On Snow Reporters Say Conditions are GREAT!

Lorrie Tomlinson reports from Ski Beech:

It was snowing at Ski Beech on Thursday. Avery County schools were cancelled due to the weather and I believe all the kids met at Beech. Men’s Day attracted a lot of guys too. The place was crowded! There were waits in the lift lines, with the wait at the quad the worse. Lift ops did the best that they could. With that many people, you just have to patiently wait your turn.

Lane Passmore reports from Hawksnest Thursday:

My friend and I headed up to Hawksnest Thursday night and got some pretty good runs in!! The conditions were just as you guys said they would be-the best of the season!! The temps went down to 17 chilly degrees. Snowmaking was in full force!!! We went down Merlin first and it was very nice, good coverage all around.

Next, we checked out Sock-Em-Dog and it was in great shape as well. Top Gun was not open but we decided to try it out anyway, and it has a killer base!!  The good folks at Hawksnest said it will be well groomed and open on Friday.!!

We had a good night and it looked like another night of skiing had ended when my buddy realized that somewhere on a dark and now closed ski run he had lost his keys. The closest replacement key was 3 hours away.  Wth a sinking feeling we searched everywhere. No luck. We decided to walk to the clubhouse to check out our options and much to our SURPRISE someone had found our key and turned it in.  I just want to say "Thanks" to the person who took the trouble and saved our night.

Lorrie Tomlinson reports from Appalachian Wednesday:

Awoke Wednesday morning to snow flurries. Two hours later, arrived at App Ski Mountain as the Ashe County students were finalizing their rentals. Simultaneously, kids laughed and clicked their boots into the bindings. The French Swiss instructors were teaching many beginners. An elite few performed tricks in App’s well manicured terrain park. App was not crowded today and there was no wait for the lifts. Conditions were near perfect. Although the flurries did not amount to any accumulation during the day, the local news has announced a snow advisory for Wednesday night. Thursday should be another great day on the slopes.

David Long reports from Ober Gatlinburg on Wednesday:

The snow at Ober Gatlinburg is continuing to be amazing.  Ober Chute opened this afternoon with some amazing conditions on it.  The slope was groomed and then covered in loose new man made snow.  Some great turns on that run.  Suddenly Ober feels like a much larger area.  All the runs were in great condition with the exception of Mogul Ridge.  The Ridge was freshly groomed and with the steepness of the run the groomer tends to loose control and slide, which leaves ice chunks down the center. Luckily today this was VERY limited and was easily marked off by ski patrol.  Give the area of chunks about one more day and it should be fine.  The rest of the Ridge was amazing giving room to actually carve down.  Early evening snow began to fall and fall heavily.  It was a very fluffy snow which quickly began to accumulate.  At 10:00 pm when the area closed about 2 inches had already fallen with more coming down very steadily.  Lower Bear has had snowmaking the past couple of nights to lay down a small base.  It is expected to open for the weekend… maybe sooner depending on snowmaking.  Ober is seriously experiencing the best conditions in two years!  Once Lower Bear opens from top to bottom (Ober Chute to end of Lower Bear) is .95mi long, which is very long for such a small area.  Hopefully the snow forecasted for this weekend will dump a lot of fresh stuff to play on!  Enjoy the snow!

Tommy Miller reports from Ski Beech Thursday Morning:

Conditions were great this morning at Beech.  There were 2 or 3 inches of fresh snow and it snowed the whole time I was there.  I was the first person on the lift and had the place to myself for quite awhile.  All the trails were in great shape with Southern Star being the best.  Can’t beat free skiing on a day like today!  Conditions are the best they’ve been all year.

Tommy Miller double dipped and skied App too:

I double dipped today, Beech in the morning and App at night.  Like Beech, conditions at App were near perfect.  Nice soft powder.  They were making snow, but it wasn’t much of a problem and actually made for some real nice powder in spots.  Crowds weren’t too bad either.  Great night!

Christian Davies reports from Sugar Mountain :

I must say that I was VERY impressed by SkiNC’s new policy of not giving anything away to Sugar, cause they don’t give those expensive tickets away!  I am always amazed that Ray Costin allows Sugar’s management to play the way they do.  Oh yea, after that little diatribe I must admit that like you guys I love Sugar’s terrain and after all that is why they can get away with such bad attitudes up there.  The conditions were in a word AMAZING!  After reading your new policy I will have to suck it up and have a new policy of my own.  I won’t ski Sugar again until they join your network.  After seeing that it is a personal thing, since your offer is pretty easy to swallow, I am boycotting Sugar.  Anyone want to join me?

Roberta Sinclair reports from Sugar:

I read your front page press release and I say way to go skinc!  Don’t shoot me but my boyfriend and I skied Sugar today and the conditions were awesome – simply awesome!  About 2-3” of snow fell overnight and that and snowmaking made for some truly great conditions.  Probably the best conditions since late last winter when all the snow fell at once. This will be my last runs at Sugar this season as I will not ski there anymore. I guess I’m principled that way.  Why support a place that won’t replace my favorite source for my ski addiction? I will be spending my money at App, Hawksnest and Beech.  Kudos, skinc.

Tina Robertson reports from Snowshoe Mountain :

Good Lord is this place covered in snow!  I rode up from Charlotte , and there was snow everywhere along the way but once you get to the top goodness is there lots of snow!  The slopes were great, the day was great and I’m not sure I’m going home!  Okay I will, but not till Sunday!  More reports to come!

On-Snow Reporters:

We will keep a log of the best reporter’s submission, photos and reports. Trust us it is way to time consuming to post every pic…but send them…because we are tallying the scores.  The winner of the Best On Snow Reporter for 2005-2006 will win $1000 in cash, a FREE Getaway Vacation and more.  The contest will run from now through March 1st and we will choose the winner.  Our choice will be based on the following and IN THE ORDER of importance.

Quality of Photos

Quality of Reports (well written, informative, unbiased)

Number of Photo Submissions

Number of Reports

Extra points will be given for getting smiling faces in the photos and including names and cities where you can.

Extra points will be awarded for creative ideas.

We will choose the winner based on how helpful and informative the reports have been.

As of 02/10/2006 here are the top vote getters. (We will only document the top three to five here throughout the season…and we may begin posting the top ten, depending on how close results are.)

We have a very close race going right now with only a few points (a day or two of posts) separately the top three.
 
1. Lorrie Tomlinson
2. Kent Jackson
3. Mark McKelvy
4. Christian Davies
5. David Long