On Sunday, as I looked at the LIVE cams and lack of skiers on the slopes at all of the ski areas, I speculated that perhaps, maybe, possibly Snowshoe Mountain and Sugar Mountain would look at that and the bit of rain/showers that were in the forecast for Tuesday and this weekend – and determine that it might be best to shut it down for the season and start the work – all over again – preparing for next season.
However, the message this morning, at least from Snowshoe’s early morning post, is ‘full steam ahead’. They shared, “We have one more week of ski season…”
Well there you go. It looks like Snowshoe is in it to finish on April 2nd. One look at the LIVE CAM will attest to the fact that they have plenty of base snow to make it. They are operating with 26 slopes today. Soaring Eagle lift is closed.
Ditto that for Sugar Mountain Resort (which oddly comes next alphabetically). They are open today with 7 slopes and trails. They are open for night skiing as well.
Our own, Brian Dix made his last ski trip for the season to Sugar Mountain yesterday and sent us the Photo of the Day, up top and these below. As you can clearly see, there’s plenty of snow to make it these next few days. Looked soft and pretty darn nice.
The Photo of the Day, up top and here, shows the Switchback slope at Sugar.
Notice NOBODY on the slopes!
Timberline (and SkiSoutheast) Get Some Praise…
Andrew Stastny took the time to send in this nice report about Timberline (and SkiSoutheast.com) and I figured we would reward that effort. Thanks Andrew!
Here is HIS report/comments and great photos:
Hey Mike,
I read your blog every winter and really appreciate your ‘insider’ tips and overall feeling up there. I live in Tampa, Florida now and miss the snow, so we do at least 1 annual trip up to NC or WV. We went to Timberline Mountain on March 12-13 during my kids’ Spring Break. We had considered Beech/Sugar/App, but with ‘38 and rain’ forecasted we opted for ‘32 and snow’ at Timberline. Snowshoe was considered but the Ikon Pass was not yet for sale with Spring Skiing on those dates (and their daily ticket price was still $99). We have skied Winterplace in the past, but they had already closed. Timberline was offering $55 tickets with 16 slopes open. Boy were we surprised how good the conditions were! This has been after 2-3 weeks of warm & rainy weather.
Much to our surprise, we saw very little patches of dirt in the open runs, mountain ops had done a SPECTACULAR job making snow & grooming and making it all clean! Our hats off to a really great work they did for our dates (and it sounds like for the entire season). For very low snowfall totals, they made great coverage! They even received about 5” fresh while we were there. My 13-year-old son was able to conquer several single-black runs and even successfully skied one of the double-black (although short) runs! My 12-year-old daughter was able to master the blue runs and she successfully skied single-black runs. I have taken them on a ski trip every year since they were 5. (I grew up in Michigan with 300’ vertical hills with lots of icy snow, and I have made it my life mission to share the ‘ski lifestyle’ with them! My 68-year-old Dad had a great time skiing there too!
One truly shining nugget I want to share. The Timberline Mountain workers, from the ski life operators, to the ski patrol, to the ticket sales to the food workers, all had amazing customer service! Did not have any issues, no long lift lines, no open runs with dirt patches, no attitude from workers. I have followed the story since the new (Indiana) ownership took over a few years ago, improving snowmaking, replacing lifts where needed and expanding the beautiful lodge, and WOW! We will go back to Timberline for sure! Snowshow has some real competition (and yes we have skied Snowshoe many times-we met you at the SkiSoutheast Summit in March 2019 I believe it was). At any rate, thumbs-up and arms raised for a GREAT job and WONDERFUL experience their ownership & workers have transformed Timberline into! Oh, and the high-speed six-pack kept lift lines under 3 minutes, and the fixed-grip mid-mountain quad with conveyor belt loading made it a breeze for my kids! What an amazing place they have tucked away in Davis, WV. I look for Timberline to be the place of growth in the next decade as word gets out!
Thanks for listening to this rambling Florida (Midwestern at heart) skier. You and your crew do a fantastic job with daily reports & updates! Keep up the good work! I’ve attached a few photos from the ski days at Timberline.
-Andrew Stastny
Skier since 1989, age 39 currently
Skied in 12 states, 53 resorts
Here is his crew enjoying the day!
That will do it from me for today. If you happen to be playing at Snowshoe Mountain or Sugar Mountain today or this week and want to shoot me an email with photos and a short comment, send them to [email protected] and I will share yours as well!