Ski Southeast Messageboard

I'll begin by saying that I do not have any photos to attach to this TP, although I truly wish I had taken my camera.

As some of you may know Wolf Ridge was offering a pretty good Groupon for a Sunday ski session, so my wife and I purchased a couple lift tickets for under $30, which is about half of what a normal Sunday lift ticket would cost. Unfortunately that was the last positive comment you will most likely read in this report.

We began by looking at the Ski Report for Wolf which for a while now has been showing 100% Trails open, as well as both the Quad and Double lift running on weekends. We double checked the report before we began our 2 1/2 hour drive Sunday morning, so the fore mentioned info was current.

When we arrived at Wolf we found that both "The Bowl" which is one of the only two black diamonds and "Way Out" a mild Blue were not only closed, but had most likely been closed for a while because there where areas of the two trails that were solid mud, no snow whatsoever. "The Bowl" is really Wolf's only black due to the fact that their other listed black, "Upper Streak" is an (approx.) 30' connector between two blues that is more of a drop off than a trail. We were disappointed that Wolf was listing themselves as 100% open when they obviously weren't and won't be for awhile unless temps drop and stay low. As for the lifts, only the Quad was running not the Double, thankfully the crowd was light.

The only real black being closed was inconvenient, however the real disappointment came from the grooming. I'm not sure how they managed it, but somehow they groomed nearly every trail into a troth of sorts; with high sides and a narrow troth in the middle. Some of the trial were groomed so narrow that it was difficult to ski past the people sitting in the middle (Side note: snowboarders, please move to the side of the trail to sit down when the trail is only 8ft wide to begin with...thanks). If you ski/ride in any manner other than a perfectly straight line, you'll be running up the sides at Wolf.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about a day on the snow whenever and wherever I can go! I also know that all resorts are not created equal! I just want anyone who is considering Wolf to know that they might not get the exact experience they're expecting. If anything, take the time to actually call before you go instead of trusting they're online report.

Finally, to finish on a positive note, $26 for a Sunday lift ticket was a pretty good deal.

I was there sunday too...Wasn't too bad (glass is half full, half empty I guess). That being said, I only had to drive 45 min from AVL. Was a bit icy in spots, but there were NO crowds (love skiing on super bowl sunday!) but softened up as the day went on. Not too bad for $29. I agree the snow and grooming is better at Cat, but the terrain is more interesting at Wolf (Cat is really 3 runs named 14 different things...)

I went on Sat & agree with your report. The double was running on Sat but didn't really seem like many people were using it since the top off load didn't have a ramp. I would hate to see a busy day at Wolf since there is a major cluster at the bottom where people are heading to the beginner surface lift and where people are getting in line for the quad. I still had a great time at Wolf.

Sounds like Wolf is operating like normal. The time to go to Wolf is when mother nature provides a big dump, everything is poachable. This week might be the time!

dreamnofpow wrote:Sounds like Wolf is operating like normal.

Just what I thought, business as usual at Wolf. The little ski area that just can't.

I grew up surfing on the east coast (FL). Worked in the surf business for a bit, a long time ago. It was pretty common for our surf shops to exaggerate the surf conditions so the inland folks would come surf and hopefully stop and buy wax, boards and boardshorts, etc. Sounds like something similar going on there. Overstate the snowfall/conditions and terrain open and it may influence someones decision to go there over another hill that day.....

I try to keep in mind its east coast skiing and riding. I don't expect too much and am happy to make turns in the snow.

Yeah looks like they are back to there usual old selves. After the way they started they showed good initiative to make change and actually done what I would call good by there standards in January but definitely have started going back downhill which I hate to see since its just right across the state line from me. Will probably just start heading back to beech and sugar worth the extra drive in my opinion.