Rob Kloby was at Wisp!
What a day at Wisp yesterday (Thursday 12/22), the conditions were excellent! Temperatures climbed into the 30’s yesterday with plenty of blue skies, sunshine and no wind (until the sun started to set) which made for a very "warm" day of skiing and riding. Today and tomorrow the temps are heading for the upper 30’s, if not the 40 degree mark and I’m looking at plenty of sunshine this morning. Of the 32 trails we only saw three closed for grooming. Surface conditions are great, obviously a packed base with loose, powdery granular on top of most trails and slopes. You’ll find a few icy spots here and there but nothing out of the ordinary and certainly nothing extreme. Lift lines, what lift lines? I’m sure that will change next week but this week you ski down grab a chair and head back up. At the end of the day thats worth at least 4 or 5 additional runs! The more I report the less time I have on the mountain and the lifts open in 20 minutes, until next time…
Heidi Hatcher was at Sugar:
Thursday saw a clear, sunny day on the slopes. Blue skies shone on fairly crowded terrain as folks from all over the southeast flocked to the ski resorts for this holiday season. Sugar was a bit icy towards the top today (Northridge, Switchback, Upper Flying Mile), but numbers of skiers enjoyed the powder on the lower slopes. The day was particularly enjoyable as temperatures rose and snow blowers were turned off. Although the slopes were a bit more crowded today than they have been, lift lines were still just a couple of minutes long.
The slopes were empty for the night session at Sugar, though, and conditions are sure to improve as snow guns were turned back on and will likely run through the night.
Mark McKelvy reports on Appalachian:
I was up really late Sunday night, so I slept in and only went up to App for a half day. I had a slight delay getting there because about halfway down the Blue Ridge Parkway it was closed and I had to turn around and go back through Boone. When I got to App it was a nice sunshiny day with just a tad bit of wind. The parking lot was abut half full, but it wasn’t crowded at all. It was cold enough that the snow stayed good too. I was surprised to see that App was 100% open including the terrain park which I thought was still under construction. They now have 2 rails and a box on Strudel, the beginner slope, and they have 2 rails and 3 kickers on Appaljack where the park it traditionally located. They also have a few mounds of snow there were they will be adding more features. I am noticing a trend where every time I go riding somewhere there is a really small young child ripping it up on a snowboard making me look bad. There was boy probably only about 6 maybe only 3 feet tall doing tricks on the box and rail. That is how you get good! The day was over too soon since I got there so late so I will have to get back up there soon to make up for it.
Doug Olsson was at Wolf Laurel –
Hey guys! Im Doug and I live in the Weaverville area of WNC. I was just up on the Wolf today… beautiful day.. great temps…and snow was being made most of the day I think!.. My only issue with the Wolf…is that A. they tend to make snow even when temp conditions are different on different parts of the mountain!.. It seems to be either all or nothing!.. Now the top area might have the coldest temps and be great for making snow….but down lower…it is coming out more like wet slushy mess!.. And then it FREEZES… causing those areas that are excessively "wet".. to become as hard as solid concrete!.. Dont get me wrong… I like the ambience and the slope configuration of Wolf alot….plus it is only 30 mins from my house!.. But darn it!… knock off the "water guns"…whne temps are climbing!..keep `em going in areas where temps are cold enough!.. That is ALL I ask…. is that too much?>. thnaks guys!..
Lane Passmore was at Sugar Tuesday Night:
I went up to Sugar last night with my frind Avery Payne. We found the conditions to be pretty good!! We arrived about 7:00 pm and headed straight to the top of Northridge and only found a few icy patches on the way down. They have a very good base going and we were loving it the whole ride down. We went down Big Red next. The snow guns were blowing down the left side and that left the right side wide open! That made for some really great runs! As the temps dropped to about 17 degrees, people started leaving a little early and left the slopes wide open for us. We had a great time and look forward to skiing this again this weekend.
Kent Jackson was at Sugar on Wednesday: He’s an instructor there!
I was at Sugar all day today. The conditions were great and the crowd was thin which meant fairly short lift lines. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. The terrain park is open and they are allowing folks with 2 things on their feet (skis) in there this year. I have a few good shots I will send. Little Nell and Whoopdedoo are also open. Looks like Bolderdash will be opening pretty soon too!
Mark mcKelvy at Hawksnest on Wednesday:
I went back to the ‘nest again today. I arrived around 10:00 AM and it was a perfect day. Temps just below freezing to keep the snow nice, no wind, and lots of sunshine. And of course front row parking and no crowds. Shortly after hitting the slopes a lady named Kristen said she recognized me as one of those "SkiNc’ers". She must have seen my avitar on the messageboard. She doesn’t post on the board, but she visits the site regularly. She had her two daughters skiing with her today as well. So, I started off just charging from top to bottom many times while nobody else was on the hill and then started hitting the terrain features later on. I made so many laps today it was ridiculous and the snow stayed nice and chalky until the sun started to go down and then it hardened up a little bit and conditions became variable. They have made mountains of snow over on Soc-Em-Dog and it looks like all they need to do now is groom and shape it up. I spoke with Duggan, Hawksnest’s mountain manager, on the way up and he said they hope to open the terrain park over there in the next day or two. I can’t wait as it should be good. So I had another great day at the ‘nest and will hopefully be going somewhere Christmas Eve and Christmas day this week.
Lorrie Tomlinson at Ski Beech:
On Wednesday, the first day of winter delivered a clear, blue sky at Ski Beech. Incredible packed powder conditions covered the trails. The Christmas crowd has arrived and so have the holiday rates. Lift lines were encountered, but the wait was reasonable, for this time of year. The terrain park was open. Many boarders and skiers (yes, skiers are allowed) were catching some air on the first jump in the Meadows park. The half pipe had plenty of snow too. Coverage on Southern Star looked great and should open soon, maybe as early as tomorrow.
Rob was at WISP:
Good morning from Deep Creek Lake/McHenry, Maryland home of Wisp Ski Resort. Please pardon the delay in reporting but it has been difficult to find an internet connection. We’ve been skiing since Sunday and conditions couldn’t be better! Generally speaking Wisp has been operating on about 20 to 24 of the 32 trails, closing some on a daily basis for snow making and grooming. Expect almost all trails to open with the holiday season fast approaching as there is plenty of top to bottom coverage. Wisp’s snow making sysytem is incredible as we’ve witnessed 10′ high mounds of snow being made in a 24 hour window prior to being moved and groomed. Also open this year is the new North Camp ski area, comprised of 10 trails; 7 green, 2 blue, 1 black and two quad lifts to get you back to the top. If you haven’t skied Wisp you should! The conditions are excellent, lift lines have been non existent and the cost is very reasonable. For those of you in the south (I live in Nashville) it!
Is not as far as you might think with easy interstate access from all directions. Add Wisp to your list of resorts to ski this season, you won’t be disappointed! Until next time.
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 12/23/2005 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.)
1. Lorrie Tomlinson
2. Mark McKelvy
3. Kent Jackson
4. Joe Harmon
5. Heidi Hatcher
6. Dave McConnell
7. Gresham Barker
8. Matthew Mottersby
9. Jesse Smole
10. Clinton Koontz
11. Jeremy Dickerson