December is off to a fantastic start.
The snow and cold continued into late Monday night (and even still some flurries flying this morning) and the result has been incredible on the slopes.
The natural snow forecast certainly delivered as we have had some impressive snow totals over the last 24 hours – including some double-digit totals.
That is music to my ears.
The big winners included Wolf Ridge as their section of the Tennessee/North Carolina line received around 10 inches in the past 36 hours, while Canaan Valley and Timberline are also received right at 10 inches over the past two days.
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Learn MoreWisp is reporting eight inches of fresh powder, while Snowshoe received another four inches of natural snow to bump their storm total up to seven inches.
Beech, Sugar, and Cataloochee all received around six inches and Ober Gatlinburg even got in the act as they received three inches of fresh powder.
Along with the result of a full-on snowmaking attack, the difference on the webcams is astounding. Be sure to #ThankASnowmaker.
There are two resorts open for play today as both Sugar and Cataloochee have the lifts spinning.
Cataloochee (which is where today’s featured image is from) is open to the top playing on seven trails with two lifts. They are reporting an 18-26″ base with a groomed and packed powder surface.
In Banner Elk, Sugar Mountain is reporting a packed powder and frozen granular surface atop a 15-40″ base. Sugar is offering seven slopes (including adding Easy Street to the mix today) with two lifts in operation.
The best part is there is more snow (late Friday and Saturday along with early next week) and snowmaking opportunities on the way.
Brad posted an updated forecast last night and the pattern is looking fantastic.
That forecast is a great way to jumpstart the season.
The best part is we will see several resorts join the mix over the next couple of days
Conditions at Snowshoe will be incredible for their opening day on Dec. 4. Beech Mountain just announced this morning that they are slated to open on Saturday morning (Dec. 5).
App Ski Mountain hasn’t officially announced opening day as of 9:30 am this morning, but I fully expect them to be in operation by the weekend.
There are several resorts – Canaan Valley, Timberline, Winterplace – to just name a couple that will be targeting next weekend for opening. Ober Gatlinburg is another one to watch that could open in the coming days – I did think it was cool they had to post on social media that they weren’t open yesterday because there was so much buzz.
As always, keep checking back and we will bring you opening updates as soon as we receive them.
Mike did a live video tour this morning over on Facebook so be sure to check it out by clicking here.
That does it for today, but until next time, #ThinkSnow!
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