Lookout Mountain

Drew and I met up with our friends Emilie and Jesse at Whiteface this morning and were pleasantly surprised to find out that our friend Erica had a snow day and would be joining us as well.  We were all very excited to find out that today was also the first day that Whiteface Mountain would be operating their new lift, the Lookout Triple that takes you to a whole new trail area called Lookout Mountain.

Drew and Jesse rushed to get to the lift and ended up being a couple chairs in front of us, I think it's because they wanted to say they got to experience the new lift before us ladies.  At any rate, Emilie, Erica and I got on the lift smoothly and Emilie mentioned, "This is a really nice lift, good and quiet." I asked Erica what she thought of it and she simply said, "I like it,  it's good."  Emilie and Erica started discussing a television show that Emilie had been watching about ski area accidents and different chair lift rescues.  I quickly tuned them out because I wanted to enjoy the new lift without thinking, "What if this new lift fails on the first day of use?"  I decided to distract myself and take a picture of our dangling feet.

After reaching the end of the lift we were all anxious to check out the new "Wilmington Trail." As usual, I was at the tail end of the group with Emilie hanging back with me and we both really liked it, it was pretty mellow and the snow up there was great.  We caught up to Erica and the boys and everyone seemed to be digging it as well.  

This is a long trail that from top to bottom is over 2 miles!  Somewhere in the middle of our descent, the crowds started pouring in, probably because everyone wanted to try it out and it made me really thankful that I have mid-week days off.  Towards the end of the trail it kind of bottlenecks and I could see the potential on a weekend it becoming a little clogged when there's a bunch of people.  Drew thinks, "Lookout Mountain will change the way Whiteface is skied."  

Personally, I enjoyed taking Wilmington Trail on Lookout Mountain more than taking the Summit Chair and going down Follies and Paran's Run from Whiteface's summit, this new trail seems way more relaxing and fun.  I look forward to the day when the Triple Chair's newness fades away, holiday break is over, and I can have Lookout Mountain all to myself on a casual mid-week day off!