Appalachian and Sugar Mountain closed for this week – Snowshoe and Cataloochee Remain Open.

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Appalachian Ski Mountain and Sugar Mountain are closed until at least Saturday, December 2nd. We spoke about that possibility over the weekend as those two mountains only got in a few nights of snowmaking prior to opening. Then shortly after what amounted to really two nights of decent snowmaking, we saw a bit of rain and then Indian summer-like conditions. It was remarkable that they were able to make it through Sunday’s sessions.

We do have some colder air moving into the region around Friday night, but it is nowhere near as cold as forecasters were predicting earlier. Right now, our best guess is that snowmaking ops will not kick in until late Friday night or early Saturday morning across the North Carolina mountains…and (don’t shoot the messenger) it MAY not get cold enough to make snow until Saturday evening or night. The lows Friday night across most of Western North Carolina is forecasted to be around 31° so who knows. You can bet if it’s possible to make snow the resorts will pull the trigger.

A more likely scenario is that resorts in North Carolina won’t make snow until sometime Saturday night. The good news is that at least each of the following few nights does offer some snowmaking temps in the upper 20s to around 30°.

If you are hoping or planning a trip to the North Carolina resorts for this weekend, we’d strongly suggest keeping an eye on our weather updates and right here on the update.

For the record, the two ski areas that made snow for a couple of weeks prior to this date (Cataloochee and Snowshoe) DO have enough snow to remain open.

Right now (Monday) Snowshoe will be the only ski resort in the Southeast and Mid Atlantic to be open today. Cataloochee is on their regular, early-season schedule wherein they do not open on Mondays. They plan to reopen on Tuesday. Snowshoe is offering five trails today and three lifts today. Their promotional update this morning claims to have the most open terrain in the region. Actually they have THE ONLY open terrain today!

Andrea Smith reports, “Conditions vary from groomed granular at the bottom to wet granular up top. The Skidder and Grabhammer will be running from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The terrain garden on Whistlepunk is open with 1 box and 1 rail! Please be aware of thin spots.”

While on the subject of Snowshoe, it does appear that the front will invade the Alleghany Mountains before we see the cold temps into North Carolina. It looks like the lows will be cold enough for Snowshoe to make snow Thursday night (and at least by Friday during the day and then possibly around the clock into the weekend.

We are already receiving some questions about the upcoming weekend as to who will and won’t be open and with how much snow, etc. We’re not Nostradamus, but it’s our best guess is that Cataloochee and Snowshoe Mountain will be open Friday and Saturday. We’re not confident that App and Sugar will get the snowmaking in that they need until Saturday night. If that’s the case, you may see them opt to stay closed and build base for the following weekend. That is JUST our call…so we’d suggest that you keep checking back here for updates and slope conditions…as well as the weather forecast.

TIME TO THINK COLD AND SNOW!

Until Next Time…

THINK COLD – THINK SNOW!

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For more information about the ski resorts of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic visit www.SkiSoutheast.com  

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