Good morning everyone! Somehow our server alerts did not function properly and let us know that the database driven portion of our website went down at 10pm or so last night. Our IT guys called me at 6am this morning and I restarted that portion of the server that servers the message board and front page news articles. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Like everyone, we are monitoring the weather this morning! Snow began to fall early across much of Western North Carolina. Forecasters are predicting anywhere from 3-5” of snow with much of it falling by mid afternoon. Here’s hoping they are all wrong! We’re thinking a foot would be nice!
Here’s the morning roundup:
Appalachian Ski Mountain – Made Snow and it was 19° this morning. A dusting of snow has fallen thus far. Nine of Ten Slopes are open and only the Appal Jack Terrain Park is Closed. Appal Jam is in SWEET shape!
Appalachian also announced that Vail Resorts Signed on as Sponsor of Appalachian’s Shred for the Cup Series
Vail Resorts, owner of Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge, and Heavenly Mountain Resort, has joined Board Paradise, Salomon Sports, Atomic, Burton, and Red Bull in sponsoring Appalachian Ski Mtn.’s "Shred for the Cup" Terrain Park Series. Vail Resorts will be providing 2 five-day ski tickets for each of the last two Series events. These tickets will be awarded through a random drawing at each event’s closing awards ceremony, giving all participants an equal chance at winning. The tickets are good at Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, and Breckenridge, and are good through the end of the 2007-08 ski season.
Cataloochee Ski Area – They are 100% open! Tammy Brown wrote,”Welcome to Great Skiing and Riding in the Great Smokies as we are open on 100% of the mountain. We are continuing to make snow as temperatures permit at night and please remember that both Upper and Lower Snowbird Trails are open for day skiing only.” With the snowguns off during the day AND with natural snow in the forecast…things should be really nice at The Cat.
Hawksnest Resort – Its 20° this morning and a light dusting of snow has fallen as of 8am. 3 to 5 inches of snow is in the forecast and they made snow last night. The guns are off this morning and we were watching Lenny or Duggan heading up the mountain with the groomer. That and the natural snowfall should have their 10 open trails and tubing hill ready for a great time today!
Sapphire Valley – They are open with both slopes and the Frozen Falls Tubing Park. Sapphire has some fun events happening this weekend. The FIRST ANNUAL OUTHOUSE RACES AT SAPPHIRE VALLEY. We’ll try to get you some details, but it sounds like and interesting event!
Scaly Mountain Tubing – Gene Head told us they are open and ready for your tubing pleasure this weekend. Tubing Friday through Sunday.
Ski Beech Resort – It’s 19° and They have all except the Crossway slope open today! That means that 14 of the 15 trails are available. Additionally the snow guns are off. Go ski or ride Upper and Lower Southern Star or Upper and Lower White Lightning for the first time this season. Snow is in the forecast, and no snowmaking! That sounds like a perfect combination!
Sugar Mountain – They are still making snow this AM, and have 19 trails and Terrain Park features available in addition to tubing.
Wolf Ridge Resort – Did anyone else notice that The Wolf now has 20 trails to play on? We still had our database programming reflecting 16 total trails and when we got word this morning that they had 17 trails open to ski and ride on, it messed with our system! They have The Bowl open and everything except for Flame Out, Southern Express and Way Out. Get us some pics!
One Last Word on The Weather…
We’ve now been in a prolonged stretch of cold that is more than 2.5 weeks long. The great news is that the cold and snowy trend looks to be hanging around! 3 to 5 inches of snow is forecasted for today, and more is in the forecast for Saturday, Monday and Tuesday! As if it hasn’t been cold enough, the temps are supposed to remain in the 20s and 30s for highs and teens for lows. Then next Monday look for things to get COLDER. Bitterly colder with lows in the BELOW ZERO range! Now if we can just get the 6-12” snow machine cranked up!
Some models are calling for snow today, Friday, Flurries for Saturday and then more the first of the week. The National Weather Service is also saying that our NATURAL low temp next Tuesday night should be around MINUS 7°!
Stay tuned for photos and snow updates as we go through the day! Send us YOUR photos to [email protected]
Until Next Time…
THINK COLD AND SNOW!!!
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For more information about the ski resorts of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic visit www.SkiSoutheast.com
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