Another Great Day Awaits Southeast Skiers, Riders, Tubers, Mountain Coaster-ers and More!

This appears to be a "Collegiate Race Weekend" as we noticed that Bryce Resort in Virginia played host to the Collegiate USSA Giant Slalom on Saturday and the Collegiate USSA Slalom today. Up at Wisp Resort in Maryland we watched as racers from Villanova, Penn State, West Virginia University and several other schools raced down Squirrel Cage all day.

If you get a chance you really should check out some of the races. While most of the participants are not Olympic quality…you can see every kid trying their hardest and having fun doing it!

WEATHER PATTERNS LOOKING GREAT LATELY!

I don’t know if anyone else has been paying attention but it looks like the weather has settled into a pattern and this particular pattern has been a pretty good one for our area’s ski resorts, and for all of us who love to play at them.

For the last four weeks or so, we’ve seen a series of storms that have hit around mid-week, followed by a great weekend of skier-visit generating weather that has definately been wonderful for the ski areas…and particularly for their accountants. I have spoken with a few of the resorts managers and all seem to concur that the last four weekends in a row have been some of the best all-time.

That weather pattern seems to indicate that we’re in for another week of that same cycle as today should be nice with sunny skies and highs approaching 50° for the North Carolina Mountains. Monday looks a little iffy, as does Tuesday…but actually the daytime weather looks pretty decent and whatever rain comes…should be in the PM hours or after midnight. Tuesday may hit 60°. Wednesday cools back down to normal temps for the first of February with highs in the 40s and lows in the low 20s and we may see some PM SNOW! Snowmaking will begin again Wednesday night. Thursday looks nice with sunny skies and cold, snowmaking temps at night.

Then the weekend at this time looks cold and snowy with highs Saturday in the low to mid 30s.

RESORTS FURTHER NORTH LOOK EVEN BETTER…

There’s a chance for some under developed snow (rain) in the forecast for Monday through Wednesday with highs in the 40s and lows in the 30s across West Virginia and into Maryland. Things quickly cool back down Thursday with sunny skies but highs in the 30s and lows in the (snowmaking 20s).

Go ahead and make your travel plans for next weekend as the forecast right now shows SNOW Friday, SNOW Saturday, SNOW Sunday, and still chances for SNOW on Monday and Tuesday, February 12th.

So, if you’ve been tied down and simply could not make it for one of the last four weeks, you’re in luck for the second half of the upcoming week. Make those reservations today!

Check the SLOPE CONDITIONS PAGE for the details…but suffice to say that there will be NO SNOWMAKING at your favorite ski area today. All resorts have plenty of good base depth and everyone should have groomed conditions with the best snow of the day EARLY, with some softening up from skier traffic as the day goes forward. The second half of the day should provide plenty of skier-traffic-created-bumps and some variable granular conditions.

There will be NO snowmaking today, so wear some light layers, no goggles needed but a pair of sunglasses would be nice! Hey go take us some photos and send them our way!

SPORADIC RESORT NOTES TODAY…

Wisp Resort – My buddy Lori Epp who serves as the Event and Public Relations Manager for Wisp is busy entertaining a bunch of media types this morning so they have not updated their ski report as of 8:21am this morning, but let me give it to you first hand as I am visiting this gorgeous mountain resort.

The conditions today include:

a) Great Mountain Terrain

b) Wonderful, Family-oriented atmosphere

c) Amazingly friendly staff from the hotel general manager, to the wait staff at every dining option, to lift operators on the mountain who greet you on nearly every single chair load.

d) Oh yea, they have 30 trails open with awesome conditions, top-class grooming and what should be another great day of skiing, snowboarding, tubing and mountain coastering.

Speaking of Mountain Coastering, I was able to give that particular winter activity a whirl yesterday and all I can say is "OH MY GOODNESS!" My crew let it all hang out and we did the ride from top to bottom a couple of times with NO BREAKING and that is one ride that will out a smile on your face!

We also spent a few hours on their amazing tubing hill. That thing is unreal and the mountain crew up there has fun twirling, pushing and assisting riders to do about anything you want to create your own special bit of fun!

We took a ton of video and literally hundreds of photos on Friday and Saturday and we’ll share a top-to-bottom ride on the Alpine Coaster and show you some awesome photos ASAP.

Wisp pulls a lot of traffic from Washington D.C., Baltimore and all points of the Mid Atlantic, but we REALLY want to highly recommend to all of our coverage area readership that you guys make the trip up to Wisp Resort in Garrett County Maryland. It is an outdoor lover’s haven with tons to do year round including world class golf, phenomenal winter fun with slopes that will challenge every skier level and the countryside is as impressive as the people who call the area "home". They also have quickly become a rock climber’s and white water mecca as well and we’ll cover that in a story that we will dedicate to that information later in the week.

However, if you get a chance or if you are contemplating on where to make your next Southeast or Mid Atlantic ski trip, you really should give these guys a visit. You’ll thank us.

Laura Parquette of Snowshoe Mountain knows what we mean by "information IN is information OUT" as she always provides us with a great take on conditions at the largest ski resort in the region. Today she writes, "Snowmaking took place overnight, but will not occur on open terrain today. The next few days are expected to be a little warmer than usual, so snowmaking will restart as temperatures allow. Our groomers did an excellent job as always last night, and the snow looks perfect out there! It’s hard to get two nicer days than yesterday and today, so hopefully you’ve been able to take advantage of the great weather and even better conditions we’ve got out there! We have 57 trails open today, with Widowmaker closed for racing.The infamous Cuervo Games of Winter wrap up today, and there will be plenty of Super Bowl viewing parties across the mountain. Tomorrow, the ultimate hangover cure and the East’s longest GS race, The Cupp Run Challenge, takes place."

Kudos to Laura.

Timberline Resort reported 2" of snow from the Friday night into Saturday storm. We were early in posting Saturday morning so we want to bring that to your attention today. They now have had 89" on the season. They have not updated their report as of 8:15am this morning and according to the SSAA they have 24 trails open today.

Don’t forget that Cataloochee only skis day sessions on Sundays and also remember that the Cat Crew offers the Cataloochee Recreational Race Series on Sunday afternoons. $10.00 gets you in and $1.00 of your race entry fee will be donated to KARE the Kids Advocacy Resource Effort of Haywood County. So go race against the clock and have some fun.

Also today at Cataloochee is Ski Country Sports Demo Day, so go check out new stuff and enjoy the pre-Super Bowl day with the folks from Ski Country on Sunday!

Appalachian, Beech and Sugar are all 100% open today and Sugar’s surface conditions report is probably the most accurate of the day with loose and frozen granular.

Go hit the slopes and get us some photos, videos and trail reports!

Enjoy your day…

Send your snow photos, videos, comments or emails to: [email protected]