Story by Mike Doble – [email protected]
Cold temps mean that the snow should be set up very nicely this morning. Today is the last day of snow ops for several ski areas. Be sure to check the report below for more details as things look pretty darn good when you consider the weather, etc.
JUST "HOW BAD WAS IT?" —
I had a few emails this week from you guys who asked about how much snow fell on the season and how "OFF" this season was compared to an average snowfall season. The first number is how much snow fell this season and then we show you the average and percentage this season.
All season long we kept reporting on how the upper tier of resorts from Winterplace Resort NORTH were getting colder temps and more natural snow than those from the Virginia ski areas SOUTH. The numbers below definately support that accessment as Wisp Resort (which is the northernmost ski area that we cover) saw the highest percentage of snowfall compared to an average season with 75% of normal. Canaan and Timberline are the next northernmost resorts and they had the second highest percentage at 73.4% of normal.
It’s amazing to see that Snowshoe is next and so on…
Check it out and you can see why some ski areas have already called it quits and why those that are ceasing snow ops today – are doing so. (Of course a downturn in skier visits have a lot to do with it as well.)
110.2" – Canaan Valley Resort – Avg: 150" / 73.4%
110.2" – Timberline Resort – Avg: 150" / 73.4%
102.0" – Snowshoe Mountain – Avg: 180" / 56.7%
75.0" – Wisp Resort – Avg: 100" / 75%
53.5" – Winterplace Resort – Avg: 100" / 53.5%
44.2" – Beech Mountain Resort – Avg: 80" / 55.2%
37.7" – Sugar Mountain Resort – Avg: 78" / 48.3%
18.7" – Appalachian Ski Mountain – Avg: 50" / 37.4%
15.0" – Wintergreen Resort – Avg: 34" / 44.1%
14.0" – The Homestead Resort – Avg: 50" / 28%
13.3" – Wolf Ridge Resort – Avg: 65" / 20.4%
12.0" – Cataloochee Ski Area – Avg: 40" / 30%
11.0" – Massanutten Resort – Avg: 35" / 31.4%
9.0" – Ober Gatlinburg – Avg: 35" / 25.7%
5.0" – Bryce Resort – Avg: 30" / 16.7%
1.0" – Sapphire Valley – Avg: 30" / 3%
Here are some notables for today:
Appalachian Ski Mountain – 100% Open plus Ice Skating. That means that all three terrain parks are open as well. Reporting 33-61" base. Two more weeks to enjoy App as they plan on operating until March 25th.
<Beech will close today in pretty nice looking shape.
Beech Mountain Resort – 9 of 15 trails open. Today is Beech’s last day of the season and they are offering free lifties to anyone who shows up today. Beech was grooming at 8:17am and things look pretty good for their last day.
Cataloochee Ski Area – 12 of 16 trails open with some terrain park features available. Day sessions only today. Reporting 18-50" of base and things look VERY NICE. Cat plans to operate until March 25th.
Sugar Mountain Resort – 14 of 20 trails open for day sessions and there will be night skiing and snowboarding available as well. Tubing and Ice Skating are open as Sugar continues to look pretty nice with good coverage on their open terrain.
They are reporting – SUPER AWESOME SLOPE CONDITIONS AGAIN TODAY. We wouldn’t go quite that far without adding the words "considering the temps and how late in the season we now are". But things do look darn nice…period…at Sugar.
There’s no word yet on a closing date for Sugar but we think that it will likely be March 25th. Can’t see them really stretching it to April 1st.
Sapphire Valley and Wolf Ridge are already closed for the season.
THE VIRGINIA RESORT REPORT
All of the Virginia Ski Areas will call it quits after today’s sessions.
<Massanutten Resort this morning!
Bryce has 5 of 8 trails open.
Massanutten has 6 of 15 trails open and tubing.
The Homestead has 3 of 10 trails open.
Wintergreen Resort has 12 of 26 trails open and tubing.
WEST VIRGINIA RESORT REPORT
Canaan Valley Resort will close after today’s sessions. They have 15 of 39 trails open for today.
Snowshoe Mountain Resort continues to look very nice with 56 of 50 trails and all of the mountain fun of terrain park, tubing and snow mobiling all open! Snowshoe has now decided to offering snow sports fun until March 25th when they will end their ski and snowboarding season.
Timberline Resort – Tom Blanzy’s crew still has the mountain in fine shape with 27 of 40 trails operating. They have a "Wendy’s GS Race" going on today; their Snowy Luau Festival is plannings for March 17th and they have a Local’s Cup Race scheduled for March 24-25th. We’re thinking March 25th will be Timberline’s final day of the season.
Winterplace Resort – Travis emailed us about how nice Winterplace is still looking on Saturday! They offer 24 of 27 trails and snow tubing for today. Travis wrote, "Things at Winterplace are great! Today I made several laps on Turkey Chute which has some really nicely spaced bumps. We still have a lot of snow left on the mountain and this week should be great. I have attached a few shots from today."
We’re thinking you guys will agree that there’s PLENTY of snow at Winterplace. Go get it!
See: http://highcountrywebcams.com/webcameras_winterplace.htm
Wisp Resort is open with 21 of 32 trails and tubing and ice skating and mountain coastering.
SkiMail me if you feel the need at [email protected] or [email protected]