We’re going to start off our Sunday report by congratulating the Appalachian State Mountaineers on their win on Saturday! Led by 100 yards performances from running back Kevin Richardson and quarterback Armanti Edwards, No. 1 Appalachian State University racked up 353 yards on the ground and secured its second-straight berth in the NCAA Division I national championship game with a resounding 49-24 victory over fourth-seeded Youngstown State on Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Armanti Edwards threw for 164 yards and ran for 145 more, becoming just the fifth player in NCAA Division I history with 2,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a season. They won the championship last year and will compete for it next weekend in Chatanooga, Tennessee. How about those Mountaineers?!?
Today is Sunday and I have a lot on my plate today so I’m going to combine the NC and Southeast morning report. Be sure though to check out SkiSoutheast for a unique photo of the day.
We were at Appalachian on Friday night and conditions there were remarkable after the 2-3” of snow from Thursday night. Last night nine of us traveled to Sugar Mountain for some night skiing. A couple of our group were great skiers, but novice-to-intermediate snowboarders and since this was their first time out this season, we hit Easy Street first. Portions were pretty “blocky” with chunks of snow and ice that didn’t make for the best of conditions. It wasn’t bad though…just looked like Sugar needed to spend a little time grooming on the great beginner trail. After a couple of runs down to get their feet under them, we hit the top of the mountain and conditions were wonderful from top to bottom.
The view from the top of Sugar is always outstanding and on this clear, starry night it was phenomenal. Sugar understandably had a lot of snowguns cranking, but for the most part they were positioned pretty well to provide for skiing and riding without getting poured on. It was a very sticky snow, which showed that it was optimal snowmaking conditions last night in the mid 20°. We made several runs down from top to bottom and Sugar had done a very nice job of snowmaking and grooming as the ride was perfect all night. My two nephews, Mark and Michael did a great job of snowboarding all evening. They are great skiers, but pretty impressive riding the snow as well.
It’s always nice to take a group to ride with and my sister Colleen, brother in law Bob, their two sons, a friend Julie and my daughter, Carrigan…made for a fun group at Sugar last night. Thanks for making the trip guys!
Before I get to the quick summaries…I also want to thank Meteorologist, Marcus Lynch. He’s been flawlessly updating the weather updates each day on SkiNC.com, SkiSoutheast.com and HighCountryWeather.com and we really want to thank him for that. We appreciate all of the meteorologists who take their time to send us updates and their take on what’s approaching us – weatherwise – and special thanks go out to Meteorologists, Marcus Lynch and Brad Panovich for doing the most for us here at our little ski network!
Now to the Sunday Summaries…
The theme for today could probably be summed up with two words – MORE TERRAIN. Several resorts added to their open trail count. For example, Appalachian Ski Mountain went from 3 on Friday to 5 trails open today. Cataloochee went from 4 to 6 today.
Hawksnest, Ski Beech and Sugar are open with the same count as on Saturday, but they did add more base. (In fact, that’s another theme that could be said across the board – is that all resorts have really been cranking out the snow.)
Bryce Resort in Virginia added another trail opening and they now have 4 slopes open. Massanutten went from 5 to 6 today and they opened their terrain park and tubing operation as well.
The biggest gain was from Wisp Resort in Maryland. They went from 5 open on Saturday to 10 trails open today. Those ten trails gives Wisp the second most terrain available to ride today. Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia leads the way with 15 open slopes and trails to play on.
Andrea Smith of Snowshoe reports, “113 snowguns blasted snow last night at the Snowshoe and Silver Creek Ski Areas, preparing the terrain for a milder week ahead. The Silver Creek Ski Area is looking good for opening this Friday, Dec. 15, weather permitting. At the Snowshoe Ski Area, 15 trails are available for testing out the latest gear today at Demo Days. All open trails are groomed with frozen granular conditions. The Skidder, Powder Monkey, Ballhooter and Powderidge lifts will be running today from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Spruce Glades terrain park is open with seven features and will be featuring a Big Air Competition at 10:30 this morning. All snowguns are likely to be off today.”
Wintergreen Resort’s Sarah Lovejoy reports from Virginia, ““Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday for opening day. We will be skiing and riding on 5 trails today, with 2 lifts running for day sessions only. We plan on night skiing and riding to begin next week, on Friday, December 15th. These cold temperatures have allowed us to make snow around the clock for the past couple of days so our trails are covered with the white stuff. The next trails we plan on opening are the Terrain Park and in the Highlands.”
Speaking of DAY SKIING…be sure to check out the SLOPE CONDITIONS page as we have detailed whose open for Day Skiing and Who will be night skiing tonight.
Hawksnest has a kinda cool promotion going on this season. At Hawksnest, Sunday is Church Group Night! On Sunday’s, church groups will get the special rate of $10 lift tickets. Reservations must be made in advance thru the group department at Hawksnest to receive the special price. Church groups of 10 or more will qualify for the special price.
Winterplace in West Virginia also shared some news. The first riders at the popular WEST VIRGINIA resort were from North Carolina. Allison & Dave from Raleigh, NC were the first on the chair at Winterplace for opening day Saturday. We share Winterplace’s photo of the day on the front of SkiSoutheast.com today. Way to go Allison and Dave!
Ski and Ride Cheap at WISP today! Celebrate Wisp’s 51st Birthday today with a $7 one-day lift ticket, 1/2 price sport ski & boards rentals & 1/2 price lessons!
Until Next Time…
THINK COLD – THINK SNOW!
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For more information about the ski resorts of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic visit www.SkiSoutheast.com
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