Well,

Finally did it.
Finally headed down the road to ski at Whitetail.
Haven't skied that hill for five or so years.
Last visit, I used a freebie pass I won at one of their now defunct mtn bike races, it's been that long. Back then, I was also trying to learn tele on a pair of 205 E99's w/ nnn-bc binders, what a fun day.

Pulled the trigger to make the trip after watching the recent weather, figured the constant cold of the last couple days would really help conditions. First run down Limelight had me concerned, lots and lots of bare hard spots from the day's traffic. Lost an edge and slid on a sheet of 'hardpack', pulling a buckle off my boot...oh well.
Next run found me headed over towards Drop In, where I found good snow, fresh man made under the guns. Nice lines to ski, kinda in the dark at spots. But good snow w/ little traffic, so able to let 'em run a bit thru there.

First run off the Expert Quad was Exhibition, again more bare spots connected by shluffy seams. Then I went over and tried out Bold Decision. What a blast! Blowing snow all up and down skier's left. Upper portion was great for big sweeping pow turns, then the steeper pitches offered some more technical line choice. Got to practice some jump/hop turns, a bit of bump technique and more GS styly turns in the soft snow towards the bottom. Made too many runs to count, skied right onto the chair all but once when it was stopped. Surprisingly, I lasted until last call on the Expert Quad, figured I woulda run out of gas before then. Final run down the mountain was on Home Run and there was opportunity to make some nice carving turns, better snow there than on Limelight. Temps were rising just a bit thru the night, snow that was blowing up top had a much lighter feel. A couple of the lower guns started blowing wet and heavy, creating some sticky patches here and there. Of course, I'm sure that's all been groomed in by now.

All in all, a great first night skiing at Whitetail. Kinda surprised to not see any other folks on tele, usually spy at least two or three other pinheads when at Roundtop. Definitely see more weeknight sessions happening once the night card kicks in and when conditions warrant the extra drive. WT is 115 mile roundtrip, vs 40ish for Roundtop, asleep by 10 vs 11:30ish. Can't wait until the weather turns back to our favor.

Thanks for the report. I was thinking about sneaking up to whitetial tonight, so your report was timely. Given the warm temps today and tonight, any thoughts as to whether it's worth a 90 minute drive? On a scale of 10 with 10 being the best whitetail ever offers, I'd settle for 6 or above.

skidmo,

sorry, really can't help ya.
Not familiar enough with WhiteTail's character to know/predict how things will ski today. Probably be ok during the day before things get scraped and troughed. But not sure how well conditions will hold up for a night session. Some stuff (Bold Decision, Drop In) skied at a 9/10, would need natural fluff to get the 10/10. The manmade pow was fun where it could be found, but there were also typical sections of hardpack and boiler sheets that I'd rate 5ish/10. Might average out to a strong 7/10 overall if you pick/find good lines. The lifty on the Expert quad told me they were shutting down the guns due to the warm up, so not sure how much more they blew last night and how well they groomed things.

Tough call for a 90min drive....