Check out our full SNOW REPORT for all the deets for each and every ski area in the region.
I know that Kenny posted the news for our annual SkiSoutheast / Snowshoe Summit to be held March 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Click here to see more information and to join us.
We also sent out a ton of “invites to join us” via our skiMail mailing list. Kenny and our IT guys posted photos and content. They always use the photo of the core group that joins us for Sunday morning First Tracks…but in actuality, we usually have from 80-150 people join us for the three days of fun. I hope you can be among those to make it again this season.
Meteorologist, Brad Panovich will be with us again this season…as will Joe Stevens, Kenny Griffin and myself. We haven’t heard from David McCue, but we’ve expect David wouldn’t miss it.
If You Want to Join Us…Get With it!
I reached out to my buddy Frank DeBerry of Snowshoe earlier in the week about the Summit weekend and he quickly stated:
We’d of course like to do the Summit again this year! It’s been a fun way to kick-off March each year. I’ll let (our team) take care of setting it up. FYI, we’re really booking up fast for the weekend, so folks will have to move quickly. I wouldn’t doubt if we’re out of lodging within the next 10 days.
He’s not kidding! I went onto Snowshoe’s online reservation system and there are not tons of units left to book. We could be having an intimate ski weekend with a couple of dozen of our closest friends if you guys don’t jump on this.
The deal is awesome….20% off lodging, free Sunday lift pass, First tracks Sunday morning with nobody else on the mountain and lots of freebies from SkiSoutheast. So jump over to Click here to see more information and to join us.
Forecast Looks Good for Now AND Better Still for the End of the Month…
Our brother, Brad Panovich shared his Skier’s Forecast video on Friday evening, forecasting a wet weekend for most of the region. If you watch his forecast video he does talk about the weather being nice and cold for the end of the month – which sets up well for our SkiSoutheast / Snowshoe Summit to be held March 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
More about that in a bit. However, if you didn’t catch his forecast you can find it on the front page of the website and here below:
Base depths look great out there despite the rains of this last week. I know that Snowshoe and the WV ski areas received snow while the rest of us saw some rain, but all in all things look good out there – albeit wet today. However the base depths are way up there with Appalachian reporting more than 105″ of snow.
The amount of snow on the slopes around the region is impressive and that’s great because we’re looking at a period of about 14 days where temperatures for the North Carolina and Virginia ski resorts may not allow but a night or so of snowmaking over the next two weeks. The colder air is bottled up a bit north of the Virginia ski areas as places like Wisp Resort in Maryland looks like they will see as many as seven nights over the next two weeks when they should be able to make snow. (Of course that’s if they will take advantage of those snowmaking windows of opportunity.)
It will be borderline snowmaking ops for the entire region for these next two weeks, so I guess we’ll see how 40-50″ of base depths hold up.
It’s looking pretty wet out this morning as I toured the LIVE CAMS> http://www.resortcams.com/ski-cams/
However, like Brad said, get out early as the slopes themselves are in great shape.
Here’s a nice shot from 3 days ago from up at Beech Mountain with a view from the back of the 5506′ Skybar.
One of the Nicer Photos from Bryce Resort that we’ve seen. This was taken on Thursday.
Tammy Brown of Cataloochee Makes Us Smile!
She wrote:
YES, We Ski in the Rain!
We know the rain word is in the forecast, but yes we ski and tube in the rain!
Today we will be open on 17 slopes and trails are open from the top of the mountain down and have three aerial lifts and two conveyor lifts operating. Base is 46-76″ with machine worked surface. We offer three sessions of skiing, day skiing from 8:30am-4:30pm, twilight skiing from 1pm until 10pm and night skiing from 6pm until 10pm with a morning or afternoon half day rate also available.
Loved this photo from Tuesday/Wednesday at Cat:
AS MENTIONED, IT’S BEEN COLDER FURTHER NORTH…
As I updated the snow reports and came across David Lesher’s Canaan Valley weather content, all I can say is “I’m jealous.” They’ve seen snow on 8 of the 10 days of February! 18.3″ of snow has fallen up there just this month so far. You think West Virginia skiing probably looks pretty good? Yea, me too.
Canaan Valley Resort and Timberline Resort in Davis, WV have seen 96″ of snow on the season. Canaan is reporting 43 trails open and also 30KM of Cross Country Skiing open.
XC Skiing & Snowshoeing
Hours of Operation: XC Ski Center: 9am – 4:30pm
Snow Conditions: Open meadows open with 3″ – 6″ powder. Thin areas visible. Tree line trails open with 4″ – 7″ wet granular base.
Available Trails: 30 KM
Justin Harris has been doing an awesome job of providing fans of Canaan Valley with all of the snowy photos and videos this season. Check out this one from Thursday.
Kenny Hess and the guys at Massanutten are now copying someone…
They posted, “Mostly cloudy, underdeveloped snow arriving later today, highs near 50. Pacesetter Terrain Park will closed Sat – Sun for USASA event. The tube park will have extended hours today, open 9am – until midnight.
Live music from 2pm-4pm today either at Base Camp or Encounters depending on the weather. Snow Moon Fest activites continue today and tomorrow, to view the full event schedule visit . If you missed it, last nights torch light parade and fireworks were awesome!
I wish this camera was turned horizontally, but here is a nice video of their Torchlight parade last night:
Nice shot of their fireworks as well:
Snowshoe is being Snowshoe…
It might look a little damp at the 4848′ ski resort, but the crowds are already out in force. It’s 9am and the top of the mountain looks busy. Snowshoe is 100% open.
I never grow tired of this view from the basin at Snowshoe. By the way it was snowing at 9:08am as I was watching the LIVE CAM.
See: http://www.resortcams.com/webcams/snowshoe-basin/
Omni Resort Looking to Have Some Fun Today On and Off the Slopes
Join us at Kober’s at the Mountain Lodge Restaurant for a craft brewer’s lunch with chef’s featured items from the smoker.
Sugar is Still Being Sugar…
Conditions look great at Sugar today…but as I checked their snowfall numbers on the season, they are still report 46″ of snow on the season, compared to Beech Mountain’s 35″. Beech has 42.6″ compared to a local weather report that reflects those 35″. On the other hand Sugar has actually seen 40″ of snow, which means that they are still over-reporting snowfall by 6″ on the season.
CANAAN VALLEY’S ACCURATE REPORTING DRAWS “NEGATIVE” ATTENTION???
I’m not sure if Kenny mentioned this earlier in the week, but the Unofficial Networks people reported earlier in the week about Canaan Valley’s use of tenths of a inch in reporting snowfall. They posted:
“Can’t say we have ever seen this before. Canaan Valley Resort State Park has been sending out snow reports that include snowfall totals down to the .0 percent of an inch. Below are two of their latest snow reports. Needless to say, we are a little skeptical of the preciseness of these snow reports.
That being said, skiing 6.2″ of snow sounds a whole lot better than a measly 6″ of new snow.”
See that by clicking here:
http://unofficialnetworks.com/2018/02/07/west-virginia-ski-resort-is-reporting-snow-down-to-0-increments-as-in-8-9-of-new-snow/
What they don’t know – yet they negatively reported – is that Canaan Valley is only reporting the ultra-accurate snow reports that come from David Lesher’s Canaan Weather Data. See: http://data.canaanmtnsnow.com/
Now if only the peeps at Unofficial Networks would check in on Sugar’s reporting of a different flavor.
SOME NOTABLES:
Appalachian Ski Mountain
Join us at the Appalachian Ice Arena on Saturday, February 10th for a special Ice Skating session from 5-6:30. Hosted by the App Ski Race Team, all proceeds from this special session will go to the Appalachian Ski Education Foundation! – $10 session
Beech Mountain Resort
A new & unique full-day opportunity for kids to get a behind-the-scenes look at the terrain park & ride with the BMFT crew! Space is limited to the *FIRST 15* skiers & riders 6th through 12th grade who can ski or ride the entire mountain and can safely hit terrain park features. Click HERE for more information.
https://www.beechmountainresort.com/2018/01/22/park-crew-101-returns-february-11th/
More on Beech – the Oz Run is still open and I’ve got to get up there and ski it. It’s been a couple of years for me. Beech has got all of their lifts operating today EXCEPT for their High Speed Quad. Beech has been very transparent about the fact that they are not certain how soon it will get operational. Here’s the latest:
Lift 6 is open, providing full access to the summit. Lift 5, the Quad, is non-operational for the foreseeable future. We are working diligently to resolve the situation. Please check the slope report daily for updates on lift and terrain offerings. Thank you for your patronage and please contact us directly with further questions.
More About the Summit at Snowshoe
SkiSoutheast.com Summits are the “off-spring” of the original SkiNC Summit that began by a handful of diehard fans of the website who held the first ever summit at Hawksnest Resort in February 26th, 2005. That first gathering was attended by (8) people and was the brainchild of Dave McConnell, knowns as TeleDave on the SkiSoutheast.com messageboard.
The following season the event was held at Beech Mountain and was attended by 32 fellow, snow loving people. The following seasons saw the event increase in popularity with more than 300 people attending the 2010 Summit at Beech Mountain. Just one month later our 2nd Annual SkiSoutheast/Snowshoe Summit was attended by 198 people who booked lodging and attended the three day event.
What started out as a simple idea to meet new snow-loving friends has now morphed into an event that we hope to grow in years to come.
If you have anything to share (photos, videos, comments, questions), the best way is to email me at [email protected]
Also, be sure to join us on Instagram and Facebook and share your comments. Also, we invite you to check out our SnoForum (Messageboard) and JOIN FOR FREE and post your questions and meet fellow snow-loving friends.
Also, be sure to check out all of the LIVE CAMS at www.ResortCams.com and our weather content
https://www.skisoutheast.com/category/news/weather/ – Brad’s Skier’s Forecast