Keith Wood and Mark McKelvy Report From Snowy Appalachian Ski Mountain

Mark McKelvy reports from Appalachian this week –

Well I slept in again so I did not arrive until around 11 AM just as it started snowing.  Yes I said snowing.  The forecasts I read said sleet and rain but this was big fat snow flakes.  Not a single person was on the slopes that lay in front of me.  I guess everyone was thinking it would be rain.  The snow only got heavier and after about an hour there was in inch or two and I was riding powder.  Even before the snow began to accumulate the slopes were in prime shape with no brown spots.  The park has just been updated and a new feature has been added so it is in as a good shape as ever.  Quite a few more people showed up as the day went on and I think about 3" fell when it was all said and done.  The snow slowed down and turned to sleet around 2 PM and when I left at 4:30 there was a slight drizzle.  As I was leaving Boone however, it began to sleet/snow again.  Great Powder day in NC!

Keith Wood of Gray Court, SC reports on Appalachian from Monday –

We made a quick trip to Appalachian on Monday.  The school that my son, Avery, attends had a holiday on Monday.  I am not sure of the occasion for the holiday.  I don’t remember getting a holiday for the beginning of spring when I was in school?!!?  I looked at the forecast and almost did not make the trip due to rain being in the forecast for early Monday afternoon.  We decided to take advantage of the opportunity and hit the slopes for as long as the rain would hold off.  We jumped out of bed this morning at 5:15am, headed for Appalachian at 5:45am, and arrived at Appalachian shortly past 8:30am(we drove up from Gray Court, SC ).  We bought our lift tickets and got all the gear ready for the 9am – 4pm day session.

I skied and Avery boarded for a short time when we started to notice a few very small snowflakes falling around 10am.  The snow continued to "develop" throughout the day with snow falling fairly heavily after lunch.  The snow continued to fall into the afternoon and then started to mix with a little sleet.  We saw around 2" or more of snow by the time the precipitation changed over to "underdeveloped snow" near the end of the day session.

This turned out to be one of the best days of the season for us with no lift lines.  The surface started out with a little powder granular mix on Monday morning and by Monday afternoon we were experiencing 2 or more inches of fresh snow on the slopes.  We enjoyed a great day on the slopes and we were certainly glad that we had made the trip.  Avery and I commented on how today appeared as if we were in mid-season with the slope conditions, overcast skies, and snow falling.  I don’t think we could have asked for much more.

Avery worked on the requirements for his Snow Sports merit badge for Boy Scouts.  Pete Kraska with the French-Swiss Ski College helped Avery in completing the requirements for the Snowboarding track of the merit badge.  I have attached a picture of Avery after completing the merit badge requirements with Pete visible over Avery’s shoulder.  I have also attached a ‘not so good’ video of Avery snowboarding.  I am on snowblades and it appears that snowblades are not the best equipment to use when trying to capture video.  The video does show some of the snow falling.  The picture of our car shows how much it snowed during the day on Monday, March 20, 2006.  The parking lot and car were snow free when we arrived on Monday morning with the picture showing the story on Monday afternoon.