We were looking around yesterday and it was amazing how many national and regional websites had incorrect information regarding our ski resorts. One had Sugar open with only 2 trails. One had Ski Beech re-opening and since they haven’t opened yet, it would be hard to re-open. One had Appalachian open with two slopes and they’ve been closed for more than a week. I know it’s early in the season…but come on!
You can count on SkiSoutheast to provide you with the most up-to-date conditions and openings every day (sometimes more than once a day when warranted).
Now you can also count SkiSoutheast and HighCountryWeather as the only source in the region offering a meteorologist to provide insightful, accurate and meaningful weather information and forecasts. Meteorologist Marcus Lynch has agreed to post content for the High Country via SkiNC and HighCountryWeather.com and he’s also providing informative content via SkiSoutheast.com! We’ve always gotten a lot of meteorological input from many of the region’s weather professionals and that is so cool to have. We want to thank Marcus for be willing to do that on a regular basis for us this season.
Marcus grew up in Yadkinville, North Carolina, and started working in radio during his junior year of college. He moved to television his senior year, as an intern and production assistant for WXII-TV in Winston-Salem. Marcus graduated from Appalachian State University in 1990 and completed his degree in Meteorology at North Carolina State in 1993. His first fulltime weather job was with WMBD-TV in Peoria, Illinois, followed by several years at WJHL-TV in the Tri-Cities. He joined the staff of WCYB in the fall of 2003.
Thanks again to Marcus and the powers that be at WCYB NBC 5 out of Bristol, Kingsport and Johnson City for allowing Marcus’ input this season.
Now on to some Resort updates…
Lori Epp up at beautiful Wisp Resort at Deep Creek told me this weekend that they have really been building base to open with phenomenal conditions. She kind of told me “off the record” at that time that they were probably going to open this Saturday, December 9th. We were checking out the weather display on their website this morning and we’re not sure if the reading of 36° was correct…or the views from their webcams…but if that info is live…they may be a few days away from opening. We’ll keep you posted as we get input from up there. If you have never made the trek up to Deep Creek Lake and Wisp…you guys should make an effort to do so this season. Wisp offers a nice “feel” to it and we highly recommend it to all of our visitors.
We haven’t received any word as yet from Canaan Valley and Timberline Resort which is minutes away from Canaan IS opening December 7th.
Andrea Smith up at Snowshoe Mountain sent me the SWEETEST Snowmaking Photo that we’ve seen this season and we’re posting that as our Photo of the Day so be sure to check that out! Snowshoe Mountain is reporting a 10-12” increase in base depth since Monday AM. They were reporting 16-20” on Monday and as of this morning they are now at 26-32”. With temps in the single digits to the teens up there all day on Monday…you can really crank it out. Andrea reported that more than 200 guns were pouring on the snow! Snowshoe is reporting 12-15° this morning at 7am. That is amazingly different from Wisp’s mid 30s! Snowshoe also picked up an inch of natural snow on Monday as well!
With a low of 3° at Snowshoe on Monday…they no doubt cranked out a ton of new snow! Andrea Smith reports, “It looks like Old Man Winter has finally blown our way on Snowshoe Mountain. With high temperatures expected to stay in the 20’s and teens throughout the week, it is shaping up to be a great weekend to demo the latest gear. An artic blast of cold air blew in from the north this week and we hope winter is here to stay. With nearly 200 snow guns creating a base on 12 different trials-as Mountain Ops Head, Tex Ritter says-things will happen fast!
We were lucky to be open for skiing and riding over the last couple of weeks and now we are raring to go further! We expect to add quickly to our trail count and open two or three more runs top to bottom by the weekend. We hope to expand from five open trials to as many as ten with over 40 acres of skiable terrain by the weekend, now that’s enough room to get up some real speed and test that equipment rightfully!
Our mountain operations team plans to open Powder Monkey and Spruce Glades sometime this week and that includes our main terrain park. The snowmakers then hope to make enough to connect Wiffletree and maybe even Gandy Dancer and Logslide by the weekend. That will link enough trails to run the high-speed Ballhooter lift and possibly three other lifts-now we’re getting closer to that big mountain skiing. For all of you tubers and night skiers out there, the Silver Creek Ski Area is looking like it is on target for its December 15th opening.
But back to this weekend…. As you may well know, December 8-10 is Demo Days Weekend at Snowshoe Mountain. This means all you need to try the latest equipment from the best manufacturers is a form of ID and a major credit card to leave with the attendant until you return the skis or snowboard-yes, that means it is absolutely free! Burton, Head, Salomon, Atomic, Rossingol and Nordica are just a few of the manufactures that will be out on Skidder slope to let you check out their stuff from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Also this weekend, be sure not to miss the $2,500 King of the Mountain terrain park competition. The weekend’s events will kick off with a slopestyle contest on Spruce Glades at 10:30 a.m., then a rail competition outside Shavers Centre at 4:00 p.m. and wrap-up with a big air competition on Spruce Glades at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. Athletes can register on location the day of the competition for only $25 per event or $50 for all three. If you’re like me and can’t quite hang, at least take it in, it is pretty cool to watch-kind of like a mini X-games on skis and boards.
Don’t forget to go by and check out Snowshoe’s newest gourmet treat when you head to the mountain. I can attest you will not be disappointed with the new Ember restaurant in Soaring Eagle Lodge. Remember, now is the time to get outside play and ride!”
WELL SAID ANDREA…(we just gave her the floor for a bit!)…
Winterplace Resort, just south of Snowshoe is reporting 27° this morning at 8:51am. They too are making snow at every opportunity and expect to open Friday for the season!
Bryce Resort in Virginia is still expecting to open on Saturday.
No word yet from Massanutten. We know they are making snow and we’re thinking that they will open this weekend and will update you asap. We have already reported that The Homestead Resort will open the following weekend December 15th.
Wintergreen Resort was reporting some natural snowfall this AM (about an inch) and 19° as well! They expect to be open with some terrain for this weekend. Check back Wednesday AM for an update!
Appalachian Ski Mountain will be re-opening for the season on Wednesday, December 6th! That is great news for all App fans.
Cataloochee is open today from 1pm-10pm.
Our weather station up at Hawksnest is showing 17.5° this morning as of 8am. Lenny Cottom reports, “Snowmaking is in full force and will continue as long as weather permits. Given the current weather forecast, we will be open this Friday, December 8th. Our weekend schedule will be Friday 12:30 pm to midnight, Saturday 9 am – midnight, Sunday 9am – 4:30 pm. Snowtubing will also be open on Friday, Saturday & Sunday.”
Gil Adams up at Ski Beech passed on THIS great news! – “We would like to announce that the 2006-2007 ski season will begin this Thursday. We are going to be open from the top of our mountain for both day and night skiing. Conditions and slopes open will be reported on Thursday morning. Our snowmaking over the past few days has been productive, and we have been anxiously waiting for opening day to arrive. We look forward to seeing you on the slopes. Again, opening day is this Thursday, December the 7th.”
Sugar Mountain is open from the top of their 1200’ vert for day and night skiing. Both the Yellow and the Brown Lifts will be operating today servicing North Ridge, Switchback, Upper Flying Mile, Lower Flying Mile and Easy Street. Sugar is reporting an AMAZING jump in base in just two days. Monday morning they reported a 2” increase in base depths from Sunday and then this Tuesday morning they are reporting a 4-20” INCREASE!?!? They went from a 6-16” base on four trails on Monday AM, to a base of 10-36” on five trails today. One or the other is probably in error…but regardless, Sugar is looking quite nice this morning!
Wolf Ridge is now reporting that they will “likely” open this weekend. There’s no commitment quite yet as to whether that is Friday or Saturday but we’ll get you that information as soon as we know it.
WebCams are looking pretty white lately!
All of the webcams are looking pretty sweet lately. We want to thank Steve Underwood up on Beech Mountain for getting Comtech in Boone to run a new weather sensitive outdoor rated cable to the Parkway Cam up there. We’ve had so many issues with that cam since it’s installation last season. The weather is so harsh up there and we’ve had sporadic connectivity until now. The Beech Mountain Parkway cam is putting out some great images now. Now all we need is some deep snows to show you!
Keep checking out SkiSoutheast.com!
We’re still adding content to SkiNC, but a lot of it is being directed to SkiSoutheast.com to keep us from having to be repetitive with information. We added a new, detailed resort locator map and also a map to all of the region’s road conditions resources. Be sure to check that out. We have much more being added daily and hopefully by this weekend when all of the resorts are cranking up…we’ll have everything in place!
Until Next Time…
THINK COLD – THINK SNOW!
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For more information about the ski resorts of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic visit www.SkiSoutheast.com
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