Whiteface Mountain is seen on Monday in the town of Wilmington. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

WILMINGTON — While the snow banks may be days to weeks removed from most driveways and yards across the state, it’s a different story on the trails of New York’s tallest ski resort.

Buoyed by a relentless snowmaking team and ample cooperation from Mother Nature, Whiteface Mountain is prepared to keep going “well into April,” according to General Manager Aaron Kellett, with plenty of its core terrain boasting a four to five-foot hard-packed base as of Monday.

Whiteface intends to stay open daily through April 12, according to Kellett, who said while that’s subject to the weather, it’s a date he feels pretty confident in with the amount of snow currently and a forecast — while warm for much of this week — that isn’t out of the bounds of what the mountain can handle in April. And after that, Kellett didn’t rule out just a bit more skiing.

“I would anticipate at least one weekend after the 12th unless we run into some 80-degree weather here in the next couple of weeks, which has happened but it’s not really in the forecast right now,” he said.

The Bear Den Learning Center, formerly the Kids’ Kampus, is slated to stay open through April 12 as well, Kellett said. Separate from the main Base Lodge, Bear Den includes most of Whiteface’s beginner-friendly terrain. With most New York public schools on spring break next week, Kellett said it was a major goal for mountain staff to keep terrain accessible for guests of all abilities.

“We’ve got a lot of schools that are out next week, so we want to make sure we’ve got some skiing for the kids that aren’t intermediates or better,” he said. “We still have some snow stashes over there. We’re going to try to keep that going until the 12th if we can.”

With rain today and more chances for this “liquid snow,” as mountain staff affectionately call it, later in the week, Kellett said Whiteface will, for now, be closing its Lookout Mountain area, which includes the Wilmington Trail, Hoyt’s High, Lookout Below, Lookout Loop and a trio of glades — which have been closed now for some time.

He said the hope is to reopen it this weekend for one last time, though mountain staff will reassess the peak on Thursday to see if enough snow has survived. Of its three peaks, Kellett said the Lookout trails have the least coverage and given their relative isolation from the rest of the mountain, it’s not as easy to replenish those runs with snow from secondary terrain.

“I wouldn’t say there’s an abundance of snow there to weather too many more storms,” he said. “If we get it back open for this weekend — and we’re going to try to — I think this will most likely be the last weekend for it.”

Grooming the terrain — which breaks up, aerates and re-compacts the top layer of snow — tends to hasten the melting process, especially if temperatures stay above freezing at night. Closing Lookout mid-week and not grooming during that time gives the terrain its best chance of skiing a few more days. Kellett said there’ll probably be a handful of other intermediate and advanced trails that will remain open, but ungroomed, with the same idea of helping to preserve the snow.

“There’s a few trails where we’d rather just let them bump up,” he said. “Spring’s the time where things can be soft and we’ll be strategic on what we groom side-to-side. We may also see some more trails that are half-groomed and let some natural moguls form on the side.”

The Lookout coverage is the exception, rather than the rule, Kellett said. The Summit and Little Whiteface peaks both have surplus snowpacks for this time of year, complete with strategic reserves.

“We’ll look at some of these ancillary trails as snow in the bank,” he said. “They’re great to ski but when it comes down to it, we’re going to push all the snow off of those trails to save the main veins.”

For instance, Kellett said the Weber’s Way trail is being pushed out to sustain Victoria and eventually the Lower Thruway trail will be pushed to Lower Valley. Upper McKenzie, which Kellett said specifically saw considerably more snowmaking than any other season in recent memory, can be pushed on to Approach to keep that trail viable. Mountain Run and the other “Face Trails” remain in good shape.

Asked what trail is currently in best overall shape, Kellett’s answer wasn’t surprising: Skyward. Dropping about 1,800 feet from the summit area, the monster trail is about as iconic as it gets at Whiteface, especially in the spring when softening snow makes what can be a perilous black diamond in the throes of winter a bit more manageable — while its high elevation helps to abate its snow loss toward the end of the season.

“We really made a lot of snow on Skyward and put a lot of effort into making sure we’re protecting that trail for spring,” he said. “That’s kind of our go to, it’s important for our spring operations so we’re in a really good spot there.”

With ski racing and training over for the season, Kellett doesn’t expect the Freeway chairlift to see much more run time. On the other hand, he said the Little Whiteface double — Whiteface’s newest lift, and an avid skier’s favorite for its convenient lift line directly up the Face terrain and over to Little Whiteface’s summit where the Cloudsplitter Gondola also unloads — should see some more time in the spotlight.

“If we have the resources, we’re going to run Little Whiteface every day that we can,” he said. “There may be some times this spring where we pick Little Whiteface over the gondola on a nice day. That’s a fun option for people, too. It’s a great lift and it takes some time off the gondola to give our maintenance crews some time to work on it. Getting a jump on our spring maintenance isn’t a bad thing.”

Whiteface will host its traditional slate of Easter events on Sunday. The Cloudsplitter Gondola will start spinning at 7:15 a.m. to bring guests to the top of Little Whiteface for a non-denominational Easter service at 8 a.m. Rides for the service are free. The mountain will then serve an Easter Breakfast special at its Base Camp Market dining area from 8 to 10:30 a.m.

At noon, the first of two Easter egg hunts, for kids ages 6 and under, will begin at the main base area, with another egg hunt for kids 7 through 12 set to commence at 12:15 p.m. on a nearby yet-to-be-determined trail. Between the two hunts, there will be more than 5,000 easter eggs with goodies and prizes up for grabs. Each event will have a gold and silver egg — the gold contains one free kids/junior season pass for next season, and the silver contains a special mystery prize.

Saturday, April 4 will also feature the Grom Jam and Strands Sesh, two terrain park-focused events. The International Pond Skimming Championships is set for April 11 and the Apple Butter Open is set for April 12. These events are all subject to weather and operational conditions.

Whiteface, along with Gore Mountain in North Creek and Belleayre Mountain in the Catskills, is operated by the state Olympic Regional Development Authority. In a statement released on Monday, ORDA said its three Alpine venues combined for an 8% increase in skier-specific visitation this season, totaling 734,592 compared to 680,217 at this time last year. ORDA said that Whiteface specifically had its busiest ski season ever, surpassing its visitation record earlier this season.

For the latest conditions at Whiteface, visit whiteface.com/mountain/conditions.