… At 7:31am Old Punxsutawney Phil Says Six More Weeks of Winter! We had threatened yesterday if he came out and didn’t see his shadow, we were going to drive up and strangle him. Joe Stevens up at Snowshoe Mountain was a closer drive to him and he swore to make Groundhog stew out of him. That’s all for naught because this morning on Gobbler’s Knob, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil, King of the Groundhogs, Father of all Marmota, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of Prognosticators was summoned by Groundhog President William Cooper. Phil gleefully exited his burrow at 7:31 a.m. to be greeted by his longtime friend and handler, Bill Deeley, who held him high so he could greet the large throng of Faithful Followers. He wished them all a "Happy Groundhog Day." Bill placed him atop the old oak stump where he surveyed his surroundings. He then turned to President William and in Groundhogese directed him to the scroll which, once translated stated that he saw his shadow and we would have six more weeks of Winter. Now maybe we’ll HAVE six weeks of Winter! Thus far we have had a couple of cold weeks to start it…then a prolonged mild thaw lasting into January and then for the last couple of weeks we have finally seen some consistent cold and snow.
How about TODAY’S SNOW??? – We’ll hold off until we hear from meteorologist Brad Panovich, but others in the area, including Ray Russell, WJHL out of Johnson City, and the Weather Channel are all saying that we could see some rain to freezing rain today…nasty stuff tonight, possibly mixed with some snow and then MAYBE all snow on Thursday. Ray is now saying 3" to 6" of snow around Boone and Banner Elk. He’s forecasting 6"-12" on the mountaintops. We’ll fill you guys in the moment Brad updates our ski areas forecast.
Ski Area News
Ski Beech – We began getting a fair number of emails asking when Ski Beech would be opening up Southern Star and The Oz Run. Gil Adams, Marketing Director said, "We have been making snow on Southern Star for two days. I am guessing, but it may open by the weekend, or sooner."
He also added that although he hasn’t received any official word, traditionally The Oz Run would be next to receive the snowmakers focus and could open soon after.
We have received a lot of input from visitors praising Ski Beech on offering the most affordable skiing in the Southeast and with almost DAILY specials…they are hands down providing inexpensive skiing to its patrons. Way to go Beech!
Hawksnest Resort – We have also received kudos on Hawksnest’s new terrain park, tubing park and many have emailed of late praising the surface conditions up there. Hawksnest does have the Red Lift still undergoing repairs and maintenance today, and as cuch will only offer (5) slopes for skiing today and tonight. They are attempting to have the red lift going by Thursday.
Snowshoe Resort hosts "Jose Cuervo Weekend" This weekend – With the Super Bowl also going on this weekend…there will be ONE PARTY atmosphere happening at Snowshoe this weekend. Here’s some of the fun planned.
Thursday, February 3 – Happy Hour – 4-8pm @ The Boiler Room
Celebrate the start of Cuervo Weekend with DJ Judd, great Happy Hour specials, and tons of fun at The Boiler Room located in the Top of the World complex.
Disco Away @ The Connection Nightclub – Dedicated to playing all of the favorite disco hits from such artists as The Bee Gees, KC & the Sunshine Band, Kool & the Gang, Chic, and many more, DISCO AWAY delivers the boogie with funkified drum beats, booty-shakin’
bass, syncopated guitar, and astonishing vocals!
Friday, February 4
On Snow Fun – Noon-3pm on Skidder Slope – We could not wait one more day to start the fun ‘n games of Jose Cuervo Weekend.
Happy Hour – 4-6pm @ The Connection – Enjoy great Happy Hour specials on Jose Cuervo Drinks and more.
Son of Glam @ The Connection Nightclub – 9:30pm With the sounds of crushing guitars, thunderous drums, rib-shattering bass, and ear blistering vocals, you’ll think it’s 1987 all over again! Dedicated to reproducing the experience of a live glam rock show from the 80’s, SON OF GLAM takes no prisoners as they rock through all of the favorite hair metal anthems.
Cuervo Crawl starts at The Junction Restaurant and Saloon at 10pm. Sharp!
The crawl will continue to move to The Village Bistro, The Foxfire Grille, Hole in the Wall Pub, Yodeler’s, and finally to The Connection Nightclub (@ approximately midnight). Get to the Junction early, because the crawl will start on time and move to the next stop every 20 minutes. Cost of the Cuervo Crawl is $35 per person which includes a drink at each gathering point as well as plenty of great Jose Cuervo give-a-ways. Tickets can be purchased through any ROSS sales location or at the Junction on the night of the event.
Saturday, February 5
The Official Day of Cuervo…the day that everyone waits for…Great music, DJ’s, bands, Cuervo specials, and the "Happiest Happy Hour in the East." – This happy hour is one for the books and guaranteed to be a thrill.
Registration – 9-Noon on Skidder Slope – register for your favorite game.
Games of Cuervo – on Skidder Slope
Noon – Creative Judging of the Box Racers
12:15 – Ducky Races – compliments of Songer Whitewater 12:30 – Tug O’ War 1:00 – Snow Volleyball 1:30 – Tailgating in The Connection Son of Glam @ The Connection Nightclub – 2:00pm With the sounds of crushing guitars, thunderous drums, rib-shattering bass, and ear blistering vocals, you’ll think it’s 1987 all over again! Dedicated to reproducing the experience of a live glam rock show from the 80’s, SON OF GLAM takes no prisoners as they rock through all of the favorite hair metal anthems.
Happy Hour – 4:30-6pm @ The Connection – The infamous bar games with Roy Riley are the must see event of the weekend.
Disco Away @ The Connection Nightclub – after Happy Hour Dedicated to playing all of the favorite disco hits from such artists as The Bee Gees, KC & the Sunshine Band, Kool & the Gang, Chic, and many more, DISCO AWAY delivers the boogie with funkified drum beats, booty-shakin’
bass, syncopated guitar, and astonishing vocals!
The Mighty Mighty Cocktones @ The Connection Nightclub – 9:30pm A COCKTONES show is more than just live music spanning four decades of different genres and styles. It’s an entertaining show that pushes the limits of humanity and decency. It’s funny to some, faux pas to others, and in bad taste for a few – but it’s always entertaining!
You guys are so cool! – We have seen THE LARGEST number of On-Snow Reports and Photos submitted to us this season – in the last two days and we have posted a LOT of them. ALL spent some time on the front of SkiNC.com and SkiSoutheast.com. Thanks tons for getting us your best. If anyone attended the Polar Plunge this past Saturday, we’d LOVE to see some photos from there. Send them to us at [email protected] and thanks again!
It was a landslide! – We kind of took a chance and ask you guys to vote for you stance on whether or not we were fair and unbiased in our reporting and we won by a landslide. Over 90% of you (90.60% to be exact as of 1030pm last night) or 701 voters said that we were indeed fair. 9.31% thought we were biased. We’ll take those numbers any day. If a president won an election by those numbers, he’d feel like an emperor! You can continue to vote in that poll or any other active poll by clicking below the current poll question.
Yesterday, we alluded to the results of a few recent polls and we forgot to report on the results of the poll question of "Which resort did the best at rebuilding snow base from the January THAW? The answer proved to be a statistical dead heat between Snowshoe with 368 votes (25.6%) and Ski Beech with 354 votes and (24.6%) of the 1438 people that votes in three days of polling. That was the quickest that any poll question topped 1000 voters so you guys felt strongly about answering that question. Sugar Mountain finished a distant 3rd with 209 votes and 14.5% of the vote. A few people asked US what our feeling was on that one…and we’d have to give our nod to Ski Beech. If you guys would have seen what they had left the last day before snowmaking…it was not funny. It was AMAZING what they had one week later. Sugar was looking bad…but nowhere near as bad as Beech prior to the latest cold weather. Snowshoe certainly did do a great metamorphasis…but you HAD to see Ski Beech during that January thaw!
New Poll Question – Joe Byrd suggested that we modify one of our more recent poll questions. We asked what KIND of lodging you guys prefer or look for when you’re in the area. We posted the results from that one earlier. However, Joe’s suggestion was, "Why not have a poll for who actually uses lodging in N.C.? My guess is most regulars to the site and message board do not stay because they live within driving distance of the ski areas."
We’re betting that Joe is way wrong…but we agree that it would be interesting to see the results of that poll. So do us a favor and vote today.
You guys on the messageboard crack me up! – The messageboard has probably been busier than ever of late and you really should click in if for no other reason than to get some local flavor! We have to tell you though that yesterday everyone was getting stoked about the snow coming in again for tonight and one post asked for predictions about the snowstorm. "YanceyMan" answered, "My guess is 7" at Beech, 6" at Hawksnest, 5" at App and Wolf Laurel, 4" at the Cat, 4" at Ober, and 39" at Sugar (and they will be reporting it as early as tomorrow)! You HAVE to admit, that was funny. We have NO CLUE where they got that impression from 😉 Great stuff on the board.
One cool thing of late is the presence of meteorologist, Brad Panovich. He’s everywhere. He’s on the air at WCNC NBC-6 in Charlotte, he’s posting email updates to me for the front of SkiNC.com and SkiSoutheast.com and now he’s all over the messageboards posting back and forth with you guys. He told me the other day that his two favorite things are skiing and forecasting and boy have we been a match made in heaven. He’s been nailing the forecasts…and doing it well in advance of others in the area. Two days ago, he was still holding on to his forecast of snow…when others in the area were saying partly cloudy skies. He’s good and he’s on SkiNC.com and SkiSoutheast.com everyday! Catch his broadcasts if you’re in the area or on local cable. It’s channel 6 on Charter locally. The High Country FINALLY has a local meteorologist helping us poor souls out with dead-on forecasts. Ski areas have felt pretty isolated for years…with most reporting services WAY off. Ray Russell has done an admirable job in the past, but it’s great to have a pro on-board!
Brad and I are looking at coordinating a ski trip around the second week of March. Once we have some more definative plans set…we’ll let you guys in on it and maybe we can all make some turns. See you on the slopes!
Feel free to write me at: [email protected]
Don’t forget to visit: https://www.skisoutheast.com
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