First Trax :: Daily News

Primo Conditions Greet Me on My First Day Back

02.4.13 10:16 AM

What a great way to come back to work!  I was on vacation all of last week, and like most people I was sort of dreading having to get back to the daily grind.  It's only natural after being off for 9 days in a row, especially considering the fact that I was snowboarding in knee to chest deep powder everyday last week in Utah.  However, I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see a blanket of white across the High Country on my drive up from Davidson.  I knew that the ski areas had been seeing snow the past few days, but I didn't think Boone would have as much snow on the ground as it does right now.  It's definitely helping my case of the Monday/first day back from vacation blues.

I was kind of out of the loop all last week about what was going on here.  The place I was staying at didn't have the greatest of internet connections.  I knew that it rained pretty hard on Wednesday and it was going to snow a little this weekend.  That rain appears to be a distant memory now as the SNOW REPORT page is looking pretty freakin good!  The system that brought snow over the weekend definitely over-produced.  Just about everyone has seen snow over the past several days and conditions are by far the best they've been all season.  I'm definitely stoked to see this!  The current NWS snow depth map below shows a good swath of snow across the Southern Appalachians.

The cams are looking mighty fine as well this morning.  Each one you look at is showing either some sweet looking corduroy or a combination of manmade/natural powder.  Dang, I really am glad to come back to conditions like these!  A quick word about the cams...I guess they were going down every so often last week?  I had a few emails about them and I think I already figured out the problem and rectified it.  I don't know what it is, but I feel like whenever I go on vacation something happens with them.  They should be good to go now though and are there for your viewing pleasure.

I've got some catching up to do so I'm going to quickly go over what's happening at the ski areas by state.  Here we go:

MARYLAND

Wisp Resort is showing 8 more inches of natural snow in the past 24 hours.  They are up and over the century mark this year for natural snow.  Awesome!  They're rockin' a 19” base (love that single number) and are only open for the day session today.

NORTH CACKALACKY

As I was talking about, things are looking pretty good here in NC.  All resorts, except for Sapphire, are reporting several inches of new snowfall in the past 24 hours.  App and Sapphire are the only two that are 100% open right now but Beech and Cataloochee aren't far behind and only need one additional trail each to get there.  I might have to head to Beech tonight for the night session.  It's been two years since I rode upper White Lightning.  I'm kind of stoked to ride it.


Beech posted this photo on their FACEBOOK PAGE of a "natural gap"
somewhere off of White Lightning.  It looks fun and I shall find it tonight!

TENNESSEE

Ober started off slow this year but they are looking pretty good now.  They too saw several inches of snow in the past 24 hours (3” to be exact) and are open on 7 of 9 trails today.

VIRGINIA

The Virginia resorts haven't seen quite as much natural snow as everyone else this year, but they have been killing it with snowmaking.  All have good bases and Bryce and Massanutten are actually 100% open.  The Homestead takes the cake for natural snowfall as they've seen 2.5” in the past 24 hours.


The Massanutten Base cam is showing some cold and snowy conditions
at the Virginia resort this morning.  This is still one of my top 3 favorite ski cams!

WEST VIRGINIA

And finally, but definitely not least, we have the West Virginia ski areas.  Each one has seen more natural snow in the past 24 hours.  It's been a very good few days for them as each resort has seen over a foot of new snow since Thursday.  Canaan is approaching two feet in the past 72 hours actually.  Canaan, Timberline, and Snowshoe are all up and over the century mark for natural snow this year.  West Virginia is definitely the best choice right now for skiing and snowboarding in the region, but then when is it not?  A few notables...I'm loving the single digit 20 inch base report from Snowshoe.  I'd imagine that's actually under-reported.  Also, Winterplace is the only ski area in the state that is 100% open as all of their 27 trails are open for business today.


The combination of intense snowmaking and natural snow has allowed
Winterplace to be the only resort in WV to be 100% open.  It's looking good out there.

Everyone enjoy their beginning of the week!

Email me at kenny@skisoutheast.com.