History

The Whaleback ski area was started in the 1970s, and operated continuously until 2001 when then-owner Timothy Herbert closed it. On 8 December 2004, Herbert sold Whaleback to Evan Dybvig, a former freestyle skier for the US Ski Team. The area is also jointly owned by Dylan Goodspeed and Frank Sparrow, both of whom have a skateboarding background, though Goodspeed is also the manager of on-mountain operations at Whaleback. In preparation for its reopening, $1 million was spent in renovating the area, which opened for the 2005-2006 ski season. Dybvig intended for the ski area to diversify its offerings into the freestyle sports market, including constructing an indoor sports facility. During the area's first two seasons, poor weather hurt it financially, leading to a program announced in August 2006 where individuals could pay to either place a plaque on or paint one of the chair's on Whaleback's chair lift. The ski area currently employs between five and nine employees, and has a revenue of between $500,000 and $1 million per year.

Mountain statistics

Whaleback has 30 trails, spread over 85 acre (34.4 ha) of skiable terrain. 28% of the trails are rated as easy, 39% are intermediate and the remainder are advanced. The longest trail is 1 mi (1.6 km) long. There are two terrain park

Terrain park

A terrain park is an outdoor area that contains terrain that allows skiers and snowboarders to perform tricks. Terrain parks have their roots in skateparks and many of the features are common to both. One of the first in-bounds terrain parks was the "Snowboard Park" built in 1990 at the Vail...

s, and 80% of the terrain has snowmaking

Snowmaking

Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a "snow gun" or "snow cannon", on ski slopes. Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow. This allows ski resorts to improve the reliability of their snow cover and to extend their ski...

 installed on it. There are three lifts: a double chair

Chairlift

An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel cable loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs...

, a magic carpet

Magic carpet (ski lift)

A magic carpet is a type of surface lift installed at ski areas to transport skiers and snowboarders up the hill...

 and a rope tow. The mountain's base elevation is at 1100 ft (335.3 m), and the summit is at 1800 ft (548.6 m), for a vertical drop of 700 ft (213.4 m). Whaleback has an average annual snowfall of 110 inches (279.4 cm).