Mike Edwards reports from Sugar Mountain:
Sugar was great for skiing Friday. When I arrived there was hardly anyone there, the slopes were covered with fresh manmade powder and were neatly groomed.
The thin areas and bare spots from the previous weekend were gone! Sugar had several of their snowguns going early but they were turned off by mid morning. I was able to ski without snow blowing in my face and the conditions were the best I have seen in several weeks. The temperature rose throughout the day which made the snow pretty soft but it still held up pretty well. The afternoon brought more people but it wasn’t too bad. The lift lines were still relatively short, about 10 minutes was the longest wait and that was on the yellow lift. The green lift had very short lines, little or no wait. I would give Friday 2 thumbs up!
David Long reports from Ober Gatlinburg:
Friday was a great day at Ober Gatlinburg. The snow was in amazingly good condition. Probably one of the best days of the season up there. The crowds however were insane! This weekend is a youth conference called Fire and Ice which takes place in Gatlinburg. Well when not in session all the teens in town come to Ober.
Friday morning brought with it over 1000 prepaid teenage beginners. Not a good sight for anyone to deal with.
Accidents were plentiful and most of which could have been avoided had the riders only taken a class or paid attention during the class at ski school. Did I mention the snow was great though? Cause the snow made up for the crowds of crazy teens. Also I have been reading the reports about the elusive snow bunny.
Well today totally brought out a load of them at Ober. Luckily the supervisor at ski school asked me to go take pictures for him of people on the mountain so I was able to snag a photo of one of the elusive bunnies that were scurrying about the mountain today. So look for it under the Ober pictures as well as the picture of one of my snowboarding classes from today. Hopefully Saturday will be just as nice on the snow with less of the crowds.
If you’re coming to Ober come before the rain hits on Sunday or you might not have good conditions for a LONG time as no snowmaking temps appear in sight for the place. God please bring snow…or at least cold temps!! Go out and enjoy the snow.
Tina Robinson reports from Wisp Resort:
I appreciate you guys covering Wisp. We need it! I have skied this resort for years and it is one of the best family oriented places on earth. The snow is in the best shape right now. In addition to all the snow we got the other day (about 10” at my house) we have also seen the snow blowers going all the time!
The snow is great and the crowds not too bad. There’s rarely bad lift lines here cause the mountain is so spread out. I will try to get you guys some photos soon.
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 01/29/2006 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.)
1. Mark McKelvy
2. Kent Jackson
2. Lorrie Tomlinson
4. Joe Harmon
5. Gresham Barker