THE BLIZZARD OF 2010 is over! This is perhaps the third blizzard of the season so far as it has been one active winter! Snow totals are all over the place as some ski areas like Beech and Sugar which traditionally get the highest snow totals for the North Carolina mountains – didn’t. Appalachian Ski Mountain got that honor with 14" compared with Sugar’s 6" and Beech’s 4.4".
I’ve got a lot of work to do today to jump start the Summit promotions, so today’s post will be a combined one. Here’s the snow totals from deepest to the least. These are somewhat less than 72 hour numbers:
wisp Resort – 36"
Snowshoe Mountain – 30"
Wintergreen Resort – 28"
Bryce Resort – 22"
Canaan Valley – 20.2"
Timberline Resort – 20.2"
Massanutten Resort – 20"
The Homestead – 20"
Appalachian Ski Mountain – 14"
Winterplace Resort – 14"
Sugar Mountain – 6"
Sapphire Valley – 4.5"
Beech Mountain – 4.4"
Wolf Ridge – 4"
Cataloochee Ski Area – 2.7"
Ober Gatlinburg – 1"
SEASONAL SNOW TOTALS:
Canaan Valley – 154.9"
Timberline – 154.9"
Snowshoe Mountain – 145"
Wisp Resort – 142.2"
Winterplace – 107"
Wintergreen – 80"
Beech Mountain – 62.4"
Sugar Mountain – 59.2"
Appalachian Ski Mountain – 57"
Bryce Resort – 53"
Wolf Ridge – 52"
Massanutten – 50"
The Homestead – 50"
Cataloochee Ski Area – 48"
Ober Gatlinburg – 25"
Sapphire Valley – 20.8"
Several ski resorts have already surpassed their average seasonal snow total and we’re just past one-half the way into this snowy ski season!
When our front page is displaying 24 hour snowfalls of 23" you’d think you’re on the front of some western ski website. I hit one of the other snow reporting websites this morning and it was promoting the fact that Wintergreen Resort received 10" of snow – on January 31st. They did – but
that was more than a week ago now and fast forward to Friday through Saturday morning and they saw another 20" plus.
Saturday was a bit more tame as far as new snowfall reports. Davis, West Virginia picked up another 4.5" of snow, Snowshoe saw another 3" and a storm total of 26".
I was pouring through all the CocoRaHS reports and McHenry, Maryland – home to Wisp Resort – saw 31" of snow as of Saturday morning and they were reporting 36" of snow on the ground. Cross Country skiers are having a field day this season! Oh yea, another 8" of snow fell in the last 24 hours for a storm total near 36" and they now have nearly 41" of snow on the ground! Wisp Resort has seen 142.2" of snow on the season and as you’ll see in our tour below, they normally average 100" on the season. Heck they have 41" of snow on the GROUND right now which is close to HALF of what they usually see all winter long!
It has been a week since we’ve done a tour, so let’s do a tour today from North to South – kind of:
Wisp Resort – 9° – How about 8" of snow in the last 24 hours, a storm total of 36" and 142.2" of snow on the season. That is 42" over their ANNUAL snowfall average! Wisp managed all that snow and now will have all 32 trails open for today with mostly groomed conditions. They groomed all of the greens and all but one blue trail. Devil’s Drop, The Face, Bobcat Bowl, and Odin’s Chute were not groomed (all blacks) for the powder hounds out there. They are open for DAY SESSIONS ONLY on Sundays.
Timberline Resort – 8° – There’s a Big Super Bowl party that takes place today in Timbers Pub featuring special food, drinks and high definition TV. You KNOW there’s a lot of snow up there when their BACK COUNTRY terrain has 24-48" of snow cover! They saw another 4.5" of snow on
Saturday and a storm tota of 20.2" and now have seen 154.9" on the season! Timberline is open for day sessions only today with all 37 trails with powder and groomed conditions.
Canaan Valley Resort – 9° – Ditto Timberline’s snow totals and they have 39 trails open for day sessions only on Sunday’s. They wanted us to share this great deal with you guys today! Enjoy the fresh powder when visiting the resort on the Stay and Ski Midweek Package starting at $69 per person. Learn to ski when you purchase our Canaan Ski & Stay Package receive a complimentary beginner group lesson. Visit them at www.CanaanResort.com
Snowshoe Mountain – 6° – Another 3" of snow on Saturday took their storm total to 26" and 145" on the season. Snowshoe is quickly approaching their season average of 180" and we have all of February and March to go! They are open with all 60 trails, terrain parks (managed by our buddy’s
buddy Nick) and snow tubing, etc.
Laura Parquette writes, "Our expert grooming team has laid down a fine corduroy surface across most of our open terrain today, but we did leave a handful of expert slopes ungroomed for those of you looking for some bumps, as well as a leftover powder stash or two. All four terrain parks areas are open for your jibbing pleasure. For those of you heading off the mountain today, the mountain road is clear and providing easy traveling top to bottom."
Winterplace Resort – 18° – After another 4" of snow on Saturday they saw a storm total of 14" and have seen 107" on the season! They are 100% open for today with all 28 trails, snowtubing and terrain parks open. They are operating for day and night sessions.
Bryce Resort – 11° – They added 6" of natural snow on Saturday for a storm total of 22" and 53" on the season which is the most we’ve seen at this Virginia ski resort since we’ve been monitoring seasonal snowfall! They are open on Sunday for day sessions only today with all 8 trails and snow tubing open.
Massanutten Resort – 10° – They picked up another 4" of snow and 20" from the storm and 50" on the season. Mass is 100% open with all 14 trails in groomed condition. All lanes of snow tubing are open as well.
The Homestead – 10° – Reporting another 4" of snow and 20" from the storm. That’s 50" on the season now and they are open for day sessions on Sunday with 10 trails and snow tubing and ice skating open.
Wintergreen Resort – 15° – 7" more natural snow and 28" from this storm which matches the snow of mid December for them! That’s 36" of snow for Wintergreen in the last ten days and 80" on the season. They are 100% open with all 26 trails for today, snow tubing and terrain parks are open as well! Anna Marie writes, "RECORDS GOING BACK 20 YEARS INDICATE THAT THIS YEAR’S 80+ INCHES THUS FAR IS THE BIG WINNER. FORECASTERS ARE PREDICTING MORE SNOW ON WEDNESDAY."
Ober Gatlinburg – 27° – They picked up 1" of snow in the last 48 hours and remain 100% open with all 8 trails, snow tubing and ice skating all open. 25" of natural snow on the season.
Appalachian Ski Mountain – 22° – The storm began at the southern most resorts first this time around and App picked up another .8" (8/10ths) of an inch of snow on Saturday, 6.7" in the last 48 hours, 14" since early Friday and 57" on the season now. App is 100% open with superb conditions on all 11 trails, terrain parks and ice skating.
Beech Mountain Resort – 18° – They are reporting NO NEW SNOW on their website but that is not correct. Even though the highest elevated ski resort in the east didn’t get the dumping of snow that even App in Blowing Rock saw from this storm, they did pick up 1.8" of snow on Saturday, 3.3" in the last 48 hours, 4.4" since Friday and 62.4" on the season! They are 100% open for all sessions on Sunday with snow tubing and ice skating open as well!
Sugar Mountain Resort – 17° – Even though they are not reporting it, they saw another 1" of new snow on Saturday, 2" in the last 48 hours, 6" from the storm and 59.2" on the season. They are 100% open for Sunday with all 20 trails, snow tubing and ice skating open. Sugar had a VERY BUSY Saturday with cars parked all the way out to the main highway!
Wolf Ridge Resort – 25° – They saw about 2" of snow in the last 24 hours according to our CocoRaHA reported there. That makes for about 4" of snow in the last 72 hours and 52" on the season. Wolf is reporting that they will have all 20 trails open today with superb conditions and snow tubing and terrain park as well.
Cataloochee Ski Area – 26° – The Cat kind of missed out on this snow storm. They saw a TRACE of snow on Saturday with some ambience snowfall and they saw 2.7" Thursday night into Friday morning and that was about it. They made snow last night and will be 100% open with all 16 trails for Sunday DAY SESSIONS ONLY. Tubing is open as well. Cat has seen 48" of snow this season to date.
Sapphire Valley Ski Area – We think we’re giving up on Sapphire Valley until they start reporting in to us or any reporting service for that matter. They haven’t updated their own website in more than a week…and I think they’ve only posted updates maybe five times for the entire season. When they start taking things a little more serious, we will.
MORE SNOW is in the way for the coming week and we’re keeping an eye on things as this one could be another snow, sleet, whatever kind of storm for some of us, and more significant snows for others. We’ll probably see an update from Brad by Monday evening and we’ll get that news to you pronto.
We’re on day 71 and there are 66 more days of opportunities to enjoy the snow for the 2009-2010 ski and snowboarding season!
That’s it for today. Go enjoy the snow! Check out the Snow Report at https://www.skisoutheast.com/skireports.php and please send us your favorite ski photos, ski videos, trip reports and comments to [email protected]