Good Snows and Great Conditions at Southeast Ski Resorts

First Trax

Stay up to date by getting notified of new posts!

Wind and Snow fell across much of the Southeast with the most up around Canaan, Snowshoe and Wisp.  See all reports below.

Ski Beech reported 3" as of late afternoon and added an inch since so they too got about 4".  We were watching the live Beech Mountain Parkway cam and it was so dense at times up there.  Whew! While we’re omn Beech, they had some troubles again with the Quad lift and shut it down.  It is still temporarily down today but they should have it reopening soon. The top of the mountain is being serviced by chairlift # 6 and # 2. Snowmaking is in progress on Oz Run as well and they are hoping to get it open in the next few days.  Snowmaking will shut down as soon as the temps creep up today.

Appalachian Ski Mountain reporting only an inch of snow from Monday’s storm…and they are looking great today. They did make snow last night as well.

Tammy Brown at Cataloochee wrote me at 7:30am Monday with the news that they had received 2" by that time.  We’ll update you more when we get that information. They made snow as well and conditions should be marvelous at The Cat.

Hawksnest received 3" of new snow on Monday and they are running with sweet conditions, skiing, tubing and they have some of their new terrain park features going with more available soon.

Sapphire Valley has AGAIN gone quite with snow reporting so we’re going to just quit talking about them until they get up to speed.  No report in 6 days.

Sugar Mountain actually showed a drop of a couple of inches in the base depth from Sunday…and that’s probably due to the rainfall.  However they have made snow and along with the natural snowfall…expect perfect snow conditions there for today!  They also have several lanes open for tubing (five on Monday) and their terrain park features are looking sweet according to reports.

Wolf Laurel is looking great.  They reported 4" of new snow yesterday, although one of our On-Snow Reporters, Elsa Barnes was there and reported 1" of new snow.  Best bet is that the snow was somewhere in between and wind blown as well.  Expect great conditions there with 12 slopes and three lifts in operation.  Wolf Laurel is already promoting their New Year’s Eve festivies which include a torch run, fireworks, and a bonfire. Wolf Laurel Slopes and Zero Gravity will sponsor a terrain park competition on January 7th. Registration is at 10 a.m. Outdoor Exposure will be at the base of the mountain for demos as well.

Massanutten Resort didn’t report any new snow from yesterday’s storm but thet DID make snow and have great conditions for skiing and they have ten tubing lanes running on their popular tubing park.

Wintergreen Resort says they will be open today from 9am until 10pm skiing and riding on all 24 trails. Snowmaking will continue this coming week on all open trails as temps permit in an effort to provide the best surface possible and continue to increase our current average base of 36" -42". All of our trails have fresh snow and have been groomed overnight to provide the best conditions in the Mid-Atlantic.

Canaan Valley’s website is dead this morning and we feel for them!  They did receive 6" of snow on Monday…and today have packed powder conditions and 33 trails going!

Snowshoe Mountain was windy with a capital W on Monday but they also received new snow!  They reported 3" and we’d say it was more!  We’re here and it fell hard most of the day.  The winds are making it hard to assess though!  Snowshoe is in great shape with 57 trails going.  I’m getting ready to do some PERSONAL product evaluation so I’ll fill you guys in shortly!

Timberline reported 1" of new snow and they have GREAT conditions for Tuesday.

Winterplace Resort reported 2" and that is consistent with what we saw driving through there.  Conditions will be great there with 25 trails operating for today!

Wisp Resort reported 6" of new snow and they should have packed powder conditions on 35 open slopes and trails!

Ober Gatlinburg received 3" of new snow and they have groomed conditions on five trails.

Monday was awfully pretty and very windy according to most emails that I received. Sugar recorded a 39mph wind gust and sustained winds in the 18-22mph range.  Linville recorded a gust of 46mph at 10am Monday.  Thankfully things died down a bit later in the day, but along with the snow…things were sometimes almost whiteout conditions in many areas. Even with the 2-4" snowfall, the roads stayed in good shape with only isolated icy spots.

The day after christmas is traditionally a busy time for the ski areas and the weather did little to dampen brisk crowds at all ski areas.  With Christmas falling on a Sunday, Monday was a travel day for many people…and area lodging facilities reported some near record checkins on Monday.  That is great news to all of the ski areas and lodging companies since we are all so dependent upon this Holiday period between christmas and New Years.

Tuesday should be a WONDERFUL day to be on the slopes with light winds and temps in the 30s to near 45 degrees.  With the snows of Monday and Monday-Monday Night snowmaking…expect PERFECT conditions at your favorite ski area. Since winds died down a lot overnight, the groomers should be able to get out and manage the snow to fight against the icy areas that often happen during high winds.

Portions of West Virginia lost power for some time on Monday.  The Marlinton area (approaching Snowshoe) was without power and when we stopped in at the Ski Barn at the foot of Snowshoe, we were informed that Snowshoe was without power.  No lifts, no nothing.  Silvercreek was going…but Snowshoe was down.  They regained power relatively quick and it didn’t seem to hamper checkins tooooo badly.  Monday is traditionally a HUUGGGEEE full mountain, turnover day for Snowshoe and there were probably some lodging records broken on Monday at that popular resort.  We spoke to many visitors who recanted stories of checking in and still being roomless hours later.  I should be quick to point out that rooms are not guaranteed at Snowshoe until 5pm, but things were pretty hectic at the Top of the World check in and at the bottom of the mountain.  I was over at Allegheny Springs meeting with some people who were looking pretty anxious with everyone in the hurry up and wait mode. I will say that for ALL of the many things that make Snowshoe Mountain THE BEST all-around ski destination in the Southeast – they could really use to upgrades to their clumsy checkin system.

Knowing that kind of thing ahead of time is a HUGE plus.  We scheduled our arrival for close to lunchtime and we got right in, had our units and lift tickets in less than 15 minutes…even after some confusion on the lift tickets.  However, one thing that I can tell you is that you will not find better, nicer and more appreciative people than those who work for Snowshoe Mountain. So if you are thinking of doing a holiday stay at Snowshoe, plan ahead and arrive as early as possible. It MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE!

Previous Post
Great today and early Wednesday
Next Post
SkiMasterCraft (from the messageboard) puts on a sweet move at Cataloochee Ski Area on Monday – Great photo by Dave McConnell
Author
Related Posts