DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY
Hello Everyone –
Earlier this month on this website, there was a report of the tons upon tons of snow on the slopes throughout the southeast and mid-Atlantic regions. Though the temperatures have risen a bit and there has been some underdeveloped snow just about everywhere, most of that snow is still out there. When it was snowing just about everyday, I actually heard some folks say there was just too much snow everywhere. The recent thaw again reminds us that, in the southeast you just can’t have too much snow.
The month of February is just around the corner and if anyone out there is worried about not having enough snow on the slopes, you obviously underestimate the ability of the snowmakers in the region. While everyone was concentrating on the amount of natural snow in December and January, I think a few of you forgot that the country’s best snowmakers were still piling it on from the thousands of snow guns in the southeast. In football you get penalized for piling on, in snowmaking you get a pat on the back for doing so.
While I have always given a well deserved plug to the region’s snowmakers, this is when the region’s groomers earn their keep and boy, do they ever when Mother Nature is turning on and off the cold temperatures. I was able to make some turns this past weekend at Wisp Resort with Herb Stevens (no relation) The Skiing Weatherman, and despite above freezing temperatures the slopes were in awesome shape. A little firm around the edges, but very nice in the high traffic areas.
The moral to this story, if for some unknown reason, you are holding off to make that trip to your nearest resort, don’t worry, be happy. Don’t worry that there isn’t enough snow and just be happy that the resorts in this region know how to handle the thaw that hits the region in January every year. Now you may see and should’ve seen base depths drop, but there is plenty of snow out there and I’m hearing from the weather guys that more is on the way right around the corner.
That’s it for this week, just remember whether it be cold or whether it be hot, we’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather will be. Think about it! See you on the slopes.
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Joe Stevens, a member of the southeast ski industry since 1990 is a regular columnist for skisoutheast.com and serves as the Communications Director for the West Virginia Ski Areas
Association.