It’s Thursday! We’re over the hump and cruising for the weekend. My what a difference a day makes! It continually blows my mind – although it shouldn’t since I’ve lived in mountains for my entire life – that the weather can change here with the drop of a hat. It’s insane. Yesterday morning was downright BALMY compared to this morning. The temperatures this morning range from the upper teens to lower 20’s and that is without wind chill – and it’s a tad bit breezy in some locations this morning! Just to give you an idea of how drastic the temperature changes can be from one day to the next….
All of the southeast and mid-Atlantic ski areas with the exception of Sapphire Valley in North Carolina and Timberline in West Virginia are making snow again! It’s been well over a week since temperatures were anywhere close to being cold enough to make snow! This is a great thing, folks! The last few days we saw bases start to drop of by a few inches – and like I’ve said a few times it was no cause for concern – and now ski areas have the chance to not only rebuild the bit they lost to rain, warmer temps, and skier traffic, they can also lay down a few inches of brand new fresh beautiful high quality snow for skiers and snowboarders to get out there and really enjoy!
The West Virginia and Maryland ski areas were able to fire snowmaking ops back up AND also got a couple of inches of Mother Nature’s snow as well! Canaan and Timberline have 1.7 inches of new snow, Snowshoe and Wisp each got 2 inches and Winterplace has a TRACE of new snow! Conditions at all the ski areas are sure to be excellent over the next few days!!
Winter returns to the picture this weekend, so look for more information tomorrow about what the weekend holds! It’s no blizzard but there will be some snow.
There’s some really cool stuff going over the next few days. There’s no method to my madness so I’m just going to hop from place to place and tell you what’s going on….
Cataloochee is honoring Law Enforcement Personnel today and tomorrow with greatly reduced lift ticket/rental/and lesson prices! With valid identification law enforcement personnel and their families will receive the discount. From each law enforcement lift ticket purchase $3.00 will be donated to the Maggie Valley Police Association. This is a great event honoring some great men and women.
Canaan is also honoring Law Enforcement Personnel – along with members of the military, firefighters, EMS personnel – today. It’s HEROES DAY and these folks will receive a 1/2-price lift ticket with valid ID.
<< This weekend on Saturday marks the first event in App Terrain Park’s Shred for the Cup Contest Series – and their kicking it off big time with the BIG AIR event. Here’s what the Mountain has to say about the upcoming competition:
"With all the jumps we have been able to construct this season, the competitions should definitely get heated. As always, App Terrain Park will construct a variety of jumps / takeoffs for all ability levels to compete amongst one another. TONS of prizes will be up for grabs from all of our event sponsors. Spy Optics will be on-hand to support the event, and hook all competitors and spectators up with “Beanies & Weenies” – Some product giveaways, and some delicious hot dogs, straight off the grill."
Here’s how the event works:
"Shred for the Cup is the premier event series in the region, and is better than ever going into its 5th season. As always, Shred for the Cup is open to Skiers and Snowboarders of all age and ability. Tons of prizes are up for grabs, as well as points for the entire series winners.
The Cup: In addition to each individual event winners, points will be tallied throughout the events to decide the entire series winners in each category. The series winners in each division will receive the coveted “Cup”, not to mention bragging rights for the next season!"
This is a fun event for everyone, even if you aren’t competing. App Ski Mountain has a huge observation deck off the lodge where you can watch the BIG AIR competition under the lights. There’s tons of young talent in the southeast and mid-Atlantic and this is a great opportunity to check out some of North Carolina’s best young freestyle skiers and riders!!
It’s WINTER FEST WEEKEND at Wintergreen! There are fun events planned for the entire weekend. Subaru Master the Mountain will be on hand all day Saturday and Sunday. Also on Saturday: USSA Slalom at 9:00am and the Wintergreen Rail Jam from 6-8pm in the Terrain Park. Both of these events are fun spectator sports as well! The USSA Giant Slalom event goes down on Sunday! This is sure to 
be a weekend FULL OF FUN!
<< Timberline is hosting a stop on the SCION SNOW TOUR presented by Signal Snowboards. The Terrain Park at Timberline will get a whole new look for Saturday’s event! Timberline will also have live entertainment all weekend and will hold Super Bowl Festivities as well!!
Snowshoe Mountain has a full schedule of exciting events this weekend!!! February 4th and 5th is the Homegrown Music Festival featuring live entertainment from acts including Paul Gold, Shawn Owen, 
and The Hillbilly Gypsies. Other fun events include a Corn Hole Competition, Homemade Craft Fair and a Beer Can Sculpting Competition – And remember there’s still 60 trails for you to tear up.
The fun doesn’t stop there. Saturday Snowshoe will also host Red Bull Super Hit. This is a freeski contest unlike any other. At this event skiers will throw everything they have INTO ONE HIT. You only get one shot to impress at this event. This is the first stop on the tour and at each stop the top skier wins a trip to the Dumont Cup in March. This will be an exciting event to watch!!!
These are just a few of the AWESOME THINGS happening at ski areas across the southeast and mid-Atlantic. Thanks to the return of cold air conditions over the next few days conditions will only get better!!
That’s all she wrote for today folks!
THINK COLD!! THINK SNOW!!
Feel free to email me directly… [email protected] (I don’t bite)