Today will be a remarkable day to play no matter where you’re headed but there are some ski areas closed today. Wolf Ridge has decided to close for the week and see how things go – post the rain mid week. Sapphire Valley has closed for the season and Cataloochee is only skiing afternoons during the week for the rest of the season and regular schedule for the weekend.
There’s plenty of good base at most of the ski areas to stand up to any kind of rain that the expected storms will bring Tuesday into Wednesday. Most into West Virginia and Maryland are in better shape to withstand any kind of severe rainfall that may happen.
Snow is behind the mid-week rains into WV and Maryland snowmaking temps should return to most any ski area that wants to make snow at least by Friday evening.
This weather and the potential conditions POST the rain…may prompt some tweaks in the operating schedules. Ober Gatlinburg has already made the call to close up for skiing and snowboarding this Sunday, March 9th. Wolf may make the decision not to reopen as well.
Since closing dates are on the minds of a lot of our readers, we have contacted all of the resorts and posted what we’ve been told.
WEST VIRGINIA / MARYLAND SKI AREA REPORT
Wisp Resort – They have 30 trais open today with granular conditions. They plan on skiing and snowboarding until March 30th.
Canaan Valley – They have good conditions on 38 trails and plan on skiing and riding until March 23rd, weather permitting.
Snowshoe Mountain – They are looking quite nice with 59 trails and plan on skiing until March 30th.
Timberline Resort – They have 27 trails for day skiing. They will ski and ride through April 6th.
Timberline has a lot of fun planned for the weekend of March 15-16th.
They write, "SATURDAY, MARCH 15~10:30am Lahaina Triathalon ~ Noon Pig Roast on deck ~ Noon Luau Nastar ~ 1:00pm Lava Garden Children’s Obstacle Race ~1:00pm Rail Slide Competitiion ~2:00pm Hoaloha Polynesian Review ~ 3:00pm Synchronied Skiing contest ~ 4:30pm Sleds, Shovels, & Sliders Hawaiin Derby ~6:00pm Polynesian Entrees ~ 7:30pm Bonfire & Drumming Pary ~ 8:30pm Lava Light Parade & Fireworks 9:00pm Hoaloha Performers ~10:00pm Live Music SUNDAY, MARCH 16 ~10:00am Big Island Snowboard & Skiers Cross ~Noon Costume Parade ~12:30pm Snow Sculpting Awards ~12:30pm Hawaiin Lunch Specials ~1:00pm Luau Nastar ~1:30pm Kid Fest in the Lava Garden ~2:00pm Bump Skiing Contest ~2:00pm Hoaloha Polynesian Dance & Drumming ~2:30pm Awards Ceremony ~REGISTRATION for all events Saturday and Sunday will be at 8:30am in the Lower Lobby of the Ski Lodge! Come and enjoy the fun…Call 1-800-SNOWING for more details!"
Winterplace Resort is open with very nice conditions on 28 trails today. They plan on staying open through at least Easter weekend, March 23rd.
VIRGINIA SKI AREA REPORT
Bryce Resort is 100% open with tubing and terrain park as well. They did not make snow, but have very good conditions for today. This weekend looks like a ton of fun as Bryce celebrates WinterFest and what they call "Costume Day".
The fun goes on from 10am-4pm with:
Pancake Breakfast….8:00 – 11:00 am (Ski Lodge)
Costume Parade….11:00 am (along the bottom of the slopes)
Rail Jams….12:45 pm
Pond Skimming….2:00 pm
DJ Doug….2:00 – 4:00 pm
Plan on joining them for a fun filled day of activities on and off the slopes!
<A wild time is coming this weekend!
Bryce Resort will be celebrating its third annual WinterFest on Saturday, March 8, 2008. The day will begin with a pancake breakfast served in the Ski Cafeteria at 8 am. Other foods and beverages will be available outside during the day.
The "Costume Day" thing sounds fun as Children of all ages are invited to dress in costume. Prizes will be offered in a number of categories.
Ski competitions and demonstrations will include pond skimming and rail jams.
Raffle drawings will be held throughout the day with many great prizes. Plan on joining them for a fun filled day of great activities on and off the slopes!
Bryce intends to ski and ride until March 23rd, weather permitting.
Massanutten Resort – They have very nice conditions on 11 trails, snow tubing and terrain parks. They intend to continue skiing and snowboarding until Saturday, March 22nd.
The Homestead – We have not been getting any updated ski conditions reports from these guys, but we do hear that they will ski until March 17th, weather permitting.
Wintergreen Resort – They are open with very nice conditions on 21 trails for Monday. They also have tubing and terrain parks open. They plan to ski and ride until March 30th, weather permitting.
TENNESSEE SKI AREA REPORT
Ober Gatlinburg has 6 trails open today and has made the call to close up Sunday, March 9th at 7pm.
NORTH CAROLINA SKI AREA REPORT
The BIG NEWS TODAY would normally be the moderate-to-heavy rain that is forecasted for the region on Tuesday, however when one of our ski areas closes down a bit earlier than expected THAT becomes the bigger news. We had speculated that Wolf Ridge MIGHT close for the season after Sunday’s sessions, and some of our readers emailed us asking just that. We called over there and spoke with them yesterday and were told that they would be skiing on.
However, today they wrote that they were closing for the week ahead and would make a decision about reopening for the weekend ahead.
We also received some more firm comments as per closing dates for some of the others and have noted those where possible.
Appalachian Ski Mountain – Great Shape – All 10 trails open in primo condition for Monday. They have not made snow since February 27th and don’t anticipate doing so until Friday night. Appalachian will stay open, weather permitting through March 30th.
Cataloochee is doing something different for the rest of March. They are open for skiing and snowboarding from 1pm-10pm only – Monday through Fridays. They will be open from 8:30-4:30 only on Saturdays and Sundays. They have 10 trails open this afternoon. Cataloochee has announced its intentions to sk through April 6th.
Hawksnest Resort – They look VERY NICE this morning! They will have 9 trails open for today. Justin Grimes writes, "On Monday, March 3rd slopes we’ll open at 9am for skiing and boarding until 10pm. Snow tubing will be open at 11am until 9pm. Last tubing session is 7pm to 8:45pm. We have many terrain park features around the mountain. Ladies Day is Wednesday, ladies receive a free lift ticket. Free lesson Thursday, rent your equipment with Hawksnest and receive a free beginner lesson."
Sapphire Valley – They closed ski operations a couple of weeks ago and have now closed for tubing as well. They reported, "The ski area and Frozen Falls tube park is closed for the 2007/2008 ski season. Thank you to all our great visitors, we hope to see you again next year!"
Ski Beech – They too look quite nice today with the sun already beaming down on what looks like darn nice conditions for Monday. They have 13 trails open with granular conditions.
Sugar Mountain – They have 19 trails open with what should be sweet conditions. Sugar fans should note that today is the start of March Madness and it runs through the end of the season. Take advantage of up to 25% savings on lift tickets, rental equipment, and lessons. Restrictions apply.
Wolf Ridge – We spoke with them yesterday and they stated that they would remain open for the next week, but they must have gotten a good look at the weather forecast and decided to pull the plug on ski ops for this week. With the forecast for this week ahead and no snowmaking temps prior to Friday night over that way, they MAY be closed for the season. We’ll see, but they write, "The mountain will be closed for the upcoming week… Conditions permitting will reopen for the weekend!"
THAT IS A BIG IF…
Conditions are QUITE NICE at Appalachian, Cataloochee, Hawksnest, Ski Beech and Sugar for today. We have some weather coming in on Tuesday that will change that…so get out and enjoy the conditions today!
ONLY 4 DAYS TO GO BEFORE WE EXPERIENCE THE 1st ANNUAL SKISOUTHEAST.COM SUMMIT!! MAKE PLANS TO JOIN US!
As of 11am Sunday we have 81 confirmed attendees and if you have not made plans to join us skiing and riding at Snowshoe for next weekend, YOU ARE INVITED!
You can get $100 off any on-mountain lodging, and join us for a group photo on Saturday morning and make some turns with fellow readers and messageboard bloggers. All summit attendees are invited to a FREE Wings Après-ski Party at Moonshine in the Shavers Center from 4-7pm. We’ll be giving away a bunch of the brand new SkiSoutheast.com Hoodies, what’s left of the SkiNC hoodies and some stickers as well (as long as the supplies last).
Plus ALL ATTENDEES will be given a FREE lift ticket to ski Sunday!
We’ll also be doing some first tracks on Sunday morning compliments of Snowshoe’s President and COO, Bill Rock and crew.
GaTom, Mellow Yellow and others. Some of the newer, most active members such as TheGnar will be there and we’re trying to nudge some of the top messageboard people to make it.
Click here to Join Us for All of the Fun of Spring Break and/or the SkiSoutheast.com Summit Weekend!
Until Next time…
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