The day is finally here. Snowshoe is 100% open this morning.
All 61 trails are open in West Virginia today. The sun is shining, and temperatures are hovering around the low 20s just before the first ropes drop. All 12 possible trails will be open tonight, and all four terrain parks are open.
From the snow reporting team:
The sun is shining thanks to the hard work of our operations team we’ll be sliding on 100 percent open terrain this fine Wednesday morning! Timberjack has opened as a ski trail over at The Creek so be sure to get over there and check it out. After a few runs on Timberjack you may feel those logging roots taking hold. Satisfy your inner lumberjack with some axe throwing at Bear’s Den in the Silver Creek Lodge.”
And in case you missed it, here are some of the photos from the Cupp Run Challenge.
Xander Brouillette took home a first place finish, with a time of 1:46.51. Peter Mardosa finished in second with 1:50.33, just barely edging out Cole Howard who finished in third with a 1:50.82.
Luxury Meets Lackadaisical
Every so often, a outside brand breaks into the skiing and snowboarding world, and tries to make a splash. Sometimes, those brands make logistical sense, like when Nike and Adidas both broke into snowboarding. Sometimes, the crossover is a bit of a head-scratcher, such as Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, or Dior.
Prada entered the snowsports game during the 2022 Olympics, and sponsored U.S. snowboarder Julia Marino. That brand made a little bit of sense, seeing as Prada makes eyewear, and Marino rocked Prada goggles before she stood atop the Olympic podium and received a slopestyle silver medal. But Prada’s snowboard made headlines in a bad way, when Marino said that the International Olympic Committee told her she would not be able to use the same board for the big air competition.
Enter the luxury brand Moncler. The company makes designer puffy jackets, and its tagline is “Designed for those who value elegance in its truest form.” The brand has entered the snowboard space, and did so with brand ambassador and retired greatest-of-all-time halfpipe rider Shaun White. Moncler and Whitespace – White’s snowboard brand – teamed up for a collaboration. And on Monday, the brand posted an Instagram revealing its latest drop. And…it’s bad!
Look at that stance. I promise you, if you try to set your snowboard bindings up like this, you will damage your ACLs!
This photo set the internet ablaze, with pro snowboarders Nick Russell, Austin Smith, Joey Fava, and Mary Rand all chiming in to share just how laughably lazy this part of the marketing effort was. Even X Games got in on the fun.
“New stance just dropped,” the post says. “Moncler hit us up, we’ll help you with your angles. Was this good marketing or an honest miss?”
I am obviously not Moncler’s target demographic, seeing as:
- There’s no way I could afford a $1,650 snowboard
- I actually know how to set up my snowboard bindings.
But Moncler is simply a guest in the snowsports space, who was invited in by a friend (a friend in Shaun White that a lot of us trust to be a good judge of character), and didn’t do enough research to avoid disrespecting the entire culture. That’s forgivable behavior when it’s a human being who can shake your hand, buy you a cup of coffee and apologize to your face. But a brand? Not so much.
The thing is, this is a tough world to break through in. Nike and Adidas both poured a ton of money into their products, and actually made some of the best snowboard boots on the market. Nike is responsible for the two snowboard movies with the biggest budget ever: Never Not Parts 1 and 2. And still, they bailed when things got rough. It’s hard to make big money off of a sport that is only done for half of the year. And the snowboard community still holds a bit of resentment for backing out when things got hard, and leaving all of their professionals high and dry.
Legacy brands like Burton, Ride, K2, and Union Bindings – just to name a few – have invested as much into the ecosystem of skiing and snowboarding as they’ve profited. Burton is one of the biggest financial backers of nonprofits like The Chill Foundation and Protect Our Winters. So is the ski brand Atomic. Capita Snowboards makes all of its gear in a carbon-neutral facility in Austria. And all of these brands pay actual skiers and snowboarders to keep skiing and snowboarding. Outerwear brand 686 donates a ton of gear to Hoods to Woods every year. Even Prada sponsors an Olympic athlete. But Moncler? It couldn’t even enlist actual skiers and snowboarders to model the gear.
I doubt that anyone reading this right now is jumping at the chance to get on one of those boards that cost roughly the same as a 1995 Honda Civic. But the move speaks volumes about people who just simply don’t get it when it comes to snowsports.
Look, there is room for luxury fashion in the snowsports industry. Watch any street skiing or snowboarding video that features an athlete from The North Face, and you will almost certainly see a Supreme logo on their jacket or hoodie. Luxury brands typically make good product. That’s part of the reason people spend so much money on it. And it is expensive to get on the hill. There’s no denying that.
But as SkiSoutheast editor and founder Mike Doble said in an interview on North Carolina Public Radio a few weeks ago, diehards are called ski bums for the reason. There are rules that must be followed, traditions that should be upheld, and dues that must be paid. The team at Moncler thought it could just drop in, and ignore all of those rules.
If it wants to be taken seriously, it cannot.
Thanks for putting up with my rant. Here’s what else you need to know about the southeast today.
Timberline
For the first time in what seems like forever, there will be a stretch of today in which Timberline will not be 100% open. An “infrastructure improvement” project will lead to the closing of Winterset and Twister, though they may open later today.
“While snowmaking weather is about a week away, we still have plenty of snow! When the optimal weather conditions roll in, we’ll be refreshing conditions and expanding coverage,” the snow reporter said. “In the meantime, our groomers are working their magic to maintain our base and bring you some excellent conditions throughout the week. Surface conditions today are machine groomed with a sugary texture.”
Massanutten
We are just two days away from the SkiSoutheast Summit at Massanutten, and the team is snowmaking in anticipation of the weekend. There are 23 open trails and seven lifts spinning today. The machine groomed surface has a base of 28 inches. Lower Nutten-To-It Park will be open today.
Appalachian Ski Mountain
App is 100% open yet again.
There are three terrain parks open for all to enjoy.
Cataloochee
It’s Family Day at the Cat! That means parents or guardians can receive a complimentary slope pass for a child under the age of 17 when an adult lift ticket is purchased.
The Women On Wednesdays program continues today as well. This two-hour clinic is hosted by Cataloochee’s most advanced women instructors, and is appropriate for all levels from beginner to advanced. Slope access will extend until 4:30 p.m. on program dates.
Video Of The Day
It seems only right that I leave you with the most expensive snowboarding film ever made. Nike Never Not Part 1.
My favorite fun fact from this film is this: For the end of Jed Anderson and the start of Nicolas Müller’s segment from the film, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” By the Rolling Stones is featured. Music rights are notoriously one of the biggest expenses in ski and snowboard films, and obviously, the Rolling Stones don’t come cheap. Legend has it that Mick Jagger and his team needed to personally sign off on the use of the song in the film. The thought of Mick Jagger watching a snowboard film absolutely cracks me up.
The Rest
Don’t forget: Clear your calendar from February 9-11. That’s when Massanutten and SkiSoutheast will host team up to host our summit. It’s a great way to meet like-minded, snow-loving people, and possibly make some lifelong friends in the process.
Thanks to everyone that has already joined us on Discord.
Think snow!
Think cold!
Click here to join us on our new SkiSoutheast Discord channel. It is a great way to meet new snow loving friends and shares experiences, ask questions, and more!
And as always, email me at [email protected] with your thoughts and photos.