Day 100 of the current ski and snowboarding season was perhaps the nicest, sweetest day to be on the slopes of the entire season. Yes, POWDER DAYS are wonderful and for many of us the colder the temps the better if you’re going to be powdering through the kind of sugary snow that we’ve seen numerous times this season. However for most skiers and snowboarders nothing beats riding in top quality snow on a day where the sun is shining and temps hover in the low to mid 30s. That was the kind of day that Saturday offered across the region.
I can speak to the conditions at Snowshoe Mountain: They were simply the best! Period. End of conversation. I stayed on the snow from 9am through lunchtime and then again until around 4pm and made more trips down than I have the entire season and not once did I hit anything but sweet, carvable snow.
For those of you who have emailed me asking for photos and videos from the Summit – we’ll get you a bunch over the next few days. Needless to say there have been a ton of Kodak moments and cameras were clicking all over the mountain and during the Apres Ski Party that Snowshoe hosted for our crew last night.
We had a great day and evening of fun here Friday and Saturday as everything planned went off pretty smoothly. I met up with Bill, Ed and Dave Huber of Snowshoe’s staff for some trips up and down the mountain. Those guys can power down the mountain and I think as impressive as that was I was even more impressed when riding with Bill that he always skis right to the back of the lift lines and waits for the next available chair. Admit it – if you owned and/or managed a ski area and were out riding on a busy Saturday, you’d probably skip over to the ski patrol or instructors line and beat the crowds right? Not Bill.
His philosophy? "The way I look at it is that all of these people in front of us paid to be here today and I think they deserve to be where they are…in the front."
Very cool. I’d like to think I’d do the same thing, but one never knows until you walk in those shoes. Bill’s one of those genuine guys who spends time on every lift ride speaking to people and making them feel appreciated for being there and that goes a lonnnngggg way, trust me.
Our party was very sweet last night. For the most part I think everyone behaved themselves. We attempted to honor the messageboard peeps who had attended Friday’s Satellite shoot, Saturday mornings photo op AND who were in attendance at the party. By my calculations that should have been perhaps 60 people. Somehow that ran us out of nearly 100 SkiSoutheast.com hoodies. I saw many people who I KNOW weren’t at the Photo op getting hoodies…but hey, I guess it’s kinda like one of those great sports moments when years later 200,000 people claimed they witnessed an event where the stadium only held 40,000 people. For those of you who did not get a hoodie, we’ll work something out a l-i-t-t-l-e more organized next season! That moment last night resembled a shark tank feeding frenzy!
CONGRATS TO AUSTIN BEEGHLY and CANDACE!
We mentioned it yesterday, but seven foot tall, messageboard member and good friend to yours truly asked his girlfriend, Candace to marry him on Saturday morning after Laura Parquette of Snowshoe’s team got up at 5am to paint the snow in front of their Highland House balcony with the words "Candace, Will you marry me? Austin."
She said "yes" to the delight of Austin and an equal measure of relief to the rest of us in attendance. Austin is a big guy and I didn’t like the idea that we might have to console him and coach him through the weekend. Thankfully that didn’t happen and they had a great Saturday of fun as well as the rest of our 160+ in attendance.
Thanks to Snowshoe’s Bill Rock, Laura Parquette and staff for approximately $12,000 worth of lift passes that they gave away last night to party attendees for Sunday lift passes and skiing. They know how to throw a party and put smiles on a lot of faces! You guys are appreciated here not only by us but by all who came, skied, snowboarded and partied this weekend.
A lucky 20-30 of us including some of Snowshoe’s team will be doing First Tracks this morning before anyone else gets to hit the mountain and because of that nice offer – I am now outta here to make some early Sunday turns.
I hope the rest of you reading this will hit the slopes today. I can guarantee a great day no matter where YOU choose to ride today. Enjoy the day and we’ll see you – hopefully – soon on a ski slope nearest you!
Until later…here are some quick notables:
I can’t remember the last time that I’ve seen NO REPORT of new, natural snow in the 72 hour window on our front page. I’m thinking it was mid December. That is the case today. We have another gorgeous day in store for us on Sunday.
Cataloochee Ski Areas posted, "Today is our BIGBIGBIG One Day Season Pass Sale. Pass prices on this day will be the lowest of this year and next and if you are a new pass holder, you can ski for the rest of this year and next on this pass! Don’t forget on this day there will be special pricing not only on midweek passes for every pass we offer as well! What a deal! These special prices (including our midweek season pass for $169) will be available from 8:30am – 4:30pm only on Sunday, March 7. Only 500 of the $169 midweek passes will be sold, so remember to purchase early on March 7 to get yours before they get gone! You can purchase here at the area or call in between the hours of 8:30am-4:30pm on that Sunday only. Our early season pricing special at its next tier will continue from March 8 through March 31. Pass pricing will go up on April 1. Don’t miss out, get the best deal on March 7."
Sugar Bear’s Birthday Celebration
Join Sugar Mountain Resort’s resident mascot, Sugar Bear and his friends for a fun birthday celebration Sunday, March 7th. Activities include the Great Bear Race, special treats, cake and ice cream. For additional details, please contact the Sugar Bear Ski School.
We’re on day 101 and there are 36 more days of opportunities to enjoy the snow for the 2009-2010 ski and snowboarding season!
That’s it for today. Go enjoy the snow! Check out the Snow Report at Southeast Snow Report and please send us your favorite ski photos, ski videos, trip reports and comments to [email protected]