Note: I am working remotely from a slow dialup connection in South Carolina as I am here to watch the annual slug-fest between South Carolina and Clemson. To that end, I am combining the SkiNC and SkiSoutheast article today in an effort to save time…
Resorts in the Southeast haven’t been dumped on recently like Crystal Mountain, Michigan received yesterday with their 12" dump of snow; however AT LEAST some resorts around HERE are skiing and snowboarding today! Crystal Mountain plans to open November 24th, even though they’ve been making snow AND got a foot of fresh powder yesterday!
That’s what makes skiing in the Southeast so special. WE want to ski so bad that we’ll jump at the first sign of cold enough air to see your breath! As those kinds of temps hit Wednesday, resorts scrambled and began firing the guys and they’ve only stopped as temps creeped above freezing a few times since.
Resorts certainly made snow if they wanted to last night as temperatures dropped down plenty low enough (into the teens in many areas) although this morning at 6:30am there seems to be one of those pesky inversion things going on!
Banner Elk is showing 16°at 6:30am, while Sugar Mountain in reporting 27° and Ski Beech is 29°. The elevations dont seem to be showing signs of inverting temps up in West Virginia this morning as the temperature up at Snowshoe Mountain this morning is 8°.
More on the weather in a moment. Let’s skip to the real fun going on right now. While most all of the resorts are preparing in one way or another for a great Thanksgiving Week and Weekend…we DO have some skiing and Snowboarding going on out there!
Ski Beech is OPEN today as they open up with FIVE SLOPES and THREE lifts on this, their opening day of the 2005-2006 season! Ski Beech has been making snow since Wednesday to cover both Upper and Lower Shawneehaw, Powder Bowl, Freestyle and Play Yard!
Cataloochee Resort, which was the first resort in the Southeast or Mid-Atlantic to open for the 2005-2006 ski season this week, will be skiing and riding on FIVE trails today on a base of 12-28" of new manmade snow. The Cat will be DAY SKIING only today. Cataloochee is being really aggressive thus far with this first bast of snow as they are already even making snow on their popular Tube World, snow tubing hill in preparation of opening Friday, November 25th. Great job over there guys!
Sugar Mountain was in GREAT form yesterday as witnessed and photographed by Mellow and Snowbird! Great stuff guys! Sugar is sticking with the TWO trails for Saturday and snowmaking will continue as long as temps allow to open more terrain soon!
Speaking of Updates!
As usual, SkiNC and SkiSoutheast are the sole source of up-to-date, accurate reports for ALL of the ski areas of the Southeast. We’re only three days into the season and already some other reporting sources are showing only Cataloochee open, a couple of showing Ski Beech and Cataloochee and some are showing all three, but with already dated information. We’ll keep you informed and up-to-date each and every day (sometimes many TIMES a day!) so make sure to save us as your source for all the information you need in ONE location.
We’ve already received some great reveiws of all of the resort profile pages that we’ve added this season. You can find them by going to the ski report page and clicking on any of the resort names on the report list. We’ve added weather information and more on those pages. We are still tweaking the weather to display data RIGHT from the resorts and we’ll get that running this coming week! We have some exciting new offerings and contests debuting Thanksgiving so stay tuned and begin making SkiNorthCarolina.com and SkiSoutheast.com a daily stop!
Thanksgiving is Looking GREAT!
As shown by the early openings of the three resorts in North Carolina, the weather has been really cooperating with very nice snowmaking temps this first week of the 2005-2006 ski season. Resorts in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland have been pouring on the snow and conditions will be sweet for Thanksgiving weekend as many other resorts will be opening for the season.
On top of the great TEMPS, comes the very real possibility that the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic will get several days of snow this coming week. SNOW is in the forecast most everyday in West Virginia after a potentially wet Monday…with snow falling Tuesday through the end of the week and into the weekend. The same is true for Virginia, up at WISP in Maryland and into North Carolina!
The forecast is for COLD temps to stay in place for the rest of November with the temps on Beech Mountain reflecting highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s (with some teens) right through the end of the month. The GREAT news is that SNOW may begin falling as early as Tuesday as cold air wraps around behind a coastal low and clipper type lows come in! Yaaaahooooo!
Enjoy your skiing and snowboarding at the three resorts open right now and PLAN ON COMING TO THE MOUNTAINS for Thanksgiving! Make a trip up, enjoy some great early-season conditions, enjoy the crisp, clean, cold air of the mountains and take a break from the hustle and bustle of life outside of these hills! This is also a great time to start a family tradition by visiting one of the hundreds of Choose and Cut Christmas tree farms in the region. Tens of thousands of families have been doing that for years. As a part of your trip, make plans to pick out a family Christmas tree and take it back home with you and get the Holidays started right!
The coming week should be cold, with the wonderful addition of some natural snow…and great early season conditions. By the first of the week, well have several other resorts open and we’ll update you then.
Until tomorrow!!!
Be sure to email me at [email protected] with photos and updates…or your comments!