessed by hiking from the top of the Summit Quad. A new 13 acres (52,609.2 m²) terrain park referred to as the "Park N' Pipe" was added in 2000–01 with ramps, rails, and pipes.
Whiteface has a separate area for beginners known as Kids Kampus. The ski trails receive plenty of southern exposure sometimes causing ice to form later in the day and subtle breezes sometimes blow snow off the trails, contributing to the nickname "iceface". In recent years major improvements in snowmaking and grooming have overcome these problems. Whiteface contains 87 trails accessible by one gondola
, nine chairlifts, and one conveyor lift
. Some 98% of the trails are covered by snowmaking, excluding the glades and the Slides. The Slides are double-black diamond runs that are usually only open at the end of the skiing season due to avalanche danger. They are between 35 and 40 degrees with high natural hazards (such as waterfalls, rocks, cliffs, trees, and variable conditions) for over 1250 feet vertical (381 m). The Slides are considered to be one of the most challenging ski slopes that are marked on a trail map in the Northeast.
In summer, Whiteface Mountain offers gondola rides and mountain biking.
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summit offers a 360-degree view featuring the Adirondacks and perhaps on a clear day glimpses of Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
and even Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The skyscrapers of Montreal, 80 miles away, can be seen on a very clear day. Located in the town of Wilmington
Wilmington, New York
Wilmington is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 1,131 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Wilmington, Delaware.The Town of Wilmington is on the county's north border and is southwest of Plattsburgh...
(about 13 miles (20.9 km) from Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
) the mountain is home to a ski area
Ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...
with the highest vertical drop in the eastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(3430 feet, or 1,045 m). Part of the post World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
growth in recreational skiing attributed to the efforts of returning veterans of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, Whiteface also hosted the alpine skiing
Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held near Lake Placid, New York, U.S.A.. The races were held at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington from February 14–23, 1980....
competition of the 1980 Winter Olympics
1980 Winter Olympics
The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, was a multi-sport event which was celebrated from 13 February through 24 February 1980 in Lake Placid, New York, United States of America. This was the second time the Upstate New York village hosted the Games, after 1932...
. Unique among the High Peaks, Whiteface features a developed summit and seasonal accessibility by motor vehicle
New York State Route 431
New York State Route 431 is a state highway in Essex County, New York, United States. The highway, also known as the Whiteface Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway, begins at an intersection with NY 86 in Wilmington and climbs Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks...
. Whiteface Memorial Highway reaches a parking area at an elevation of 4600 feet, with the remaining 267 feet being obtained by tunnel and elevator.
Conceived and initiated before the start of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, Whiteface Castle and the Whiteface Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway were funded entirely by the state of New York, though the timing of the project led to a widespread belief that they were Depression Era public works projects arising from the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
. Construction on the toll road began in 1929, after passage of a necessary amendment to the state constitution, with a groundbreaking ceremony featuring then-New York State Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. Eventually costing 1.2 million dollars and ending within 300 vertical feet (90 m) of the summit the roadway is 5 miles (8 km) long (8 km) and features an impressively steep 8% average grade. Officially opened July 20, 1935, in a ceremony featuring Roosevelt, by then President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, the highway was dedicated to veterans of the Great War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Whiteface Castle, built with granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
excavated during the road construction, dominates the summit area. From the adjacent parking lot there are two routes to the summit proper. The first route is the Stairway Ridge Trail, a footpath with handrails and intermittent cement and stone steps approximately 0.2 mile (120 m) long. The second is a 424-foot (129 m) long tunnel into the core of the mountain. At the end of the tunnel is an elevator, which rises 276 feet (84 m, or approximately 27 stories) to the summit.
Whiteface Ski Resort
Whiteface is a major ski area run by the Olympic Regional Development AuthorityOlympic Regional Development Authority
The Olympic Regional Development Authority is a New York State public benefit corporations, created by the State of New York to manage the facilities used during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games at Lake Placid, New York...
. Known for its big-mountain skiing, Whiteface is consistently ranked as one of the top ski resorts in the Northeast. Whiteface was a site of the 1980 Winter Olympics
1980 Winter Olympics
The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, was a multi-sport event which was celebrated from 13 February through 24 February 1980 in Lake Placid, New York, United States of America. This was the second time the Upstate New York village hosted the Games, after 1932...
, hosting the downhill, giant slalom, and slalom alpine ski
Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics consisted of six events, held near Lake Placid, New York, U.S.A.. The races were held at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington from February 14–23, 1980....
events. It also regularly hosts major alpine ski events such as the U.S. Alpine Championships. Whiteface is a U.S. Olympic Training Site.
Whiteface has lift-serviced terrain from 4386 feet (1,337 m) and hike-to terrain (The Slides) from 4650 feet (1,417 m). With a base elevation of 1220 feet (372 m), Whiteface has the greatest continuous vertical drop in the east at 3430 feet (1045 m). This is higher than Aspen
Aspen Mountain (ski area)
Aspen Mountain is a ski area located in Pitkin County, Colorado, just outside and above the city of Aspen. It is situated on the north flank of Aspen Mountain and the higher Bell Mountain at an elevation of 11,212 ft just to the south of Aspen Mountain...
and Vail
Vail Ski Resort
Vail Ski Resort is located in Eagle County, Colorado, next to the town of Vail. Vail Mountain, at , is the largest single mountain ski resort in the United States, featuring seven bowls and intermediate gladed terrain in Blue Sky Basin...
in Colorado; Park City in Utah; Killington
Killington Ski Resort
Killington Mountain Resort & Ski Area is a ski resort near Killington, Vermont. It is the largest ski area in the Eastern United States, and has the largest vertical in New England as well at 3050 feet.-History:In 1954, Perry H...
, Stowe
Stowe Mountain Resort
Stowe Mountain Resort is a ski resort near the town of Stowe in northern Vermont, comprising two separate mountains: Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak. The vertical drop from Mount Mansfield of is the fifth largest in New England and the fourth largest in Vermont. The resort is primarily owned by...
, Jay Peak
Jay Peak
Jay Peak Resort is an American ski resort located on Jay Peak, outside the village of Jay in the town of Jay, Vermont in the Green Mountains. Its vertical drop of is the eighth largest in New England and the fifth largest in Vermont....
, and Stratton
Stratton Mountain Resort
Stratton Mountain Resort is a ski area located on Stratton Mountain in Stratton, Vermont.-History:Stratton was established in 1961, and expanded rapidly into one of Vermont's largest ski areas...
in Vermont; Sugarloaf in Maine; Lake Louise
Lake Louise Mountain Resort
The Lake Louise Ski Area is a ski resort located in Banff National Park, near the village of Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. It can be reached from Banff, from where it is a 35 to 45 minute drive west on Trans-Canada Highway, or Calgary, a 2-hour drive...
in Alberta; and Mont Tremblant
Mont Tremblant Resort
Mont Tremblant Ski Resort is a year-round resort in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Canada, about 130 km northwest of Montreal. It is best known as a ski destination, but also features a lake suitable for swimming and two golf courses in the summer months...
in Quebec. Its neighbor, Little Whiteface, tops in altitude at 3676 ft (1,120.4 m). Whiteface has a total of 22 miles (35 km) of ski terrain, spread out over 87 trails. 314 acres (1.27 km²) of skiing area includes 35 in-bounds, off-piste double-black diamond wilderness terrain skiing on "The Slides" (conditions permitting), 85.5 acres (346,006.5 m²) of tree skiing, 35 acres (141,640.1 m²) of expert extreme adventure terrain. The Slides is an unmaintained wilderness area that is rarely open, due to safety hazards. They can only be accessed by hiking from the top of the Summit Quad. A new 13 acres (52,609.2 m²) terrain park referred to as the "Park N' Pipe" was added in 2000–01 with ramps, rails, and pipes.
Whiteface has a separate area for beginners known as Kids Kampus. The ski trails receive plenty of southern exposure sometimes causing ice to form later in the day and subtle breezes sometimes blow snow off the trails, contributing to the nickname "iceface". In recent years major improvements in snowmaking and grooming have overcome these problems. Whiteface contains 87 trails accessible by one gondola
Gondola lift
A gondola lift is a type of aerial lift, normally called a cable car, which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel cable that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supporting towers. The cable is driven by a bullwheel in a terminal,...
, nine chairlifts, and one conveyor lift
Magic carpet (ski lift)
A magic carpet is a type of surface lift installed at ski areas to transport skiers and snowboarders up the hill...
. Some 98% of the trails are covered by snowmaking, excluding the glades and the Slides. The Slides are double-black diamond runs that are usually only open at the end of the skiing season due to avalanche danger. They are between 35 and 40 degrees with high natural hazards (such as waterfalls, rocks, cliffs, trees, and variable conditions) for over 1250 feet vertical (381 m). The Slides are considered to be one of the most challenging ski slopes that are marked on a trail map in the Northeast.
In summer, Whiteface Mountain offers gondola rides and mountain biking.