As many of you noted via emails on Monday, I never got around to posting an update or story. Literally ALL but the last eight words of the story were written, but I never was able to get back to it to finish and post it. Such is life, especially on Mondays. I went ahead and posted the update as there was some information in there.
We get some odd emails around here, but I had to laugh at one that came in on Monday. At some point in the last couple of days I wrote something to the effect that I was writing for the eight or nine readers who come on here every day and evidently at least one person took me seriously.
Tonia B. of Cary, NC wrote, "I’m one of the eight or nine people that visit your pages every day. I appreciate the updates you provide here but why would you do this website for only a handful of readers?"
I actually tried to find my exact quote and I remember writing that within the last few days but my brain is slightly "fogged in" as I am fighting a cold and taking Nyquil – and don’t have the energy to look for it.
I guess it is hard to write sarcasm, but for the eight or nine of you who took my comments seriously, we DO get a l-i-t-t-l-e more daily visitation than that!
Prompted by Tonia’s email I hopped over to our stats package on what was a s-l-o-w news day on Monday and we had 13,036 unique visitors who looked at 118,939 pages of content. So to YOU guys, I apologize for the "no new news Monday".
Our SkiSoutheast.com Communications Coordinator, Sarah Davis, informed me that she has posted several of the "What’s New for 2010-2011" updates on the website on Monday. You can check those updates out by simply clicking on your favorite ski area from the front page of the website and that information will be plainly visible on the resulting pages. Thanks to Sarah for getting that handled for us.
HANGING WITH MR. MORETZ OF APPALACHIAN SKI MOUNTAIN
I went over to have lunch with Appalachian Ski Mountain General Manager, Brad Moretz on Monday. He and I had attempted to get together two previous times but things came up for both of us. As I was waiting to meet with him a few people were popping in the main administrative offices asking for a moment with Mr. Moretz. Brad is certainly Mr. Moretz for a lot of people, but I had the pleasure of speaking with the longer tenured Mr. Moretz for a few moments before Brad was able to meet up. Grady Moretz was just chilling and as he walked up I said, "How are you doing Mr. Moretz?" He looked at me as he offered his handshake and I said, "Hi sir, I’m Mike Doble with SkiNorthCarolina and SkiSoutheast."
In his finest tongue-in-cheek reply he said, "Oh, you have a famous name." I laughed and he shared how much we do and can do for them and the other ski areas, but then he chuckled as he shared a bit of insight about a common friend who doesn’t care much for what we do around here. Mr. Moretz is always a great conversationalist. I’d love to spend more time with him as he certainly has a lot of great stories logged away since joining the ski industry in 1962.
I spent nearly two hours having lunch with Brad and App’s Marketing Director, Drew Stanley. Like his father, Brad is always great for sharing his insight in the local ski community. Among the myriad of subjects we covered is the fact that Appalachian Ski Mountain is offering a unique 8 hour Flex ticket this season. Simply put, your session begins when you buy the ticket and you get to ski or ride for eight hours on it!
Like most ski areas, App had always worked in a break between Day and Night sessions, however beginning this season the slopes are now opening continuously from 9am to 10pm and no matter what time you arrive at the slopes you can ski for eight full hours if you want to purchase the 8 Hour Flex ticket. Of course they offer options wherein you can ride either the day or night session (or both).
Brad and Drew walked me over to the new beginner terrain area which is over on the lower right side of the mountain as you’re looking up the hill from the lodge building at the bottom. They’ve installed a very expensive looking, Sunkid conveyor lift servicing the new beginner area, making things tons more convenient for slope newbies.
App had previously installed the uber convenient magic carpet, conveyor system on the other beginning slope and that is still in operation so beginners will have it easy at App once the season gets underway. Of course they cater to the most experienced of skiers and riders within their three terrain parks, "Thin Slice" and other trails up top.
Over the past few seasons App has reinvested over 3 million dollars adding new slopes, expanding snowmaking and generally improving every area of the resort.
You can read more of App’s "What’s New for 2010" information by clicking here> What’s New at Appalachian Ski Mountain
Be sure to check out all of the What’s New content on the site for your favorite ski area and check back often for updated weather content and more.
That’s it for now…THINK COLD! THINK SNOW!
Be sure to check back often for more photos being posted as well as our video blog. If you have not yet visited our Ski Messageboard Forum you should do so.
We’ll be sharing TONS more input about our plans for this season, but for a little sneak peek visit:
www.HighCountryWebCams.com
www.HighCountryWeather.com
www.SkiSoutheast.com
Send your comments, photos, videos and trip reports to: [email protected]