WILMINGTON, New York — Upon the departure of recent spring-like conditions, snowmakers were back at work Monday night at Whiteface, the Olympic and Winter Goodwill Games mountain, in anticipation of three solid months of skiing and riding on the greatest vertical drop in the east.

Guns and hoses have been pumping the white gold since Monday night on trails such as Easy Street, Broadway, Lower Valley, Mixing Bowl and Mountain Run. Kids Kampus was scheduled to be added on Tuesday night.

“After the recent weather, we want to get all of our bread and butter trails back into great shape,” said Whiteface General Manager Jay Rand.

In recent years, Whiteface, managed by the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), has jacked up its snowmaking system to allow more water to enter the intake. In the summer of 2006, a water line from the Bear trail to near mid-station was changed from 12 inches to 18 inches. Similarly, work was completed in summer 2005 to allow additional water to enter the system at the mountain’s base. The sum total of all this has placed Whiteface in a position to quicken its recovery time. The addition of four groomers in the past two years enables the staff to offer velvet-like conditions.

“We’ll make snow around the clock,” continued Rand. “Our ultimate goal is to expand the terrain. To do this, all we need is Mother Nature to cooperate and, from the forecast, it looks like she’s going to be a little more agreeable.”

Despite the inclement weather which ended Monday, the mountain has offered over 20 trails and six lifts, and has operated daily since December 5. The resort opened for Thanksgiving weekend and then closed for several days.

For more information, including conditions, pod casts, web cams, events and more, please log on to www.whiteface.com.