We did our interview with Grete Eliassen on Friday and she’s a very cool young lady who just happens to be perhaps the best all around female pro skier in the United States. We’ll share the results of that interview in just a bit. Hint: Guys in addition to being one talented skier, shes a hottie as well and we’ll share some great pics in a bit. Check back!
13 Days to Go Until the 1st Annual SkiSoutheast.com Summit!
We have 49 going and the list of readers and messageboard peeps are growing by the day.
If you haven’t made plans to attend, it promises to be a great time. We’ll make plans to meet up on Saturday morning, do some quick group photos and video, and then go take over Snowshoe Mountain! It will be kind of cool to see a lot of us fire down that mountain wearing the new SkiSoutheast.com hoodies! We’ve got a ton of stickers and the new hoodies to giveaway and whatever we have left over of the SkiNC Hoodies will be given away as well! If you haven’t made plans…do so today!
The First Annual SkiSoutheast.com Summit is March 7th, 8th and 9th at Snowshoe Mountain and they’ve had 10" of snow this week, with more snow this weekend and EVEN more snow in the forecast for late next week! Click here to Join Us for All of the Fun of Spring Break and/or the SkiSoutheast.com Summit Weekend!
CRAZY WEATHER VARIANCES CONTINUE!
While the resorts into Tennessee, portions of Virginia and North Carolina are playing with Spring Conditions, soft snow and some thin coverage, the resorts that make up the "northern tier of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic ski areas" (Snowshoe, Timberline, Canaan and Wisp) seem to just continue to get better weather and certainly colder temperatures and snow. You can check out the regional reports that we’d provided below to see the disparity of weather.
While the North Carolina mountains play with Spring Snow, soft, with some thin coverage, Wisp Resort is enjoying a high today of 33°. While the mountains into North Carolina and Virginia will fight to see 32° for a low tonight, Wisp will see temps down into the LOWER TEENS! (13° to be exact!)
This has been a weird winter…but if you’re headed up to West Virginia and Maryland for today or Sunday, you’re in for some great conditions. There decent-to-good conditions at most of the resorts further south, and Appalachian and Sugar are certainly the top picks for the North Carolina mountains. All three Virginia resorts look pretty good today and anywhere in West Virginia and Maryland will be great today once the light rain goes away.
MARYLAND REPORT
Of course there’s only ONE ski area in Maryland – Wisp Resort. They have PACKED POWDER conditions on 30 trails, terrain parks, tubing and all with simply GREAT conditions.
WEST VIRGINIA REPORT
Canaan Valley has done something today that we don’t THINK that they’ve done all season long! They are 100% open with all 39 trails! They saw a bit of light rain overnight but they have also seen 10" of snow this week and conditions should be GREAT!
Snowshoe Mountain is reporting "Wet Packed Snow, Corduroy" and that means very nice conditions! Laura Parquette writes, "With ten inches of new snow this week, we should have some of the best conditions of the season for the weekend. Today will start off fairly mild, with temperatures falling throughout the day. Light rain this morning should turn over to flurries for this afternoon. Due to the mild temperatures overnight, many of the trails are not groomed this morning. Please be aware of ungroomed terrain and ski within your ability.Snowmaking did not occur overnight either, but should restart this evening across the mountain. Tomorrow looks to be a picture perfect day with sun and great conditions on the slopes. Stop by the Subaru Tent today on Skidder and kick the wheels on a new ride. Also, if you’re at the Silver Creek area, please take the time to say thank you to the Wounded Warriors, veterans of the War on Terror, who are on the mountain this weekend. **Skip Jack will be closed today for race team training, followed by NASTAR racing**"
(Great stuff Laura!)
Like the other resorts in West Virginia, there’s a bit of light rain happening at Timberline this morning but they have 28 trails open and more snow on the way this afternoon as temps fall!
Winterplace Resort is 100% open with all 28 trails, terrain park, tubing and more and they too have some colder temps hitting this afternoon.
VIRGINIA REPORT
Wintergreen Resort is where its at today and Sunday in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As previously promoted, Grete Eliassen is at Wintergreen all weekend.
Anne Marie Jones of Wintergreen writes, "Come on out and meet X Games Champion Grete Elliassen, she will be here all weekend. Additionally, today is host to the final Blue Ridge Double Cross with live music following the event. And if that wasn’t enough, Head skis will be onsite all weekend long featuring the latest and greatest equipment demos.
Today’s weather is sunny and clear skies with highs expected in the upper 30’s. Grooming and snowmaking crews took full advantage of last week’s cold front and made a tremendous amount of snow resurfacing all of terrain throughout the resort. Our current base snow depth ranges from 20-40 inches and skiing and riding conditions are very good.
Slopes: Today we will be skiing and riding on 22 slopes and trails and 6 lifts will be running."
Bryce Resort really looks quite good today. A lot like Appalachian, Bryce can maintain their snow quite well and one look at the webcams shows very nice snow for today and 100% of the terrain is open as well as tubing!
Massanutten Resort is open with very nice conditions on 11 trails with snow tubing and terrain parks open. They have Upper Dixie Dare and Pacesetter closed for a SARA race Sat. and Sun. 9am-2pm! Get out and watch the comp!
TENNESSEE REPORT
Ober Gatlinburg is the lone ski area in Tennessee and they have had the mildest of the temps this season. They are at 44° this morning. They have pretty good conditions, and good coverage on the 5 trails they have open today.
NORTH CAROLINA REPORT
Well we got our wish for good weather for this weekend! I was speaking with some people over in the Spruce Pine area mid day Friday and they said that it was pouring rain and yet that rain never materialized here in the High Country. We witnessed some dark, foreboding clouds but never saw a drop of rain from it here and that was great from anyone skiing and riding Friday evening. I can’t attest to what was happening over towards Wolf Ridge and Cataloochee, but things at the four resorts around Boone and Banner Elk held up nicely.
The temps soared Friday evening and at one point while we were out and about we saw a reading of 55°! According to Ray Russell’s weather website we were experiencing that 55° reading while Hickory saw 39°! Crazy stuff!
The weekend will be very nice with sunny skies and highs in the 40s to very near 50°. Overnight lows may JUST miss the snowmaking temps we’d hoped for…but then again they MIGHT be able to pull that off. The expected low will flirt with 30° or so. If the web bulb readings cooperate…maybe at least some of the resorts (especially those that really need it) will be able to make snow.
There are some notable events taking place this weekend so we’ll get right to the most notable announcements and fill in where it warrants.
It is terribly foggy early but the sun has already cleared and blue skies are showing at Appalachian Ski Mountain which looks simply great this morning. It should be a fabulous day to ski and ride.
Cataloochee has dropped two trails from their open terrain and now offer 9 trails, and their tubing park. They have a good base on the 9 trails open. They are anticipating not being able to make snow over there until Tuesday when the next VERY COLD air is expected to hit the Maggie Valley ski resort. Cat has a HUGE ski pass sale taking place on March 9th with great savings on next year’s season passes and we’ll give that a strong plug in a day or so, so be sure to check back later today or tomorrow for that news.
Hawksnest looks pretty good today although they are starting to show some thin coverage areas. No bare spots yet…and they’ve done some grooming so things look pretty good, with good coverage on the 9 trails that they have open. They also have their popular tubing park open and some big plans for this weekend.
KING OF THE HILL BOARDERCROSS AND SKIERCROSS IS AT HAWKSNEST ON SUNDAY! (Photo by John Jarrett)
The King of the Hill Boardercross and Skiercross will be held at Hawksnest Sunday, February 24th! Hawksnest Resort, Edge of the World Board Shop and the King of the Hill Group are presenting the 2nd annual High Country King of the Hill Comp. Events will be going on all day from 9am til 10pm.
(Editor’s Note: Portions of this release were written by local, Sam Calhoun and sent to us by Justin Grimes of Hawksnest.)
The entry fee is $10 per competitor, plus a discounted lift ticket of $30. As a joint initiative of a group of friends taking part in the Sugar Mountain Adult Race League, King of the Hill grew out of the desire to host an event without judging or timing, but still with healthy competition that would draw residents of the surrounding communities.
The idea is to energize locals to take part in more outdoor winter events. With the success of the third season of the Sugar Mountain Adult Race League—timed events—and Appalachian’s annual Shred for the Cup series—judged events—King of the Hill is devised to encourage groups of borders and skiers who haven’t taken part in an event this season to get out on the slopes.
King of the Hill begins with a two-hour registration period from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the Hawksnest Lodge. When participants sign up, they will be assigned to a four-person heat and receive a bib.
From 12:00 to 4:00 p.m., the racing will take place—roughly covering an area from near the top of the main lift to the bottom of the Sock-em-Dog ski slope. Winners from each heat will advance to the next round until the final heat of four riders.
The race will be conducted in an open format with four divisions: men’s bordercross, women’s bordercross, men’s skiercross and women’s skiercross. All participants must be 18 or older.
The head snow groomers at Hawksnest will create a racecourse for the event that is sure to impress racers of all skill levels. The course is guaranteed to be safe and will include elements resembling professional courses.
Winners of each division will receive a portion of the proceeds for a cash purse, with the rest of the money going to support the after party that will be held in the Nest Bar from 4:30 to 10:00 p.m. Bands for the after-party have yet to be announced.
Ski Beech – As reported earlier, they are pretty fogged over this AM, but that will burn off and it should be a great day to hit Beech Mountain. They will have 10 trails open, their terrain park and ice skating. It really should be a great day to visit the shops, ride back up to Fred’s Mercantile and enjoy some nice weather up on Beech! The conditions will be variable with plenty of good, side to side coverage. They will have some very thin coverage areas and perhaps a bare spot or two. All in all though it should be decent, spring conditions for today.
Sugar Mountain continues to show off! They are sporting very nice conditions…while others in the area are looking a bit worn, Sugar looks darn nice this morning. The snow will be soft and variable…and will soften up even more during the ski sessions for today, but there’s really nothing in the way of thin coverage or bare spots to speak of. (Perhaps you’ll see SOME thin areas at trail merges but like Appalachian, things still look pretty good at Sugar.)
They have some additional attraction today – other than the 19 trails, terrain park, tubing and ice skating…they have their 2008-2009 Spyder Sample Sale – Exclusively at Sugar Mountain Sports!
Sugar Mountain Sports premieres the 2009 Spyder Sample Line at 30% off retail beginning Today, February 23, 2008. On February 28th all 2007-2008 Spyder Sample items will be reduced even more to 50% off their retail price. And any remaining 2006-2007 samples will be slashed to 60% off their original retail price. Quantities and sizes are limited so don’t delay!
Ski The Ridges / Wolf Ridge – They are reporting 14 trails open. The terrain park is closed and tubing is open. We’re suggesting to call ahead and be certain of whether they have the connector trails open. There’s been some confusion from time to time on their reports so check ahead. They do have some thin coverage areas and perhaps some bare spots as well. All in all good, Spring conditions for today with plenty of side-to-side coverage.
Enjoy your day…
Until Next time…
Be sure to visit www.SkiSoutheast.com for more news from the rest of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic ski areas!
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