On Snow Reports say conditions are Very Nice!

David Duling reports from Wintergreen Resort in Virginia :

Thursday was brutally warm but the snow was not bad with some thin spots and ordinary spring corn. It was totally empty; we went down eagle swoop and didn’t see another soul except the liftie. Maybe there there were 20 people skiing the big acorn lift. I grooved on seeing my kids jump off every little kicker and shelf they could find, even a few runs through the terrain park.

Then it got cold. Tyro gets the afternoon shade and freezes first. By 9pm the temperature had plunged and a few snowflakes were blowing around. The crowds actually went up as more locals turned out after school and work.

Friday morning, we awoke to a light dusting and full bore snowmaking. Overnight, we went from spring corn to deep winter freeze, all thin spots and base areas filled in to mid-winter form. WG is pretty serious about making that April 1 party. The temp stayed near freezing all day and conditions were excellent most everywhere except a few slopes on the highlands that were either deep ice crystals that did not approximate powder or chopped up ice cubes. I don’t know why they would not groom those ice cubes better, those things were a [profanity omitted] to ski.

Lost my daughter? Too much Kelly Clark and Hanna Teeter last week. So she started boarding on Friday and by the end of the day could make it down the beginner slope falling once. I’m crushed.

By the way, with the nice conditions, my son made his first laps on big acorn quite nicely.

Kent Jackson reports from Sugar on Saturday:

I was at Sugar all day today. The conditions were excellent early in the morning. Sugar had pushed the snow around and they were able to make snow during the night. The snow guns had been turned off so I was able to ski without being pestered by the manmade snow. The sun was out and the sky was Carolina blue without a cloud anywhere to be seen. All of the trails had been freshly groomed and I almost had the slopes to myself early on. By noon the snow had softened a little but not too bad. Some ice had been exposed by then as well. The afternoon brought more skiers and the warm temps had made the surface just a little slushy but it wasn’t too bad. The good thing was that the lift lines were still relatively short and I was able to get several runs in. I would give Saturday at Sugar 2 thumbs up!

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 03/07/2006 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. Lorrie Tomlinson
2. Kent Jackson
3. Mark McKelvy
4. David Long