The closure came as heavy winds hit upstate on Friday, downing trees on roads across the region and knocking out power for thousands of people. Much of northern New York was hit with widespread wind gusts of 40 and 50 mph, but at Whiteface Mountain, gusts peaked at 111 mph, according to Lauren Barnes, a sales and marketing representative at Whiteface Mountain.

For Whiteface Mountain, this wasn’t the case. The resort did not sustain any damage due to the high winds, Barnes said, and power outages were brief, only lasting a few hours on early Friday morning. 

“Yesterday mother nature threw us a bit of a mixed bag,” Barnes said in an email.

Barnes said the decision to close Whiteface Mountain was “multi-factored,” citing the consideration of factors like skiing conditions, weather and safety. Rain transitioned into snow once temperatures hit freezing mid-afternoon on Friday, she added, and groomers were able to re-set the surface to avoid ice build-up on the slopes. 

The Whiteface Mountain Ski Center is one of three ski areas managed by the state Olympic Regional Development Authority — the other two being Gore Mountain in North Creek and Belleayre Mountain in Highmount, in the Catskills. Gore and Belleayre did not close yesterday and did not face any damage due to the high winds, according to Darcy Rowe Norfolk, ORDA’s director of communications.

The Nordic Center at the Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg, located about half an hour south in Lake Placid, also closed yesterday. Norfolk cited high winds, power outages and fallen debris as reasons for its temporary closure. The weather also prompted the women’s singles Luge World Cup events to be pushed from Friday to Saturday, Norfolk said.

“It was nasty,” Norfolk said. “It was just a phenomenal feat from our staff to get that venue up and running. It’s been a rigor, but I’m really proud of them.”

The Whiteface Mountain ski area reopened Saturday morning, when it reported gradually diminishing winds, cloudy conditions and a high of 30 degrees as the expected weather conditions for the day. Barnes said Saturday that skiing conditions were “pretty good” on the mountain.

“Cold, rain and snow are the best words to summon up what has been going on the mountain in the last 24 hours, but we received new snowfall amongst the storm,” Whiteface Mountain’s Saturday morning snow report reads. “Today, we are in better spirits.”