Merry Christmas Eve everyone.
(The photo of the day is from Wisp Resort. A nice closeup of The Face and Squirrel Cage.)
Snow fell (again) for the third day in a row in some locations around the Southeast and mid-Atlantic and that will make it a White Christmas at many locations. I posted a snowy photo last night from The Boathouse at the bottom of Snowshoe Mountain as snow was falling at that time and it continued all night as they are reporting “over 8″ ” in the last 72 hours. Canaan Valley saw 5″ last night and 10″ in the last 72 hours.
This morning around a dusting of snow has fallen here at my home, however Shad Clark and Angie Caroway from atop Sugar Mountain and our reporters atop Beech Mountain are reporting 2.5″ of snow this morning.
As mentioned, Canaan Valley and Timberline Resort are reporting in with 4.7″ over the last 24 hours, 5.9″ in 48 hours and 10″ over the last 72 hours! Can you say POW! That is welcome news to our friends Steve Drumheller of Canaan Valley Resort and the Herz family at Timberline.
This little burst of winter semi-avoided the westernmost ski areas of Cataloochee, Wolf Ridge and Ober – as well as the Virginia resorts, however Beech Mountain and App saw more snow…as did the WV and Maryland ski areas.
Cold temps Are Discriminate as Well
If you look at the SNOW REPORT and check the temperatures you’ll note low 20s for most all of the North Carolina resorts, and a notch colder into West Virginia and Wisp Resort. Wintergreen and Omni Homestead are in the low to mid 20s, but Massanutten and Bryce are hovering just above snowmaking ops.
DO check the SNOW REPORT as we do share deets from all of the resorts and a few are not going to be open tonight.
Here’s a Quick Tour of the Region
…in no certain order…and we didn’t get input from a few area this morning…but every resort is looking great. Enjoy! Some of the view cams of Beech, Winterplace and a couple others were snow covered! But here’s a nice shot from atop Eagle’s Nest in Banner Elk. While the distant shot was a white-out, the foreground shows some snow!
Canaan Valley Resort
They reported, “It has been snowing all night at Canaan Valley Resort! The ski area is open with 13 trails to ride, including Timber Trail, Valley Vista, and Upper Spruce from the top of the mountain, with snowmaking happening on Meadows 1, Easy Does It, B Slope, and more in anticipation of opening new territory this week. Snowmaking operations are ongoing this morning and will continue for as long as weather permits, with cold temperatures in the forecast through Christmas. Our tube park and ice skating rink will also operate extended hours for the holiday week. Winter is rocking here at the resort!”
Wintergreen Resort
9 trails open for day sessions.
Wintergreen’s Snowtubing looks awesome as well! I enjoyed watching this LIVE
http://www.resortcams.com/webcams/wintergreen-slopeside/
Wintergreen reported:
“The goal was to get snowmaking back up before sunrise – and we just made it – temps dropped and the guns are going strong. Today’s focus will be on our current open terrain making it better and better. Plus we will continue working on Highlands – we’re pushing hard to get it opened as soon as possible. The weather forecast is looking good for the next three days, so keep your fingers crossed! You know we’ll be making the most of any window of opportunity. All we need is some cold temperatures and we can work miracles. SNOWPOWER is a great thing. Yesterday’s skiing was amazing with new snow on all the open terrain – and it’s only going to get better and better. See you on the slopes.”
Appalachian Ski Mountain
Guests will have a chance to spot Santa on the slopes from 1pm – 4pm on Christmas Eve! ASM will again be open Christmas Day from 1-10pm! Purchase your ticket online before 12/25 for 1/2 price! This is no doubt the best Holiday Skiing value in the area. Remember that Midnight Blast Nights will be going on every night from Dec 26-31.
Cataloochee Ski Area
…is making snow like CRAZY and they did get a trace of natural snowfall and the mountain is looking mid-season awesome with 14 trails open for day sessions today. I was watching their sweet new cams at around 8:30am and captured their hard-working, snow making team arranging equipment to focus on other trails. We say it a lot, but we have these guys to thank for making our time on the slopes possible.
Snowshoe Mountain
Mother Nature dropped off another 4″ of the good stuff overnight! With over 8″ falling in the past 3 days, conditions should be fantastic all over the mountain and prime for some Christmas Eve shredding. Big thanks to whoever had snow at the top of their wish list. Temperatures today should top out right around the freezing mark. Expect it to be fairly breezy this morning, particularly here on top. Watch for Knotbumper, Skip Jack, and Bear Claw to open soon. The Coca-Cola Tube Park is open at Silver Creek with good old-fashioned fun for the whole family!
Snowshoe leads the region with 40 of 60 trails open.
Massanutten Resort
They reported, “Snowmaking temperatures are forecasted tonight so remember to thank the hardworking Mt Ops team for coming in to work on Christmas Eve! We’ll be skiing and riding on all 1,110′ of vertical drop with 6 trails for all levels of ability. We are open today from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm and from 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm Dec 25. Terrain park features set up on lower Nutten-To-It. SNOW TUBING IS SOLD OUT TODAY!”
Ober Gatlinburg
SNOWMAKING: Warm-weather snow making over night (SnowMagic systems)
They reported, “Good Morning and Merry Christmas Eve!! The Slopes are open for one session today from 9am-4pm. We will open Cub Way, Lower Castle Run, and Ski School Lessons are available starting at 9am. Based on the fact we have had very minimal windows to make snow with our traditional cold weather snowmaking equipment, we are very thankful to announce that our conditions remain steady from yesterday with a base of 16-20″. The primary surface is machine groomed granular making a great base to make some fun turns!”
The Ober Gatlinburg Freestyle Terrain Park is open with 4 features on the Skier’s right of Castle Run. We have officially entered our Holiday period which will continue through January 1, 2019.
Remember today we are closing our slopes early. We wish the very best time for you and your family during this Christmas Eve. We will also be running one shorter session tomorrow (Noon-7:00pm) to allow for our team to spend time with family.
Timberline Resort
They are open with 4 trails. They are making snow and open for day sessions. No word yet on getting the webcam running.
Wolf Ridge Resort
Open with 4 trails and snow tubing is open today. We THINK they are open for night sessions.
Omni Homestead Resort
I have not spoken with Lynn Swann and the crew at Homestead but they were really working hard on the trails this morning with two groomers going at it and snow making as well. I have to think they will open tomorrow or the 26th. We’ll keep you posted.
Winterplace Resort
They picked up 4-5″ of new snow over the last two day and they made snow as well. They have 14 trails open as well as snow tubing!
Wisp Resort LOOKING GREAT!
Wisp is open with 12 trails today and I figured I’d end today with the best cam shots from this morning.
That will do it for today.
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[final-thoughts]