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Whiteface Mountain looks to open Nov. 25

WILMINGTON – The expected opening of Whiteface Mountain Ski Center’s 22 miles of trails is still a month away, but some people have already skied down it unofficially.

With up to 6 inches of fresh snow, several people hiked up the mountain Sunday to telemark ski down its trails, and others cross-country skied up and down the Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway.

Whiteface General Manager Aaron Kellett said Monday that the ski center is still more than four weeks away from its tentative open date, Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving.

“But people should keep their eyes peeled,” Kellett said. “We have opened earlier in the past couple of years.

“Whenever the first real snow comes, people just get all amped up,” he added. “Everyone gets the fever to come skiing again.”

This summer has been dry, but last week’s deluge of rain, Saturday’s heavy snowfall and a 10-day forecast chock-full of rain and snow give Whiteface more water with which to make snow, creating the possibility of another early opening. Whiteface opened on Thanksgiving Day last year and on Nov. 16 the year prior.

Kellett said the recent wet conditions were a welcome sight.

“We’re definitely gearing up for snowmaking,” Kellett said. “The rain helped us with really bringing the river levels back up to where we want them to be to make snow.

“For snowmaking it was definitely a little lower than we like,” he added. “But the rivers always drop a little in the summer. Luckily we got that rain, it helped our cause, and with rain and snow the next week-and-a-half or so, we should be all set with where we want to be with the river level.”

Kellett said Whiteface typically begins making snow at the start of November. He said the mountain’s trails can be ready to officially open as soon as a week after that.

Kellett spoke highly of modifications that were made to the ski resort’s lodge in the past year, and he said Whiteface has vastly expanded its mobile fleet of energy-efficient snowmakers. He said 48 new, energy-efficient snow guns have been added for this year, and there will be improved snowmaking capabilities at locations such as Boreen and Danny’s Bridge.

“There are a couple of thousand locations where we can make snow,” he said. “Not all of the locations have permanently installed snow guns. This makes us more efficient, not just from a power consumption standpoint, but more guns on hand.”

Whiteface is looking to bounce back after last winter’s paltry snowfall totals resulted in its worst season on record, according to the state Olympic Regional Development Authority’s annual report in June.

Whiteface’s total skier days for the 2015-16 season dropped to 167,501 from 216,219 in 2014-15. The number was the lowest for Whiteface since 2011-12 and the second lowest in the past seven years. Whiteface received 58 inches of natural snow and more than 17 inches of rain compared to a typical average of more than 100 inches of snow. As a result, its total yearly revenues dropped to $7,698,359 from $9,549,752 in 2014-15.

“These weather conditions, combined with a weak Canadian dollar resulted in a decline of skier days and revenue of just over 20 percent,” ORDA’s report read.

On the other hand, the summer of 2015 was the greatest summer to date, with the reconstructed highway up the mountain logging its most visitors since 1999 and generating record revenue, up almost 10 percent to $673,380.

ORDA board

ORDA announced today it has postponed its Board of Directors meeting, which was scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. today at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center. ORDA Director of Communications Jon Lundin said the meeting was postponed due to a couple of board members falling ill.

The board meeting will be rescheduled for December, a date, time and place to be determined, Lundin said.

ORDA President Ted Blazer was scheduled to recap the summer and discuss plans for the upcoming winter. ORDA Director of Finance Padraig Power was also scheduled to present a financial report detailing the summer. Lundin said both of those presentations will now occur at the December meeting.

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