My son and I just took a weekend trip to Lake Placid and decided to spend a few days on the slopes at Whiteface Mountain. After doing some research, I contacted the mountain to enroll my 9 year old into the Snowboard Academy. They recommended early registration, so I registered over the phone a few days before the vacation. When we arrived at the mountain, we were rushed through the line since we already had a reservation. They had a great set up. The doors were numbered 1,2,3, etc. You registered at door 1, went to door 2 to get your rentals, and were directed to the appropriate age group (ours was door 3). They gave you an ID necklace which you needed to see your child, took lunch orders, and off he went! The Jr. Adventurers program offered a full day 830AM - 3PM including lunch, 4 hours of lessons, lift ticket and rentals for $109.00 per day. Pricey as it may seem, it was worth every penny. The instructors were GREAT! Very patient and the class sizes were small. I left my son and hit the slopes!

The mountain itself is HUGE! Tons of trails and the conditions were great. NO ice and it had a few inches of fresh snow. I had never been on such a large mountain before so decided to stick to the easier trails for a while. After a few times down the easier slope, I had my first problem. I broke a binding on my snowboard. My sons instructor recommended that I take it to the repair shop. When I made it to the shop, the attendant NATE was friendly, knowledgeable, and hooked my board up with a new binding at no charge. They had some great events going on throughout the day, so had tons of sponsors that were offering free merchandise. I decided to try out some harder terrain. I was SHOCKED to see that even on a holiday weekend, there were NO lines. A few times, I looked around and I was the ONLY person on the trail. There are over 70 trails available to ride. Plenty of easier trails for people that aren't that experienced (like me), but offered tons of expert trails, the even offered a mogul park, and off trail skiing. (To dangerous for me!).

I did however make it up to the summit of the mountain and was amazed at the view. It is storybook beautiful! Even though it was cold (-10), the sun always kept you warm once you were off the lift. They do have a heated gondola which is a godsend in that freezing cold wind! It took forever to get down the mountain with the multitude of trails. Every trail was easily marked so you had no problems with getting lost or taking a wrong turn and killing yourself on a double black diamond!

I stopped at the lodge for some lunch and was SO pleased to find they served Starbucks coffee had a GREAT selection of huge deli sandwiches.

The lodge at the Great Adventure kids area was wonderful. They have a huge fireplace (they could use some additional seating) and a decent selection of food. Try the Whiteface Chili, it was amazing!

I was so pleased with my experience; I would recommend any one with kids bring them to Whiteface. They also gave me a great discount on my lift tickets since I am Active Duty Military. Don't forget to bring your ID card! It is a great mountain for every level.

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