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New York State Treating Whiteface Well
Whiteface
seeks to improve skiing/riding experience with state-funded renovations
and expansion projects
Story by John Coleman
Forget Aspen, Co., and Whistler, B.C. North Country skiers need not look any further than their own backyard for a five-star skiing experience. Thanks to over $5 million in state grants within the past year, Whiteface Mountain is burgeoning with projects that will improve the areas winter recreation facilities. "We are positioned to give people a great product" A $5 million dollar grant to the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) is to "improve snowmaking, grooming and trail maintenance, expand educational programs, and upgrade facilities and operations," at Whiteface mountain, in Wilmington, according to Pataki's office. Whiteface projects include: renovating the "Kids Kampus," constructing a 350-space parking lot, purchasing energy-efficient snow guns and snow cat grooming machines, trail maintenance and increasing intake of water into larger, steel-welded water pipes to improve snowmaking by "pumping more water uphill," according to the Olympic Regional Development Authority's (ORDA) director of communications Sandi Caligiore. "Skiers are going to see improvements in snowmaking, meaning a lot of snow that is made quickly and groomed to perfection...we are positioned to give people a great product," Caligiore said. Throughout the summer and continuing this fall, construction has been underway on mountain projects. Beginning in the summer of '07, a 7-mile trail expansion project is slated to begin. The expansion will include three to four new trails ranging from intermediate to expert levels along with a new lift.
"The expansion aims to spread out traffic on trails during busy holiday weekends and will give people a place to go quickly...It will satisfy a crowd that wants to be comfortable," Caligiore said. The expansion will bring Whiteface to the 25-mile expansion limit set by the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) when the mountain/resort was classified as an intensive use facility in 1971. "It will require a significant increase in visitation numbers to justify an additional expansion," Caligiore said. Cutting and construction on the new trails can't begin until August, when the sensitive Bicknell's Thrush bird species migrates south. However, since the species resides at altitudes above 2,800', preparatory work below 2,800' can be done prior to the migration, according to Caligiore. ORDA, formed in 1981 to manage and promote the venues used in the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid, has yet to receive funding for the trail expansion, but hopes to secure it between Jan. and summer '07, according to Caligiore. "The state has been very good to ORDA [in the past]. They have funded all Whiteface/ORDA projects," she said.
Governor Pataki has long been a proponent of New York's winter recreation. Since 1995, Governor Pataki has secured over $95 million dollars of funding for upgrades of ORDA facilities, i the construction of an improved bobsled, luge and skeleton track, which opened in 2000 at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg facility, and the recent $20 million dollar, 65,000 square-foot conference center in Lake Placid, according to Pataki's office. "The state has been very good to ORDA in the past" An economic impact statement released by ORDA last year showed the events and activities of ORDA generated $356 million statewide in 2004-05, including $323.7 million in Essex, Franklin, Clinton, and Warren counties, according to Pataki's office. Who has better ski resorts: New York or Vermont?
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Events
at Whiteface: 2006 - 2007 EventsDecember
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