TheKENDOG’s been doing a great job keeping you guys informed, hasn’t he? Well you guys are mine again for the weekend and as I perused the snow reports and details of our region’s ski areas it hit me just how fickle our conditions have been in just the last week. Mountain people have been saying for years – if you don’t like the weather, just hang on for about 30 minutes and it will change. Our weather and the conditions at our ski areas can turn on a dime and that has been the case over the last 24 hours. On Friday I looked over all the live cams that are dotted across the landscape of our ski resorts and saw plenty of snow, but certainly some discolored bases, some dotted thin coverage and certainly some cause for concern for those headed to the slopes yesterday.
<Appalachian this AM
Today I’m jealous for those of you who are hitting the mountain. This is why I and my fellow, ski resort marketing staffers constantly educate and promote the fact that there’s plenty of snow out there. With ONE NIGHT of cold temps we can see some firming up of the base depths and some snow maintenance from the grooming crews of the region – that have things looking quite inviting and beautiful at the resorts for weekend snow partiers.
IT SNOWED IN WV AND MARYLAND…
<Beech Mountain this AM
It was cold enough to make snow at most all of the ski areas of the region with the exception of Sapphire Valley and Ober Gatlinburg last night. However none of the ski areas in North Carolina were able to make snow as there were inversions everywhere and it didn’t get cold enough – soon enough for any of the NC resorts to make snow. However one glance at the live cams of the state will show off just how nice things look today with lots of firm, groomed slopes.
Wet granular has become frozen granular everywhere.
Wintergreen Resort was the lone resort in Virginia to make snow and they did that overnight with their automated snow making plant.
<2" of snow fell at Wisp Resort turning the region winter-white!
As the headline said for this section of the update – it snowed into West Virginia and Maryland with from 2" to 2.5" of snow falling at Snowshoe, Canaan, Timberline and Wisp Resort. Snowshoe and Winterplace MADE SNOW overnight and combined with some sweet corduroy grooming and snow maintenance things will look awesome for today up that way.
As I said, things can turn on a dime in the mountains. Conditions were challenging to say the least over the last couple of days and not the pristine way we’d want them to be on February 25th. However, one look at the webcams will show some winter scenery that is certain to create some fever to hit the slopes.
Why do you guys do that…and I’ll finish up this update with a tour of the region. I am seeing some more snowmaking opportunities coming over the nights ahead. There is also some more rain…so the volatile, ever-changing weather pattern continues…
Here we go…
Appalachian – 25° – 100% open, Groomed conditions
Beech Mountain Resort – 32° – They are 100% open. No Snowmaking. Their tubing hill has closed. Terrain park and ice skating are open. Their base cam is showing a couple of things this morning. One: Their slopes looks TONS better than they did Friday AM. Second, that there’s a lot of base snow up on Beech because they’ve got tons enough to push some snow around and create some crazy buildups for today’s popular Under Armour 3rd Rail Jam, a tour that showcases some of the best in snowsports. These riders will make a stop at Beech Mountain Resort on Saturday, February 26. Featuring slopeside graffiti art, a freestyle MC bunker battle, hip-hop music and the winner-takes-all rail jam, the event will take place at 3:00 p.m. Registration begins at 10:00 a.m. and costs $25. The rail competition has four different divisions—15 and under, all girls, best of the breed and skiers—with prizes given out in each group. 3rd Rail’s nonprofit partner this year is Amped4aCure, and $5 of every registration fee will go to this beneficiary that supports cancer research through music.
After watching or competing in the events, an after party featuring New Jersey rapper Timmy Grins and DJ Image will take place at 9:00 p.m. Grins, a rapper who has dedicated much of his time and music to battling alcoholism after struggling with the disease for years, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in November of last year.
One MORE note on Beech. Some have emailed us asking if they’d be closing anytime soon. Talia Freeman posted that the overnight temps have allowed their base to hold up well and for weeks to come. We can hope that’s the case.
Cataloochee Ski Area – 29° – They have 100% of their slopes open but not The Cat Cage Terrain Park. That officially makes them 15 of 16 trails open and snow tubing as well. One reporting service has Cat showing as having made snow last night. That did not happen according to Cat’s peeps. "No, we inverted last night and it didn’t get cold enough quick enough so we didn’t make snow. The snow set up nicely though with the colder temps and our groomers have it looking very nice."
Winter just stopped on a dime, didn’t it?
Sugar Mountain is 100% open and reflecting 31° this morning at their base and 24° at the summit. Everything is open, tubing, ice skating and all 20 trails with a reported loose and frozen granular surface.
Wolf Ridge Resort shows 29° and 18 of 23 trails open. Tubing is open as well. No snow making.
Bryce Resort – 36° – No Snowmaking but they’ve groomed and show 100% of their slopes open with tubing open as well. One quick glance around their webcams (which are no longer accessible from their website) shows some darn nice grooming and good base coverage.
Homestead Resort is showing 27° but no snowmaking and 6 of 10 trails open.
Massanutten Resort – 25° – No snowmaking. They are 100% open with all 14 trails open with everything groomed with the lone exception of Upper MakAttack. They also have 8 lanes of snow tubing open. Their webcam is also showing good coverage and nice conditions.
Wintergreen Resort – 20° and they DID make snow overnight. They’ll offer 25 of 26 trails open with snow tubing and terrain park open as well. They wrote, "HEAD CELEBRITY WEEKEND IS HERE AND OVERNIGHT SNOWMAKING HAS PROVIDED MORE OF THE WHITE STUFF! JOIN US FOR THE LAST FREESTYLE DOUBLECROSS AND MEET TYSON BOLDUC. SNOWMAKING WILL CONTINUE INTO MARCH SO WE CAN PROVIDE A GREAT SURFACE AND BUILD UP STOCKPILES OF SNOW. MARCH IS OFTEN THE BEST TIME TO SLIDE!"
Canaan Valley – 31° – No snowmaking. They saw 2.5" of new snow and 178" on the season now. They are open with 32 of 39 trails, terrain park features and tubing.
Snowshoe Mountain – How about 20° and 2" of new snow! That’s what took place over the last 24 hours at The Shoe! They also made snow overnight and offer 59 of 60 trails and terrain park and snow tubing fun. Laura Parquette wrote, "After a strange weather day Friday, things are looking BEAUTIFUL once again for today. We’ve got clear skies and light winds forecast to go along with 2” of FRESH SNOW that fell overnight! The Snowshoe Grooming team, which has gotten rave reviews from guests all season for their amazing work, was back at it in full-force last night. Working their magic on every slope in the trail system, they were able to work the snow surface back to perfection! Today we’ll b riding on fresh machine-groomed frozen granular conditions across the resort."
Timberline Resort is showing 22° with 2.5" of new snow and 36 of 39 trails open. They actually still have 27 kilometers of backcountry open with a base of 2-11" of snow!
Winterplace Resort is showing 25° and they made snow overnight. They’ll offer 100% of their 27 trails, two terrain parks and snow tubing for a great day and night of fun at the Ghent, West Virginia resort.
Wisp Resort – 19° and 2" of new snow and now 143" on the season! They will be open with 30 of 32 trails, terrain parks, snow tubing, mountain coaster, ice skating and great conditions. one look through their 472 wencams shows some great snow and beautiful conditions for today. Okay they have 100 cams. No really 20 or so. I don’t know how many they have but it’s a lot!
Ober Gatlinburg – 48° – No snowmaking and 8 of 9 trails open, great conditions as you’ll see via their live webcam and of course tubing and ice skating are open.
Email me at [email protected] with your comments, questions, photos, videos or whatever else you can attach – except viruses!