COLD TEMPS, SOME SNOW and VERY NICE CONDITIONS IN PLACE FOR TODAY!

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Temperatures around the region this morning are SO much more like they should be for this time of the year although we’re seeing some temperature anomalies We’re seeing 22° at Fred’s Mercantile up on Beech Mountain, but 36° at Ski Beech, 21° at Sugar, 28° at Cataloochee, 24° at Hawksnest, and 29° at Wolf Ridge.   Massanutten and Wintergreen are both reporting 25° this morning and both made snow! Snowshoe Mountain is reporting 17° but did not make snow, Canaan Valley is in the 20s but did not make snow, Timberline made snow in some selected areas and Winterplace is showing 21° – but did not make snow.

We’re not certain why some resorts could have made snow but didn’t  but we’ll try to get some insight from the ski areas themselves and share that with you.

We invite you guys to check the slope report page for all of the details, but here’s a quick glance of some notables for today:

WEST VIRGINIA SKI RESORT NEWS:

Snowshoe Mountain – 17° – They did not make snow – They received an inch of new natural snow and report a base of 54" on 59 of 60 trails. Laura Parquette writes, "Snowshoe received an inch of snow overnight, pushing our season total to 155 inches! With a pretty good drop in temperature since yesterday, be sure to bundle up out there as the wind chill values could get as low as zero. This arctic air will stay with us through tomorrow possibly delivering more natural flakes this evening. All of our trails have been groomed making conditions excellent on the mountain. Skiers and Riders will be making turns on frozen granular snow with an incredible amount of open terrain to enjoy. This Holiday weekend has been filled with family-friendly entertainment and fantastic skiing and riding conditions! Be sure to visit our website at www.snowshoemtn.com for further details on upcoming events and lodging specials. It’s a fantastic time to plan your winter escape by calling 1-877-441-4FUN today!"

Canaan Valley Ski Resort – 29° – Did not make snow – They have 24 trails open with ice skating, snow tubing and air boarding all open for day and night sessions. Canaan Valley reports .8" of new snow and after that and a TRACE of snow yesterday morning they now have seen 147.5" on the season!

Timberline Resort – 29° – They made snow on selected slopes and have 30 trails open today with 90% of the trails groomed and a base of 30-70"

Winterplace Resort – 21° – Did not make snow – Report a base of 40-80" on 28 trails and snow tubing is open.

WISP RESORT IN MARYLAND

Wisp reported no snow and no snowmaking even though the temperatures were at 21° this morning. They have 29 trails open and snow tubing and mountain coastering as well!

VIRGINIA SKI RESORT NEWS:

Wintergreen Resort – 25° – They are making snow! – They have 25 of 26 trails open, terrain parks and snow tubing and they are skiing and riding until MIDNIGHT! Anne Marie Jones writes, "MAKING SNOW! Another cold night and we are pumping out great snow. Thanks to 100% snowmaking automation, our guests will slide on lots of great new snow today! Our Presidents Weekend Celebration is packed full of activities for the whole family. Fun activities include: Today- ski and ride equipment demo at the top of Big Acorn, Freestyle Double Cross Race on Upper Diamond Hill, an evening Rail Jam in our Terrain Park, LATE NIGHT THRILLS (ski and ride until midnight), teen dance party in The Dome and finally Monday – USSA Slalom race."

Massanutten Resort – 26° – They MADE SNOW! – Report a base of 40" – 100% open with all 14 trails and snow tubing on 8 lanes!

Bryce Resort – Did not make snow – Reports a base of 34-59" – 100% open with all 8 trails and snow tubing.

OBER GATLINBURG IN TENNESSEE REPORT

Ober did not make snow and is reporting 32° this morning. They have 6 trails open and snow tubing and ice skating open as well!

NORTH CAROLINA SKI RESORT NEWS:

Appalachian Ski Mountain – 40° – Did not make snow overnight – Base of 67-92" – 100% open with 10 trails, both terrain parks and ice skating for day and night sessions.

Cataloochee Ski Area – 28° – Made Snow – Base of 32-80" – 100% open with 14 trails. They are open for day and night sessions today because it is a holiday weekend. Cat is not making snow this morning. Tubing is open as well!

Hawksnest’s Tubing Park is open with 17 lanes of snow tubing.

Ski Beech – 36° – Did not make snow – Reporting a base of 30-60 (but they have reported the same base for two weeks) – They have 11 of 15 trails open for day and night sessions.

Sugar Mountain – 21° low at the Summit and 26° low at the base. They are reporting 22° and 27° as of 8:21am. They ARE making snow and did so overnight. Snowmaking will continue as long as temps allow. That is making for some very nice conditions for today on 100% of their terrain and ice skating and snow tubing are all open. Sugar is reporting a base of 36-72"

Wolf Ridge Resort – 29° – Did not make snow – Reporting a base of 50-70" and 12 trails open. They are reporting "Wet Granular" conditions but we’re betting because they just didn’t pay attention to that. They will have loose and frozen granular conditions for today and tonight. They DID post this statement on their website, "The slopes have continued to be in excellent condition this season with an above average snow base considering the extreme weather changes."

CAMERAS, CAMERAS, CAMERAS…

We worked a good bit on some of the ski area camera systems in an effort to brings some LIVE video to some of them. We’ll be toying with those over the next could of days and get you additional views. Be sure to visit www.HighCountryWebCams.com for the most comprehensive list of cameras.

Sugar is making snow. There was so much snow/ice on the camera that we had to pan it around to one of Sugar Ski & Country Club’s units. So it is kind of useless this morning. Once the sun comes out we should be able to get you a better view.

SKINC / SKI BEECH SUMMIT UPDATE

We have about 110 people planning to attend Ski Beech next Saturday, February 21st. YOU SHOULD TOO. Join the messageboard (it’s free) and get 50% off your lift pass and come join the fun and meet some SkiNC friends. Click here for more information!

Check out the messageboard for more details –

We’re still finalizing some ideas…but the biggest part of the fun will be hanging out with some great friends, meeting some new ones, and helping out a couple of great causes. The Ski Beech Ski Patrol is having a cookout to raise money for their efforts and 20% of the revenue generated is going to the "Helena Jolly Education Fund". Helena Jolly is the young daughter of Jon Jolly, one of Ski Beech’s longtime employees, passed away of a heart attack back on October 14, 2008. Jon Jolly, aka parisandrewsdaddy, was great friend to many people on the messageboard, and he was a great asset to the messageboard in general. Jon was a very giving person, and he went out of his way to help people out with gear, information, etc.

Now it is our chance to give back to him by contributing to his daughter’s educational fund. I can’t think of a better way to honor our friend than to help with his daughter’s education. The easiest way to help is to come to the Summit, eat drink and be merry! Also Ryan Costin of Ski Beech wrote, "Mike, I have contacted John Jolly’s wife and extended the invitation to the events on Saturday. I am hoping Helena and herself will be able to attend and at this point they are scheduled to do so. We will have a raffle with stuff donated from business’s all over the area and Ski Beech is going to put up a season pass for next year. All proceeds will go to the educational fund. The cook out will begin around 11:00am on the View Haus porch with burgers, hot dogs, chips, beer and other snacks and drinks. Again, a portion of these proceeds will go toward the educational fund as well. We will have a DJ on the porch throughout the day providing music and creating a positive atmosphere. The raffle will take place at 4:30 on the View Haus porch and should create a good time for a meet and greet between Beech Mountain staff members and Skinc members. The night will finish with a band in the BeechTree with no cover charge, but it will be a 21 and over event. We are planning more events during the day and should have something finalized at the beginning of this week."

WAY TO GO SKI BEECH!!!

Guys and gals…get over to the messageboard – sign up – ski at 50% and come enjoy yourselves AND have a great time while helping out a great cause as well!

Send your comments, photos, videos and trip reports to: [email protected]  

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