We’re still attempting to get some input from some of the ski areas to share just how successful the 2005-2006 season was and when we get those we will post it. As busy as business is I didn’t want to let too much time go by before thanking some special people for their participation in what turned out to be a very special season.
Thanks first to the messageboard crew. Yep, you guys get the first bit of thanks. You guys are the biggest fans of skiing in the Southeast, and particularly of the websites. You put a face on things…and for that we thank you. (Sometimes that face is admittedly a bit over the top…but all publicity is good publicity or so they say.) While on the subject of the messageboard, thanks to the Moderators for helping us keep things civil on the board. Thanks also to Dave McConnell who has kind of become the leader of that pack of zealous members! David and the messageboard crew began the SkiNC Summit last year and this year’s gathering was crazy and fun.
Thanks to the On-Snow Reporters…particularly Kent Jackson and Mark McKelvy who kept sending photos and reports all season long from the first day to the last. Thanks too to Lorrie Tomlinson who sent THE MOST photos and reports this season and to Gresham Barker, CB Koontz and Joe Harmon who all deserve mention here. Thanks to ALL of the rest of you who sent photos and reports throughout the season. Without your input the website would not be the same.
Thanks to all of the ski resort marketing and management crews for working with us again this season. We had more input from more resorts than in any previous season and that helps us to promote all of the resorts more equitably.
Special thanks go to Snowshoe’s Andrea Smith and Wisp Resort’s Lori Epp for inviting us to your fine resorts this season. We always enjoy the special treatment that you extend! It was great making several days of turns on some sweet terrain. We also appreciate the invitations of others that we didn’t get to visit this season. We’ll make a special effort to visit next season!
Special thanks to Gil Adams of Ski Beech, Lenny Cottom of Hawksnest, Tammy Brown of Cataloochee, Jennifer Hampton of Wolf Laurel, Kathy Doyle of Ober Gatlinburg and Tiffany Keith of Wintergreen Resort for your special participation this season. Your help and contributions are always appreciated in making SkiNC and SkiSoutheast a great place to visit!
A HUGE thanks to Bill Leonard of Ski Country Sports, Brian Britton of Extreme Snowboard and Ski, Richard McGuire of Eagle Ridge Log Cabins, Ed Burke of Cliff Dwellers Inn, Mike and Lynn Graham of At Your Wits End Cabins, and Carroll Keller of The Lodge at Mill Ridge for your support and contributions towards some great giveaways this season!
Thanks to my buddy, Joe Stevens for his column contribution this season and particularly for his consistent love of the southeast ski scene. Joe, you are appreciated.
Special thanks to the snowmaking crews of the Southeast, without whom we would not ski uninterrupted for an entire season! We appreciate your hard work throughout the cold nights to make our experience as good as it is!
Another HUGE thank you to the more than 80 television and other media outlets for giving us mentions on the air this season alone! You guys are really, really appreciated. You help us get the word out better than anything that we could do without you! Particular thanks to Meteorologists Eric Thomas of WBTV in
We HAVE to give another HUGE THANK YOU to our buddy, meteorologist Brad Panovich of WCNC TV 6 in
We also appreciate all of the weather fans like Greg Dobson and others who contributed useful information this and for many seasons. We can use all of the help we can get!
We want to extend another special thank you to the HUNDREDS of newspapers and magazine reporters who included us in many stories this season! Your support and contributions are priceless! We can’t possibly mention every reporter and every story but we certainly do appreciate every mention! We have to single out our buddy Joe Miller of The News and Observer in
…and last but certainly not least…thank you to each and every one of the MORE THAN 8,816,340 unique visitors to the website since November 1st, 2005! You people make doing this website worth it! Those almost NINE million visitors looked at 66,122,550 pages of the website this season – setting a single season record that we’ve eclipsed each year. For those without a calculator, that is more than 56,000 unique visitors per day looking at more than seven pages each! Pretty impressive indeed! …and we want to thank each and every one of you.
I’m certain that I am forgetting someone…and if so just know that it is not because you are not appreciated – it has more to do with the fact that I am absent numerous brain cells at this time every season! I’m sure others will come to me the moment I post this message and realize that I’ve forgotten someone important…but THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH for a great 2005-2006 season.
What’s Next for SkiNC and SkiSoutheast?
At the urging of some…we will try to post an update or two asap…hopefully including some numbers on how the season went for our ski areas. We’ll TRY to post some updates periodically, but at this point on the calendar, our visitor numbers are WAY DOWN and yours truly is WAY tired and in need of one less thing to do for a bit. Visit the site every once in a while during the off season and we’ll try to surprise you occasionally!
This off-season I am committed to implementing some programs that were intended for the 2005-2006 season. I just never got around to making them happen and the season and my real job never provided the time necessary. This summer and fall will offer some programming and planning time and we hope to bring you guys an even better SkiNC and SkiSoutheast come next November!
At the urging of numerous people we will add to our online store…providing many new items for sale; and we will tweak the On-Snow Reporting functionality and perhaps come up with something new and improved there. We’ll hopefully keep the columnists in tack and also enlist the participation of some new faces to hopefully give you an even more well-rounded slant on the ski and snowboarding scene that IS the Southeast!
So THANKS again for all of you who made SkiNC and SkiSoutheast your favorite spot on the internet again this season!
Until Next Time…
Be sure to email photos, snow reports and comments to: [email protected]
Visit www.SkiSoutheast.com and www.HighCountryWeather.com for more information.