Whiteface opens this weekend. We chat with the new operations manager
Nov 14, 2025 —
Saturday is opening day at Whiteface Mountain. The state-run ski center in Wilmington has been upgrading its snow-making technology in recent years. That, paired with recent cold temperatures, has allowed crews at Whiteface to make enough snow to open this weekend.
Emily Russell spoke with Nick Zachara, the Operations Manager at Whiteface, about early-season conditions and his decades-long passion for snowmaking.
NICK ZACHARA: We have good temperature up high on the mountain, so we’re able to make snow up there and do what we can, pull water out of the river and pump it all the way up the mountain and make the best use of what temperatures and elevation we have. We’ve been able to do that starting on November 1st, which was when we fired the guns up there, so that was our earliest fire-up ever, which we were excited about.
That happened just 28 days after we had 8,000 people here for a Mountain Bike World Cup. To be able to turn things around that quickly is a big effort, and I have a lot of respect for the hard work that went into that by our snow-making crew and trail crew, a lot of work from those guys.
EMILY RUSSELL: What made that possible, that early snow-making start date? Was it technology? Was it temperatures?
ZACHARA: Yeah, over the past few years, we’ve gone through a pretty major modernization of our snow-making system. We’re replacing a lot of old 70s, 80s-era snow-making pipe on the mountain that we were not able to put high volumes and pressures to. Over the past few years, we’ve gotten a lot of that off the mountain. We’re almost done with getting all of that off the mountain, which is a big effort.
Being able to push more water at a higher pressure further up on the mountain has made that possible. We’ve just been able to push that water up there and utilize that cold air we’ve been seeing early season up high on the mountain. 3,000 ft up from the bottom is a lot different than it is down here. During those early snow-making days, it felt like late fall down here and mid-winter up high. So, we’re making the best of our elevation.
RUSSELL: As we’re talking, it is snowing down here at the bottom of the mountain. How helpful is that up top? Or is it more about the cold temps?
ZACHARA: Yeah, definitely this time of the year it’s more about the cold temps. The snow definitely helps. We won’t say no to it, that’s for sure, but the name of the game early season is definitely consistent cold. We’ve probably gotten a foot and a half of new snow up there, which is awesome, but this mountain is very rugged and rocky and there are a lot of holes and jagged rocks, so getting all of that covered up with snow, we’ll certainly take that natural snow, but we’re looking for that cold for sure.
RUSSELL: What will be open for skiers in these early weeks before the base is really covered?
ZACHARA: We’re starting off by uploading and downloading skiers on the facelift just to take advantage of our elevation. As temperatures allow, we’ll start making snow down to the bottom. We’re going to tie in the Bear Den Learning Center right off the bat and send skiers and riders down through that part of the mountain, which will help solidify that connectivity with the Bear Den Learning Center early on in the season, which is really important for us.
Off the top, we’ll have Paron’s and the Follies open, which is cool to have two routes off the top for opening day. And we’ll be working through the valley there with Lower Northway off the bat and Excelsior, Victoria, and Essex soon after. Then, from the Legacy Lodge down, it’ll be Boreen over to Bear Den, and we’ll add on Fox and Brookside shortly after that.
RUSSELL: You’ve been skiing this week. What’s it been like? What are the conditions like up there?
ZACHARA: We took one run with some of our key staff this morning to have a look at things. It looks good up there. There’s a lot of natural snow and snow that we’ve made as well. There wasn’t great visibility today, but hopefully that clears up. It’s exciting to see that much snow up high in the mountain and we’re really excited to get it pushed out and groomed out and see everybody out smiling and having fun on it.
RUSSELL: So, you are relatively young and relatively new to this position, right?
ZACHARA: I am.
RUSSELL: And you started as an intern at ORDA and I heard that snow-making dates back to your days in college at St. Lawrence University?
ZACHARA: It did. Yeah, I moved to Whiteface this summer, in July. I previously came from the Olympic Jumping Complex, where I spent a number of years in the ORDA Events Department before that. I spent some time at Gore before that, just as a part-time train park groomer, and I was an intern for a summer, as well, during one of my years at St. Lawrence.
And yes, I did make some snow at St. Lawrence, but it does predate that to my time in my front yard back home at my parents’ house. This will be my 20th year having some sort of involvement with snowmaking.
RUSSELL: Wait, what? Go back to that childhood snow making.
ZACHARA: Yeah, when I was 9, my dad and I figured out a little homemaking snow gun off an air compressor in the garden hose and we didn’t have a ton of snow in the yard to work with and saw it happening at the ski areas and I wanted to do it myself, too, so I could get some turns in after school. It’s turned into a career for me.
RUSSELL: Where was that?
ZACHARA: I grew up in New Jersey, so not a lot of snow, but we’d get some cold every now and then and yeah, I was hooked. We got soaking wet and made a little bit of snow and it’s been cool to see a dream and a passion when I was little turn into something that I’m still super passionate about and lucky to get to be paid to do, to play in the snow every day. It’s pretty cool.
RUSSELL: Do you have any hopes going into this year, your first season in this role and with the new technology at the mountain? What are you hopeful for this season?
ZACHARA: I’m hopeful for as much cold and snow as we got last year. That was certainly a good January and February, and if we get anything close to that again, it’ll make my life a lot easier.
The teams here are pretty dialed in and really good at what they do, and allowing them to continue doing that and be professionals in their certain specialities on the mountain is going to be key for me and making sure that Whiteface is successful again this year. They’re starting to get this modernized snow-making system really figured out, and they’ve done a great job learning the ins and outs of it.
Snow makers made snow on every trail we could last year, and I’m hoping to do the same again this year and keep the groomers busy pushing all that snow out.
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