Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Lots of Ski Resort News Today!

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Jump right to the SNOW REPORT if you guys want to see who’s making snow and those resorts that are open today.

We’re certainly thankful for the cold weather and for the hard-working snow makers out there who are getting the slopes ready for our enjoyment. We talked about this yesterday, but for all the “haters” out there who were complaining about a few resorts that were not making snow as quickly as THEY thought their favorite ski area should have been – well your wishes have been granted as several ski areas that we listed on Tuesday as having not made snow yet – are now making snow.

Turkey Day and Friday should be awesome for those of you who are able to make it to the open ski areas. A Wintry Mix looks to be coming in Friday night and then Saturday is looking a bit wet (under developed snow) and then some of the coldest air of the season thus far will be with us Monday night through Wednesday. We will keep an eye out for you and report as we get closer.

Here Are Some Notables: In NO Particular Order Today

Cataloochee Ski Area is open for Thanksgiving Day and they added another open trail to get their open slope count to 4 for today. They were able to make snow yesterday and last night. Also Chris Bates informed us that the new webcams had arrived and we will coordinate with them on Saturday to get those operational…weather permitting.

This was a capture from the DRONE they flew on Opening Day! Nice!

Click to Enlarge. Shot provided by Cataloochee.

Here’s what things look like this morning via their current, static camera:

Click to Enlarge!

Snowshoe Mountain Resort It is 22° and they have been able to make snow around-the-clock and you can tell! 11 trails are available today. They also picked up another TRACE of natural snow. Snowshoe posted,

“Happy Thanksgiving from our Snowshoe family to yours!

We’re thankful for the awesome conditions we will be enjoying on the mountain today. Our snowmakers are working hard to open more terrain, and we’re excited to see the trail count go up in the next day or two. Snowmaking may be in progress on some open terrain. Looking for a traditional Thanksgiving feast on the mountain today? Get your grub on at the Junction between 11AM and 8PM, or join us for dinner and a show at the Big Top at 4PM OR 6PM.”

Check out this awesome video shot from yesterday’s OPENING DAY. Do you think those peeps were excited about those conditions?

 

Ober Gatlinburg – It’s 37° this morning and yet I watched them as they were “spitting out” snow on their tubing hill, which is OPEN today. You’ll have to look really close on the top of the photo where they were putting some snow on the return path on the tubing park.

Click to Enlarge

The ski areas in North Carolina all made snow over the last 24 hours, but it is now 32° or so and App, Beech and Cataloochee now have the snowguns off. App and Cat are open for Thanksgiving Day and Beech Mountain will open tomorrow, Friday, November 23rd! (More about Beech in a moment.)

Bryce Resort – It is 30° this morning and they are making snow. Our buddy, Bill Nabers wrote,

“Patrol is getting ready for bike park and maybe ski operations. Both this weekend? If so, both together would be a first in my knowledge. It would be for Bryce. Can’t say officially what will happen, but I’m saying it might get interesting. Will keep you posted. Watch the cams.”

Wisp Resort – 21° and is making a mountain of snow with their high-tech, snowmaking system. As we said yesterday, ski areas can now put down more snow than ever, in a shorter time than ever. It won’t be long before Wisp opens.

Canaan Valley – 17° this morning and they were able to make snow around-the-clock for the last 24+ hours. They are open for SNOW TUBING today and the slopes are looking awesome for their opening day, December 15th as they are creating some WHALES of snow!

Click to Enlarge view from Canaan Valley

Massanutten Resort DID make some snow overnight but the temps are now slightly above snowmaking capabilities and they will resume as soon as temperatures allow.

Sapphire Valley’s Frozen Falls Tubing Park MAY open this weekend.

 

Timberline Resort Will Be Opening….

I heard from Tracy Herz of Timberline Resort in West Virginia via email on Tuesday. I plan on having a conversation with her perhaps Friday. However, I feel very safe to say that they are taking every step to get the resort open sometime in early December. I hope to have more to share in a couple of days. However, this will be great news to those of you who have been emailing us every single day. More on that soon…

Thanks for the contact Mrs. Herz!

Beech Mountain Resort to Open Tomorrow, Friday, November 23rd!

As we already posted elsewhere (see Full Announcement), Beech Mountain has been able to make enough snow to open with a quality product for their fans tomorrow!

My great friend and Director of Marketing, Talia Freeman says the resort is scheduled to open on Friday, November 23rd.

“We remain focused on improving the guest experience and we recognized the need to give our customers a first-class experience not only with great skiing, but with food, entertainment and continued facility upgrades,” she said.

Click to Enlarge

Beech fans will have a LOT to check out in terms of improvements all over the mountain. Beech Mountain Resort will probably get an award for “Most Improved Ski Resort” from several sources this season.

Click to Enlarge!

The most eye-catching changes will be Two New Chairlifts. The old Quad Lift house is gone and two new Quads have been installed. You may have to wait to see the effects of another great addition – however Beech has installed over 100 brand new LED light panels around the slopes to light it up at night! Numerous Snowmaking upgrades have been implemented as you notice a ton of new huge fan guns.

The resort celebrated their 50th anniversary last season, however the real celebration will be this season as guests will no-doubt enjoy the perks of all of Beech’s labors and investment.

One of the main lifts that has been replaced, lift five, which ascends to the 5,506-foot summit and was originally built in 1987, will now offer 144 chairs with a six-and-a-half-minute travel time accommodating 2,400 people per hour.

Previously a double chair lift, the second of the two main lifts on the mountain, lift six, has now been switched to a quad chair lift. Also making the trip to 5,506 feet, lift six now features 106 chairs offering a six-and-a-half-minute travel time with a capacity of 2,000 people per hour.

Beech Mountain Ski Resort will hold a formal celebration and ribbon cutting for the new lifts on Dec. 1.

The Steel Drivers

Mountain-wide improvements will compliment a season’s long series of concerts and performances during the Winter Music Series. Starting Dec. 15, Beech Mountain Ski Resort will host 25 shows over the course of three months. The highly-anticipated lineup includes concert headlining Grammy Award winning bluegrass and roots band, The Steel Drivers.

To learn more about the Beech Mountain Ski Resorts mountain-wide improvements and the Winter Music Series, visit their website at www.beechmountainresort.com.

That will do it for today. By the way, I have heard from several people who are interested in joining our team as a snow report and writer. I will be choosing some pretty soon. If YOU are interested or know of someone who would be – check out this post and get with me.

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