A quick glance at the live webcams and we can see that Ski Beech is making snow at 7:42am. You can really see the snow flying on this cam> Ski Beech Live Web Cam (You won’t see this link until you view the full morning report)
I am REALLY liking the view from the new Beech Alpen Inn cam that we can pan and zoom into Ski Beech. That one is also showing some awesome morning shots of some snowmaking and shadows cast on Upper Shawneehaw as the sun comes up. Check that out> Beech Mountain Live Web Cam
A quick look at some of the area weather stations shows that Beech is recording an 18° temp, Sugar Mountain 23°, and it is 13° in Banner Elk at Ski Country Sports across from Sugar Mountain. It is 24° at Cataloochee’s weather station, and 25° at Wolf Ridge Resort.
Today should be an awesome day on the slopes as there will be plenty of sun and temperatures that are right at average for this time of year. Cold and snow is is the forecast for tomorrow with some mixed precip on Wednesday and snow on Thursday. The next several days will also be very cold and the resorts will be making snow and you will want to get out and enjoy the sweet conditions that result!
Don’t forget that Saturday SkiNC.com plays host to the SkiNC / Ski Beech Summit at Ski Beech all day. Ski Beech is really going overboard to make for a great day with a cookout, Live DJ, some raffles for some nice items. One is a Season Pass for the 2009-2010 season! SkiNC is also going to be raffling off more than 160 new hoodies and tees with all the profits going to the Helena Jolly Education Fund. Check out the SkiNC Summit page and come join us for some fun and get 50% of Lift Ticket to ski either ALL DAY or the Twilight ticket at HALF PRICE!
Let’s share some details:
Appalachian Ski Mountain – 19° low – 100% Open – They made snow but are not during open sessions! – Reported base: 73-98" – Open with all 10 trails. Grooming looks AWESOME this morning!
Cataloochee Ski Area – 25° low – 100% Open – They made snow but are not during open sessions! – Reported base: 34-80" – Open with all 14 trails. Grooming looks AWESOME this morning!
Ski Beech – 18° on one station and 27° at their station – 73% Open – They made snow all evening, most of the day on Monday and are making snow right now and will be doing so as long as temps allow. The forecasted temp up there will take things above snowmaking range so look for the guns to turn off and be prepared for some AWESOME conditions. Grooming looks great this morning. They are open with 11 of 15 slopes and a reported base of 30-60"
Sugar Mountain – 13° low – 100% Open – Reported baseL 41-77". They made snow but the groomers are putting the final touches on as we were updating this report and they look AWESOME! Open with all 20 trails, snow tubing and ice skating as well.
Wolf Ridge Resort – 22° low – 60% Open with 12 of 20 trails and groomed conditions. Reported base: 50-70" and they made snow overnight and are making snow as of this update! They too are looking awesome this morning!
Hawksnest’s Tubing Park – They made snow and they really look fast – and quite nice today. The low was 15°.
Sapphire Valley Ski Area – Some people are asking us WHY we are not talking much about Sapphire this season. The answer is simple – THEY are not talking about themselves! We get updates about once every 10-14 days. There’s been no report since the 13th, but we can assume that they are making snow and will be open this evening with 2 trails and snow tuning. They are closed on Wednesdays and Thursday and will reopen on Friday.
We did some quick math and the North Carolina Ski Areas are offering 69 open trails this morning out of the 81 that they could have open. That is 85% open terrain for today! For the record Appalachain, Catalaloochee, Sugar and Sapphire are all 100% open. Wolf and Beech are not, but it is not weather that is prohibiting those two being fully open. There have been a few hiccups that are prohibiting all of the terrain at each of those to be available this season. So conditions at the North Carolina mountains are awesome today and they will be even better for the coming week and weekend!
If you have been delaying and waiting for a great weather period or weekend forecast, this is it. We have some snow in the forecast for Thursday and Saturday – and lots of cold temps and great terrain to ride. Make reservations today and get up here!
If you’re planning on being at Beech this weekend, come join us for half price skiing during the SkiNC/SkiBeech Summit on Saturday!
Also click over to www.SkiSoutheast.com and see how the North Carolina ski areas measure up to the rest of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic in terms of percentage of terrain that is open!
Until Next Time…
Go check the SLOPE CONDITIONS page for all the details and you can also Check out the conditions at all of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic Ski areas over on www.SkiSoutheast.com .
Send your comments, photos, videos and trip reports to: [email protected]