It isn’t every day that a guy gets to go out and do some First Tracks before anyone else gets to hit the mountain. That is what is in store for some thirty (plus or minus) of us at Snowshoe Mountain this morning. So I’m forced to keep today’s post to a minimum. I’ll try to post up late this evening, but until then – check the SLOPE REPORT for all the details on slope openings and the conditions.
We are seeing some 60+ degree readings for LOWS this morning! The low last night at Appalachian Ski Mountain was 46° but that must have been around midnight – because it is already showing 62° there at the mountain at 6:37am Sunday morning! Massanutten is showing 65°! Canaan Valley is at 55°! Beech is at 47°, Sugar 45°.
We’re looking at a second day in a row that will show highs in the 70° plus range across some of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic Ski Mountains. That is incredible. Most incredible is the fact that just days ago we witnessed 15" of SNOW in the area! Crazier still is the fact that winter weather is forecasted JUST DAYS AWAY this Thursday and low temps will be in the low 20s!
Resort quickies: (No not what you’re thinking…)
Cataloochee has their huge season ticket sale today. Tammy Brown writes, "today is the biggest and best season pass sale of this year and next. Pass prices on today will be the lowest of the year and if you are a new pass holder, you can ski for the rest of this year and next on this pass! Don’t forget there will be special pricing not only on midweek passes for every pass we offer as well! These special prices (including our midweek season pass for $169) will be available from 8:30am – 4:30pm on Sunday. You can purchase here at the area or call in between the hours of 8:30am-4:30pm. Our early season pricing special at its next tier will continue from March 9 through March 31 Pass pricing will go up on April 1. And new this year for our unlimited pass holders, Appalachian Ski Mountain, North Carolina’s First Area for Family Fun will give Cataloochee unlimited season pass holders for the 2009/2010 season, $10 off of the puchase of a daily lift ticket when they ski or ride at Appalachian – making having a Cataloochee season pass an even better deal – call the ski area for more information."
Hawksnest’s Tubing Only Park will be closed this week. They posted, "Due to the warm weather forecast for the week of March 9 – 12, we will be closed in an effort to save our snow for the weekend. The weekend of March 13 – 15 is forecast to be cold again so it should be good snow tubing. Hope to see you then."
Look for updated news on resort closings, season ending activities and specials – AND MORE this week.
ON SNOW REPORTERS TO BE REACTIVATED!
We’ve had a lot of requests to reimplement the Snow Reporter program on the websites. A lot of people post Trip Reports these days over on the messageboard, but we received a couple of emails lately from some of you who want to see us put those TRs on the front page like we used to do. I think we will do just that starting next season. We gained a lot of valuable information via those reports in the past and they were always especially great during times when thin coverage and bare spots began to surface.
Right now, due to the mild weather – we’re seeing a fair number of ski areas reporting Loose Granular and Spring Conditions without reporting thin and bare areas which are becoming pretty prevalent. At the height of the program we had as many as 130 volunteer on-snow reporters. We’ll have to recruit you guys prior to the season and offer up some goodies to the top reporters, etc. Look for more on that soon.
Until tomorrow….
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