Today is the last day of 2011. I cannot believe that this year is almost over. I have been working at Appnet/Ski Southeast/SkiNC/High Country Web Cams/High Country Weather for just about an entire calendar year now. It has been great! I’m sure things will only continue to get better. I have some ideas for those sites that I think you guys will like in the year ahead.
There are some fun happenings going on at the resorts tonight. I’ll try to go over those when I’m going over each resort. If you are out there getting some turns in today, it should be pretty fun. We do have some milder temperatures in store for today, but spending New Year’s Eve on the snow is a great way to end the year. I did it myself last year, but I think I’m going to take it easy this time around. I plan on being an old man and sitting around the house here in Davidson. We’ll see if I make it to midnight…ha!
Hopefully 2012 will be much kinder to us snow lovers than 2011 has been. Minus the month of January, this year has been pretty much a dud when it comes to cold and snowy weather. The latter half of last winter and the first half of this one have not been very memorable to say the least. I must be bad luck or something because right after I started this job is when conditions turned sour.
I’m staying positive though! I have a feeling the next few months will provide good conditions here in the Southeast. The New Year is going to start off with a bang, as Monday through Thursday look COLD for everyone here in the region. It’s taken until January, but it looks like we’re about to see our first blast of bone chilling, Arctic air of the season. It also looks like a lot of the ski areas will see some natural snow as well. The heavier snowfall will be up in West Virginia, but the ski areas in NC right around Boone should see some natural as well.
Regardless, EVERYONE is going to see some prime snowmaking temperatures. That’s the main story with this event. I don’t think we’re going to see huge snowfall amounts, but we are going to see some chilly temperature readings, especially on Tuesday. I wouldn’t be surprised to see highs in the single digits in West Virginia on Tuesday. It won’t be quite that cold in Virginia and here in NC, but it’ll be bone chilling nonetheless. The highs at Beech and Sugar for Tuesday look to be in the teens, with a lot of wind. Northwest Flow!
So, things are still not where we’d like them to be at this point in the season in terms of snow conditions and open terrain. However, I think that will all change come Thursday and Friday. The ski areas have been doing pretty good with the 24-48 hour windows of snowmaking opportunities they’ve had so far this year…and that’s been with marginal temps. Imagine what they will be able to do with 72-96 hours of prime snowmaking temperatures mixed in with some natural snowfall! Yeah, things should look a whole lot better come next weekend. I’m pretty pumped to get back up to Boone next week and ride!
Alright, here’s a look at the resorts today…
Wolf Ridge remains open today. It’s good to see them finally up and running this year. They are skiing and riding on 5 trails today with 2-3 lifts open. How do you have 2-3 lifts open? I have no idea, but they do.
Appalachian Ski Mountain is open on 10 of 12 trails today. The live cam is showing some great conditions out there this morning, and I’ve been looking at pictures of the terrain parks and they look awesome! They have finally been able to set up some jumps over in AppalJam. I can’t wait to get some night sessions in out there next week. They will be having fireworks, torch light skiing, and midnight ice skating to ring in the new year!
Beech Mountain is still skiing and riding on 7 trails today. I heard yesterday that Upper Robbins and Lower Southern were looking a little sketchy though, so be careful if you go on those trails. Beech is having their New Year’s Eve festivities tonight. There will be late night ice skating, live music, games, and prizes being given away. It should be pretty fun! Click HERE for more info.
Cataloochee is open on 10 trails again today. It’s crazy how they’ve had to shut down the mountain twice this week due to so many people being there. Conditions look pretty good up there this morning and it should be a fun day!
Sugar Mountain remains open to the top with 9 open trails today. They are also having New Year’s Eve festivities tonight, with fireworks, a torch light parade, and live music. That sounds awesome!
Bryce Resort is open on 4 trails today. I really love the live cam out there. I find that it is one of the cams that I check most frequently. Tubing is also open out there today.
Massanutten Resort is open on 2 trails today for the day session only. The weather really hasn’t been that good for them so far this year but they are still making do. Look for things to turn around quickly up there this week with the forecasted colder temperatures.
Wintergreen Resort is skiing and riding on 5 trails today only for the day session. Like the other Virginia ski areas, the weather has been uncooperative up there this year as well. They are saying night skiing and tubing will resume sometime next week.
Canaan Valley is open to the top! They are skiing and riding on 7 trails today. Tubing and ice skating are also open today. The cam is showing some pretty good coverage out there!
Snowshoe Mountain continues to be the best option for skiing and riding in the Southeast. They are open on 32 trails today with 12 lifts running. Mike, where are those pics and videos?! The Shoe also has a bunch of New Year’s Eve festivities going on tonight. Click HERE for more info.
Timberline Resort has 11 trails open for today and they are looking good right now based on what I see on the webcam. Not sure how accurate their listed base of 43 inches is, but things look good up there nonetheless. They will be night skiing tonight.
Winterplace Resort is operating on 14 trails today. That is the second most in the region! The live cam appears to be back up and running, so hopefully we won’t have anymore issues with it. You can thank the drunk driver from Maryland who hit a power pole for it going down.
Wisp Resort has upped their open trail count to 10 today. They will be ringing in the New Year with good food and live music at the Lodge from 8pm until midnight tonight. No cover charge!
Have a Happy New Year everyone!
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