As we talked about on Friday morning during our slopeside snow report at Snowshoe Mountain – every ski area is now making snow at every opportunity and the opportunities should be pretty “spot on” over the next few days. The lone exceptions this morning would be Bryce and The Homestead Resorts in Virginia where temps have just been borderline and not allowed it as yet. We suspect that they and ALL of the ski resorts will make snow tonight…and SOME will be making snow around-the-clock today, tonight and all day Sunday and perhaps through Tuesday of this week.
I’m headed out to get a few turns in this morning here at Snowshoe so, I’m going to keep the report to a short tour of what’s happening across the region.
Today I am listing resorts by TEMPERATURE. (Hey, I’m always trying to change things up a bit!) Check back on Sunday morning as we’ll try to share a little bit of a “State of the Region” report in terms of where we are with about 25% of the season now in the record books…and unfortunately there are probably some records in there that we hope will never be broken. There are also some surprises.
15° – Beech Mountain Resort – They are blasting the mountain with plans to open ASAP. It looks to us that they could reopen on Sunday or Monday. But stay tuned. Beech posted, “The resort’s expert snowmaking crew is working around the clock to ensure the best possible conditions on the slopes. Beech Mountain Resort will open for skiing and snowboarding as soon as possible. Ice skating is open and they have LIVE MUSIC.
The newly remodeled Beech Tree Bar and Grille offers a family atmosphere, combined with a fantastic menu. Come watch your favorite game on one of our many LED televisions.”
15.5° – Sugar Mountain Resort – Sugar is OPEN with 6 slopes and trails and ice skating is open as well.
16° – Snowshoe Mountain – OPEN for day sessions with 5 trails serviced by 2 lifts. Snowshoe’s Shawn Cassell writes, “Snowmaking is currently in progress on open and closed terrain, please dress appropriately and use caution. Ski and Ride open terrain only. Variable coverage, marked and unmarked hazards exist. Play it safe and enjoy the Mountain!”
Silver Creek will open again on Sunday.
18° – Timberline Resort – Making snow and they ARE OPEN with 4 slopes and trails for day sessions. To help their snowmakers, there will be no night skiing tonight.
18° – Canaan Valley Resort – Making snow and building base to reopen Wednesday, January 6th.
21° – Wisp Resort – They are still open with the ONE Kid’s Terrain slope, but they are blasting the mountain and plan to open more terrain on Sunday. The mountain coaster and ice skating are open.
21° – Appalachian Ski Mountain – Making snow and plans to reopen on Sunday
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22° – Wintergreen Resort – I say it often but I LOVE these guy’s mountain blog. They leave nothing to the imagination. They posted:
Our snowmaking plan over the next 5 days is going to be different than the plan that got us open before Christmas. The current forecast supports a much different approach that will provide more terrain when we re-open next week.
At start up later today, we will be running guns on Upper and Lower Dobie, both cross trails, Eagles Swoop, The Plunge, Ridgelys Fun Park, Potato Patch and the upper portion of our Terrain Park. When we re-open next week, we want to be skiing and riding 7 trails serviced by 3 lifts. This will provide beginner and intermediate terrain along with a portion of our Terrain Park. Because we need to make snow every minute we can, our exact opening day is a bit of a moving target. The current weather forecast suggests daytime snowmaking ends on Wednesday, however, Tuesday nights low is forecasted an impressive 22 degrees. Pushing for a 9am opening on Wednesday could mean curtailing snowmaking efforts early, limiting our success going forward. In an effort to set ourselves up for success, we might open at 12 noon on Wednesday. Keep checking this blog for additional information. As we get closer to Wednesday, our re-opening plan will become much clearer.
22° – Wolf Ridge Resort – We heard from resident Ron Holland that they were making snow from the top of the mountain on Friday night and Wolf’s website reflects that they are planning to open perhaps on Sunday. Stay tuned.
25° – Winterplace Resort – Making Snow and will reopen ASAP.
25.5° – Ober Gatlinburg – Cold air has returned and their snowmaking crew is out in full force. They do anticipate being able to re-open our ski and snowboard season this weekend, but check back here for the exact day and time.
Snow Tubing operates daily through the end of March … Please click HERE for session times and rates.
26° – Cataloochee Ski Area – 10am Update: They ARE OPEN with 4 slopes and trails for day and night sessions.
27° – Oglebay Resort – The Wheeling, WV ski area is making snow and should open soon.
27° – Massanutten Resort – They really JUST saw cold enough temps overnight to begin making snow this morning. They will reopen ASAP.
27° – Bryce Resort – We’re seeing borderline temperatures in the area but the base shows no snowmaking so they must be JUST above the range needed. They’ve just had a terrible time getting temps to cooperate and make snow. They SHOULD be able to make snow tonight and an opening date is to be determined.
27° – Sapphire Valley – They are finally able to make snow for the first time this season. They plan to make enough to potentially open Sunday or this week.
Omni Homestead Resort – No report
#THINKCOLD
#THINKSNOW
Until next time…
Enjoy your day and THINK SNOW! THINK COLD! Email me anytime and about anything at: [email protected]
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