Cloud Splitter

Cloud Splitter, originally uploaded by vskiran.

This is the landing spot off the gondola at the top of little whiteface mountain. You could easily see why this place is called as the cloud splitter. It was quite an interesting moment. On this side of the mountain, the sky was a clear blue while the other side was quite hazy and dull.

It was so beautiful at this spot that I just kept clicking. When I got back to review my images, I kept wondering about the missing gondola in the shot. Then I realized that it's behind the fence. You could also see a bunch of skiiers checking out the trail map. It's so important to know the map. You dont want to end up infront of a double diamond trail when you are not yet ready for it. I hope to be good enouth to safely ride most slopes by next year :). But for now I stayed on the blue ones.

There was one surprise at this spot, my cell phone coverage was perfect. I wonder if there was a cell phone base station hanging around closeby.

snowboarder on little whiteface

snowboarder on little whiteface, originally uploaded by vskiran.

This is the view of whiteface mountain from little whiteface. It was a hazy day and the peak is completley shrouded in clouds. Incidentally the ski resort names this spot as cloud splitter.

You could literally see the clouds seated right next to you at this elevation. Thats for another picture.

I really wanted to ski down the peak shown in the picture but it was closed by the time I felt confident to go up there. Thats definitely where I would be my next time.

Lake Placid view from Whiteface Ski Resprt

Lake Placid view from Whiteface Ski Resprt, originally uploaded by vskiran.

This is an observation spot situated at the top of little whiteface mountain within the ski resort. This day was very cloudy windy and snowing a bit. One can get to this spot using the gondola from the foot of the ski resort. It serves access to a blue and couple of black diamond ski slopes. This was my first time skiing down from these heights. If one does not want to ski down, the resort does allow one to use the gondola back down the hill.

I must say that it is quite a bit of fun to ski when its snowing a bit. Fresh snow is so soft, i didnt even mind falling down a few times. Its definitely one of the best times I had on a ski slope. I will be uploading more pics from this spot soon.

Lake Placid from Whiteface Mountain

Lake Placid from Whiteface Mountain, originally uploaded by vskiran.

I shot this while climbing the final steps to the whiteface summit. It was just a gorgeous view of lake placid from this vantage point. The lake itself was completley forzen. This lake is quite huge and has three islands in between it. Everytime I imagine this view, it fills my heart with awe and wonder. I cant wait to get here in summer.

Even though the sun was bright and it was a clear day, the view was quite hazy. The sun was located right above our head, making it difficult to make a picture with lot of detail. All I had to do was to pull out my polarizer out of my bag and slap it infront of my lens. But it never occured to me then. I was definitely overwhelmed by the beauty of the surroundings, my photographic instincts were definitely subdued a little bit. Further the extremely cold winds along with my frozen hands made my mind quite numb. At times I really had to tell myself to think. No wonder many people behave a little crazy when they try to climb peaks like the Mount everest. This hike has definitely taught me a lot about hiking in dead winter.

Whiteface Castle

Whiteface Castle, originally uploaded by vskiran.

The whiteface castle is about 4600Ft above sea level. I shot this picture when we were about 1.5 miles below the summit. As we got to the top, the wind was literally blowing us away. The final turn completely changed the circumstances. It was icy and we were struggling to hold our grip because of the gushing winds. At times the sound of the wind was deafening. Our heads were cold and we were holding it tight to keep it warm. We never hiked at these temperatures and our inexperience really showed up. We had lots of water, but it was of no use because it was completely frozen. We did keep the bottles close to our chest to keep them warm, but that didnt help. Supposedlly salty drinks like Gatorade would freeze slower, but even this drink was frozen at this temp. I just wanted sip but couldnt get it. Fortunately my friend brought a few choclate cookies, they really helped bring our energies back up. By this time my hands were frozen too. My fifty dollar ski gloves with two layers caught ice at the finger tips and started tearing apart. This is the reason why I got sore finger tips. I wonder if this is because of the sun. Even though the sun is nice it can hurt you at times. The little ice it melts at times can get into your shoes and gloves and eventually it gets frozen. At times I didnt know weather to feel happy about the bright sun or sad. Fortunately I had a second pair of gloves (normal fleece ones) that helped me while getting down the hill.
I would say that it was purely our mental energies that helped us scale this mountain on this day. I definitely wished it was warmer than -30/-40 degrees Celcius.

Getting to the castle was where the hike would end for many but there were some more steps to climb to get to the upper dome, which is like 300 feet above the castle. Next we pushed to walk up these steps.

View of Whiteface Castle at the summit

View of Whiteface Castle at the summit, originally uploaded by vskiran.

We were about 2/3rds of our way up when we stopped at lake placid turn along the toll road. Once again the vistas were just gorgeous. Here you could see the whiteface castle in distance.

We were hiking this mountain using snow shoes (the fancy orange ones), which provide strong grip on snow and ice when hiking a rough terrain. We loved these shoes on our hike up the marble mountain the day before (more about it later). Given that the toll road is not very steep, it turned out to be a bad idea. They really slowed us down. However they were definitely better than just using our hiking shoes. We had water proof hiking shoes that were rated to work upto -20F, but they were no match to the cold weather on this day. Even though they stayed relatively dry, our toes felt really painful and frozen at times. Fortunately we had a few chemical warmers, which made a whole world of difference. I put on the warmers under my wollen socks below my toes after hiking for about 2 miles. It had an immediate effect and my toes felt much better. I would definitely recommend carrying a lots of these on every winter hike. Without the warmers our hike would definitely have ended prematurely.

Later on we came to know from the other hikers that cross country ski's are the best way to go up this route. They not only speed up your hike , its a lot of fun coming down the hill with those on. Of course one better be good with their ski's, or else he/she might end up seriously hurting themselves. The valley is definitely not that friendly.

It was really cold and this was one of the very few moments that I took the face mask out for the picture. It was quite icy at this elevation and I took the opportunity to lie down a sec with the castle in the background.

We went Hiking in Snow

We went Hiking in Snow, originally uploaded by vskiran.

Me and a good friend of mine went hiking up the Whiteface mountain in Adirondacks New York. The mountain is about 4900 Feet above sea level. The snow was just fantastic. This particular day the weather was extremely cold. I was told that the wind chill was about -30 to -40 degrees celcius at the top of the mountain. The good news was the sun, it was bright and the vistas were beautiful and clear. This is my first time hiking in dead winter at such temperatures. I dont think we were quite prepared for the extreme weather but our common sense did provide us with good guidance. We not only got to the top of the mountain, we are still in one piece. It was one fantastic hike. I have a lot to say but my finger tips are still sore from the trip and my body would love a nice knead. Fortunately I captured some nice pictures along my hike. More pictures and experiences to follow.

Yes, thats my friend in the picture. He kept hiking and I kept taking pictures on the way. We both hiked it at our own pace, taking breaks at every beautiful spot.