Dave's (Not So) Big Adventure Trip Report

[teledave]

(Since Mike never posted this I figure, better late than never)





Thursday Night 2/08/07 - Cataloochee



I met up with GreshamB for a few after work turns at Cat on Thursday night. Even arriving at 6PM we both had rockstar parking by the new group building. It was a bit chilly out with temperatures in the mid twenties, but even so Cat was following their normal policy of not making snow during skiing hours if at all possible. With the exception of The Meadows, Cat has all of their runs open so I won’t do a rundown of them other than to say that the Snowbird trails are not open at night.



Cataloochee has a monster base on everything. I don’t know what that translates to in inches but it’s a lot, enough that I wouldn’t want to fall of the side of the slope to the ground; in some places that about an eight foot drop. We mostly did laps off of the double chair down Upper & Lower Omigosh there was some loose snow on a hard packed base that got progressively harder as the night went on.



I made a couple of laps pre-running the race course that was set for the Challenge Cup Race but after checking out the local talent that was entered I could think of better ways to spend the $10 entry fee. Had a nice chat with Tammy Brown and Wayne Morgan later on in the evening, and left just after 10 PM for the long drive home. Another good night at Cataloochee.



Friday 2/09/07 – Wolf Ridge



After a late night at Cat I was in no hurry to get out of bed on Friday, I was heading up to Wolf Laurel/Ridge to meet up with GaTom and some of his friends but they weren’t to arrive until sometime after noon so I decided to just do an afternoon half day.



I made the leisurely drive up 25/70 through Newport, Del Rio, Hot Springs, and Marshall along the French Broad River. It was amazing the socioeconomic polarity of the area, mobile homes and old frame houses that appear to be moments from falling down alongside the mountain retreats of the upper class of society; a true mix of the haves and have nots.



Coming off of I-26 into the Wolf Laurel area I was shocked at the changes that have taken place in the last two years. Wolf Laurel is now known as Wolf Ridge Resort and is a dense community of new rental cabins and upper class log homes; I was hoping that this impression would carry over to the ski area. I drove up an endless set of switchback curves to the new ski lodge in the Breakaway Village area to a parking lot with less than a dozen cars in it.



GaTom and friends arrived shortly afterward and we all got tickets, equipment and hit the slopes. We started off with a couple of runs down the new side of the mountain, a not so gentle green run that goes through a culvert under the road (the “tunnel”) and has a small terrain park off to the side. After a couple of runs Tom and I went over to the old side and pretty much hit all the runs over on that side. Even though advertised on their website as open “The Bowl” was closed, however; I was able to convince Brett Corn (Wolf’s ski patrol director) to escort us down it. It was closed for good reason; the surface was either ice, really hard ice, death cookies, or a combination of the three. The snow on all the slopes was relatively icy with just a bit of dust on them, there were numerous snow humps in front of the snowmakers some of which were groomed straight off leaving a large snow wall exposed.



Overall, Wolf is really just like I had remembered it. Wolf has some of the best terrain in the region; however their snowmaking and grooming are right at the worst in the region. The snowmaking on the Breakaway Village side is much better than on the older side. Hopefully it is in the plan to get rid of the 1950’s style snow guns on the old side and to upgrade to the AERCO fan guns like they have on the new side. Not knowing much about the process of grooming I can’t really say whether it is the grooming equipment or the people driving it, just that the results are very sub par. The lifts all run at speeds that are so slow I don’t see how it is possible that should ever have to stop. Unfortunately they stop constantly, and this was on a day with very few people.



Wolf has so much potential to be the best but to date it has been squandered. I hope that somewhere in the long range plan (amongst all the new construction) the snowmaking and grooming issues will be addressed and that Wolf begins to achieve its underlying potential.



View from New Lodge





GaTom & Friends Unload (Barney Fife too!)





Upper Boardwalk & Terrain Park





GaTom on Broadway





GaTom on Viewfinder





TD on Viewfinder





TD in The Bowl





Saturday 2/10/07 – Ober Gatlinburg



I got up on Saturday morning and headed to Ober Gatlinburg expecting a big Saturday crowd. How wrong I was. There were parking spaces available in the upper parking lot almost all day. Ober was completely open and had made snow the preceding night so the surface was very good from the start. In fact, with the exception of a day a few years ago where I skied there the morning after a 10” snow this was as good a day for conditions as I have ever seen at Ober; and I’ve seen a lot of days there.



I spent most of the morning running laps down Ober Chute/Mogul Ridge/Castle Run with an occasional foray onto Grizzly or Bear Run. I’ve never considered Ober’s grooming to be the best around, but after the day before at Wolf it was absolutely stellar. Also, there was nobody there. Not good news for the ski resort, but great for the people there. As the day wore on it was sunny and warm with temps in the upper 30’s which made everything soft, creamy and smooth.



Ski down and onto the lift and bask in the sun on the way back up, it was a great day to be out. SkiCop and jbc28 came up about 3 in the afternoon and I got to ride several runs with them. Unfortunately as the sun fell behind the mountains and it started to cool off the snow had thawed just enough to refreeze into a nice slick glaze for the night session.



If you are thinking about heading up to Ober go now before the crowds arrive this weekend. It doesn’t get much better than it is right now.



CHECK OUT THE CROWDS!!!



Ober Sat. AM





Ober Chute





Upper Bear Run





Chair Shot





Blake





Keith





Blake & Kieth (POD Material)





Sunset





Fartbag (on Vid?)





Chair Vid Shot











All in all, it was a good weekend. 3 days of skiing, 4 SkiNC’ers skied with, 1 sore knee, 1 aching head.

[SkiCop]

Heck of a report Dave. Heck of a report.

[KneeDeep]

I can't see $hit.

[K2JuvyKid]

to whoever GaTom is, WHY buy tiwns and mount them way to far back?? twins are meant for skiin switch and mountain g them that far back defeats the purpose.



sorry if i sound a lil harsh but i just get sick of older guys getting twins and not being able to do hardly anything with them but portray that they ride park/anything other than groomers.



nice TR also.

________

Avandia lawyers

[kadamk7878]

Those are great pictures..I liked the sunset the best

[KneeDeep]

Just because you have twin tips does NOT mean you have to ski switch.

[teledave]

K2JuvyKid wrote:
sorry if i sound a lil harsh but i just get sick of older guys getting twins and not being able to do hardly anything with them but portray that they ride park/anything other than groomers.



STFU, sorry if I sound harsh but nobody really cares if you get sick of it. Maybe, one day, when your Mom doesn't have to drive you around someone will care. That is if your opinions aren't as completely idiotic as the one you just aired.

[downhillNC]

KneeDeep wrote:
Just because you have twin tips does NOT mean you have to ski switch.



True. But what's the point?

[teledave]

downhillNC wrote:


KneeDeep wrote:
Just because you have twin tips does NOT mean you have to ski switch.



True. But what's the point?



There are some great all mtn skis made that just so happen to have twin tips, they also tend to be sold at a much lower price point than the "expert all mtn" skis. I think the point would be saving about $300 on a pair of skis that gives the option of skiing switch if you wanted to rather than buying the SKI magazine gold medal winner for around $800.

[hnhbaxter]

K2JuvyKid wrote:
to whoever GaTom is, WHY buy tiwns and mount them way to far back?? twins are meant for skiin switch and mountain g them that far back defeats the purpose.



sorry if i sound a lil harsh but i just get sick of older guys getting twins and not being able to do hardly anything with them but portray that they ride park/anything other than groomers.



The depths of ignorance reached by you kids somtimes is stupifying...With no knowledge of ski type, design, boot length, ski style, skill level of Tom etc... you bust out a truly dense comment based on what, a set of upswepted tails? Hey, diagnose this, if Tom extends his middle finger upward while the picture is snapped are you going to bust out a comment about him being too old and not understanding cool gang signs...or take it for what it is...



Cue Daves opening remark