Great Conditions Abound Across the Southeast Ski Areas

I have a lot of images to post from events that took place this past weekend so I will compile the information for all ski areas of the Southeast today on both SkiNC and SkiSoutheast.com.

I received a lot of emails from the Summit Crew from Saturday and into yesterday as a portion of the attendees made it a two day event by carrying the party to Cataloochee on Sunday. There’s some interesting craziness going on over on the messageboard so we’ll just direct you there if you’re interested.  Some of it is only like an accident on the side of the road – you just can’t help but look – and then you’re sorry you did!  We had a great time on Saturday at Ski Beech and I’m sure they did at Cataloochee on Sunday.

I can say that you owe it to yourself to check the messageboard out occasionally and if you are a fellow snow-lover, you will enjoy the antics and conversations over there.  Several have created a virtual ski club that is second to none and many ski with ever increasing frequency with friends that they meet on the board. It’s grown to the point that you could probably be skiing at most ANY of the Southeast’s ski areas and yell “Mellow Yellow, Snowbird, teledave” or other messageboard monikers and I’ll bet people would look around and know what you’re yelling for!  With what we’ve seen in just the last year…there’s no telling how much more popular that crew will be in the next year!

WISP RESORT in Maryland had a ton of things going on this past weekend, not the least of which was The Governor’s Cup race.  We will try to post some results when we can.  Governor Robert Ehrlich became the first governor of Maryland to attend the Governor’s Cup Race at Wisp Resort. He did the ribbon cutting to start the proceedings and spoke at a few of the gatherings and from what we heard…had a great time at the resort!  Also in attendance for the festivities was Jim Cantore of THE WEATHER CHANNEL.  Joe’s a character and we’re certain that he added to the fun.  Cantore was seen at Wisp’s high-tech pumping station where he was caught at the controls of the massive snowmaking facility – as well as at the weather monitors.  You just can’t make a weather guy take time off!

Wisp also was graced by the state’s First Lady, Mrs. Kendall Ehrlich and their son Drew.  Visitors to the resort enjoyed some amazing snow sculptures created by Alan Matsumoto and they also got to take part in some real fun at the snow tubing park as well.  From a couple that we heard from…the entire weekend was a blast that was made even greater by the fact that it snowed most of the weekend!

As if that isn’t enough – Wisp is hosting the Maryland Special Olympic Winter Games today and Tuesday as well.  There’s a LOT happening up there.  While we’re on Wisp, they have snow in their forecast for today and Tuesday and 31 trails operating and simply GREAT conditions!

NOTES FOR THE REST OF THE SOUTHEAST’S SKI AREAS —

For fun we’ll hop around some today and if you don’t see any special goings-on mentioned here…hop over to the slope conditions to see conditions at YOUR favorite ski areas!

Conditions will be THEIR BEST that you will see this week – today and Tuesday.  Then we will see some loose conditions out and about.  Most if not all of the resorts made snow (check the slope conditions) and conditions today should be great.  The cold temps firmed everything up and fresh new natural snows to the north and snowmaking elsewhere will make for near perfect conditions where they’ve done a nice grooming job!

TIMBERLINE RESORT IN WEST VIRGINIA – They picked up a little snow on Sunday (about ½”) and with that, some great snowmaking temps and 97% groomed trails on the 31 open slopes…they will be in GREAT shape for skiing and snowboarding on Monday!

CATALOOCHEE SKI AREA – is open for Day Skiing Only today. I would say that they needed a break after the Cat Crew on Sunday, but Cataloochee is NORMALLY only open for Day Skiing on Mondays.  The Cat will also host their Spring Frolic Beach Blast this coming Sunday, March 5^th.  Stay tuned for more information as we get closer during the week.

HAWKSNEST RESORT – made snow last night and should be in marvelous shape today with all but “Old Blue” available to ski or ride on!  They have their tubing hill going as well as Top Gun, one of the best trails in the South. Be sure to note that Hawksnest will be hosting the “Extreme Ski and Snowboard Comp on Saturday, March 4^th.  The last one was great and this one should be sweet.  There’s lots of skier and boardercross…and slopestyle events planned.

WINTERGREEN RESORT – Cold temperatures today mean GREAT snomaking conditions ! The Terrain Park and Lower Dobie will be closed today for intensive snowmaking and will reopen tomorrow. They are building their base of 40-60" to keep them skiing and riding through March and right into their Wicked Huge Park Party, April 1st and 2nd. Today, they have 21 freshly groomed trails open and 4 lifts will be running. The bumps on Upper Wild Turkey continue to grow, so go check them out. The Plunge is open today with 2 hour sessions starting at 2 pm for some thrilling tubing. Wintergreen plans on remaining open through March and celebrating their 2005-2006 Season on April 1st-2nd with a special Annual Wicked Huge Park Party ! ! Mark your calendars now for this spectacular event.

SKI BEECH – Ladies ski for free at Ski Beech today!  They made snow last night and conditions should be sweet on their 14 open trails!

SAPPHIRE VALLEY – Contrary to the SSAA report this morning, Sapphire Valley is NOT open today. They are “planning” to reopen mid-week, weather permitting.  However the long range forecast is for mild weather for the next several days.  We’d suggest calling ahead if you’re hoping to ski or tube there this week, because due to the weather, they MAY NOT open and even possibly could not reopen for the season.  Last year Sapphire Valley closed on this same date for the season.  CALL AHEAD.

SUGAR MOUNTAIN – A couple of people wrote this weekend and again this morning that Sugar should be able to weather this week’s mild temps with ease and NO THIN COVERAGE or bare spots since they are reporting that they have a maximum base depth of almost SEVEN FEET across all 20 open trails. When those thin coverage areas start showing by Thursday or Friday, we’ll update this statement…but they have a point. Anyone believe that they have 33-80” across all slopes??? 😉

Tom Rideout wrote this morning, “ I love Sugar Mountain but FYI – The 17 SE Ski Areas are reporting an AVERAGE of 55.9” of MAXIMUM base depth, including those in West Virginia which have had far more natural snow and snowmaking ops, and yet Sugar is reporting TWO FEET deeper maximum base depths across all 20 trails.  That should allow them to push some of those massive near seven foot banks of snow over the lesser covered areas and as such have no thin coverage or bare areas late this week when things warm up so much.”

That will be interesting!!!??? With a supposed AVERAGE of nearly seven feet on all slopes, there should be ample ops for pushing some of that around.

Until Next Time!

Be sure to check out www.SkiSoutheast.com  for more news and stories for all of the Southeast’s ski areas.

Be sure to email photos, snow reports and comments to: [email protected]