These past few days have proven to me how fickle some snow storms are! This massive snow storm that was headed our way with all of the ingredients to bomb us all with snow, left MAYBE 4" at my house! I’m not complaining (oh I guess I am) because snow is snow. But I was looking for so much more! According to my kids though, that place where snow goes to die (over towards Beech Mountain where my horses are) was near knee deep in spots. So I guess I can’t complain too much, because all I have to do is drive fifteen minutes and I can get to the deep stuff!
That’s the way this storm was. We’ve received a ton of emails talking of nothing more than a dusting at lower levels near the Blue Ridge, to NO SNOW at the Virginia ski areas in the last 24 hours (they DID get some snow 48 hours ago) to 3-6" across most of the region, to 6-12" at the highest elevations!
Even though it’s been a phenomenally snowy period, the BIG STORY is the COLD temperatures. Today will be sunny, but it will be another cold one with highs in the teens and 20s and lows again tonight that will dip back into the single digits. Friday will start off cold but then the BIG MILD UP COMES. After all of these cold, frigid temps, it is going to feel like Summer over the next few days as highs this weekend will get into the mid 40s for Friday, mid 50s (and maybe even some low 60s) on Saturday and Sunday! It will be a GORGEOUS weekend to come skiing and snowboarding because there is TONS of snow around the area and on the slopes and there’s so much base that ski conditions will be awesome no matter where you want to head this weekend. Let’s get to the news you guys want to hear!
A FEW NOTES HERE AND THERE…
Winterplace Resort – We’re giving them top billing today because they picked up another 6" of snow from the storm that passed through in the last 24 hours and 12" in the past 48 hours! As Missy says, "It doesn’t get better than this!" Winterplace goes to 64" on the season and they also go back to 100% open today after closing a couple of trails yesterday for dedicated snowmaking efforts. They will simply be in AWESOME shape today!
Canaan Valley – They are at 0° this AM and after yet another 4.7" of snow in the last 24 hours they now have an average snow depth of NATURAL SNOW of 16" on the ground! They have now seen 12" of snow in February – after 64" of snow in January and that takes them to 146.4" on the season! That is ridiculous! Of course that means they will have ridiculously GREAT conditions as well on 39 trails and snow tubing. Remember they offer their cool AIR BOARD race this weekend. Go watch that!
Snowshoe Mountain – These guys are our cold spot this morning with MINUS 9°! Now that is a little on the chilly side! They also saw another 3" of snow (of course) and that gets them to 154" on the season. They too have had a ridiculous amount of snow since early January! Of course they have all 60 trails open, giving them the most open terrain in the region. Snow tubing, half pipe, terrain parks, snow mobiling. They have it all AND remember that today also marks the kickoff of the Cuervo Games at Snowshoe! Over the weekend take part in insane games and crazy on-snow events at a party that won’t soon be forgotten. With over 150” of snow this season and more open terrain than any other resort in the region, call 1-877-441-4FUN to plan your vacation today! Book by February 13th and your 3rd night is on us – FREE! If you guys are at Snowshoe today, check out the Slaymaker and Spur trails over on Silvercreek this evening around 6:30pm as they are having an employee race! That would be interesting! GET US SOME PICS!!!
Timberline Resort – How about MINUS 7° at Timberline and another 4" of snow. Of course the same snow totals that apply to Canaan Valley apply to them as they are just a ridge over. They now have an average snow depth of NATURAL SNOW of 16" on the ground! They have now seen 12" of snow in February – after 64" of snow in January and that takes them to 146.4" on the season! Jessica Scowcroft shares, "The skiing is absolutely wonderful! Some trails are closed for snowmaking but will reopen by the weekend."
Timberline is hosting a Rail Jam Competition on Saturday, Feb. 5th and "Fletchers Grove" will be performing this weekend at Timber’s Pub! Timberline has all 17km of backcountry open for cross country skiing and awesome conditions!
Wisp Resort – 2° – They picked up another 3" of snow to take them to 96" on the season! That is only 4" below their average snowfall for an entire season and we still have most all of February and all of March left to go. With the forecast trends showing a more snowy and cold late February, this is going to be a special season! Wisp has closed a trail or two for focused snowmaking and they offer 30 of their 32 trails today.
Ober Gatlinburg – 8° and they picked up some more snow and are reporting some 2-4" over the last two days and that is great news for the Smoky Mountain ski area. They made snow and report a base of 60-88" and 6 trails open!
Wintergreen Resort – 0° this morning and they have closed down a couple of trails for focused snowmaking to enter this weekend with primo conditions! They offer 23 of 26 today and here’s an entry from Anne Marie Jones, "We are making TONS of snow! Superb snowmaking conditions are allowing us to increase base depths and improve conditions. The snow is spectacular! We will close our progression terrain park, upper and lower diamond today and tonight so that we can pound these areas with snowmaking. Cold air will remain in place through Friday allowing us to continue to make our superb machine snow. This weekend is all about WinterFest! Events over the weekend include: Ski racing, glow ski parade, great food along with local micro brews in the courtyard and more. If that is not enough, we will have our usual great skiing and riding conditions!"
The average snow base depth throughout the resort is 40”- 60”.
You heard her, go enjoy WINTERFEST THIS WEEKEND!!!
Bryce Resort – 10° this morning and they made snow. They are 100% open with all 8 trails and snow tubing and a base of 35-61". They reported no new natural snow.
Massanutten Resort – 14° – They report no additional snowfall, but they did see 4" a couple of days ago. They are in great shape, made snow and report a base of 50" of groomed conditions on all 14 trails and they have both terrain parks and snow tubing open.
The Homestead – No report but they no doubt have all 5 trails open.
Appalachian Ski Mountain – For the second night in a row, App saw ZERO degree lows overnight. They picked up another couple of inches of snow and for the first time in a few nights they MADE SNOW and they are in awesome shape on 100% of their terrain.
Cataloochee Ski Area – Second night in a row for them to see ZERO degree temps as well. They saw another TRACE of snow and 7" in the last 48 hours. They made snow and report a base of 46-100" and Packed Powder conditions on 100% of their terrain (14 trails) and snow tubing opens up again today.
Ski Beech – -5° – That’s MINUS 5° last night and as of this report (8:20am). They are reporting another 4" of snow in the last 24 hours. The official tally kept by the snow reporter on Beech is 1.1" on February 3rd, 5.9" on February 4th and another 3.8" on February 5th. That is a SWEET 10.8" of snow and I think we can give them that extra quarter of an inch! Can anyone say – POWDER!!!
…and in case you didn’t notice, Beech opened up Upper and Lower Southern Star, which gets them to 13 trails open, with only the dedicated Terrain Park and Oz Run not open at this time. With the way that the terrain park has worked out on Powder Bowl, they may opt to keep it there and look toward Oz next. We’ll see if we can’t get a word with Ryan and let you guys know. Things are definately looking great for what should be a great day to ride up at Beech today and this weekend.
Sugar Mountain – -5° and they are reporting another 2" of snow and that is how this crazy storm went yesterday. Just one ridge over one way and there was a bit more snow. One ridge over the other way and we saw maybe another one inch. Anyway, Sugar has seen 9-10" of snow from this storm and things simply could not be much nicer there and they are 100% open with all except ice skating today. Twenty trails and it’s another snow day for Avery and Watauga kids. That will be a popular place to be today! Sugar made snow last night but they will not be making snow during open sessions.
Wolf Ridge Resort – They are now reporting that they picked up 8" of snow from this past two-to-three day storm and things are in great shape at The Wolf with 10 trails open and snow tubing as well. We’ve seen some nice images from over that way over the last few days and we’ll try to get those up for you guys. We’re not sure why more of their trails aren’t open yet (we’ve been asked that a lot), but we’ll see if we can’t get word for you. We heard some rumors as to why, but we won’t share those because that’s not the way we roll!
Hawksnest Tubing Park – Opens back up today after sitting out the snow storm.
Sapphire Valley Ski Area – Still closed on Thursdays. Will reopen on Friday.
BIG WARMUP FOR THE NEXT FIVE DAYS; THEN AN EXCITING FEBRUARY!
Matthew East provides a nice video that tells us what to expect for the next week. The summary of the update: Ski conditions could not be better right now and there’s so much snow that conditions will be great through these next few days that mild up across the region. It will be a SUNNY weekend with very mild temps all weekend long. The beginning and particularly the middle of next week looks continued mild and wet with some rain. (We haven’t seen that in a while so no major complaints. (Its mid week and all that!))
However, the pattern is in place with all of the ingredients that look very much like a continued cold and snowy second half to the month of February, particularly from about Valentine’s Day forward. Matthew says that all of the players are in place and that the second half of the month should provide plenty of cold periods, and several shots at all the moisture we need to make for a stormy, snowy, cold second half of February!
Click here> Skier’s Forecast for the Mid Atlantic and Southeast Ski Resorts
I am not certain that I have seen a spell of consistently cold and snowy weather like these last few weeks and conditions are simply awesome. You guys need to be here and see how great everything is! Get online and make some reservations and get up here!
Until Next time…
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