Snow brings out the happy faces for sure! On Tuesday morning it was bombing snow here at Snowshoe Mountain. I and my group hit the mountain for some first tracks. We got in about an hour of great skiing before things turned to WET! I stayed out for about an hour and after I was soaked through…we headed into the lodging to warm up and dry out.
The phone rang and it was Ed Galford, Snowshoe’s three-decade "snow man". He actually holds the title of "Vice President of Mountain Operations" and he’s an integral part of what gets open at Snowshoe and when. Ed shared that we were "just missing" a big snow event as the temps were hovering around 32-33°. Just another couple of degrees lower aloft and we’d have had a foot of snow on Tuesday alone.
Laura Parquette who is now at Keystone in Colorado, emailed me. She was seeing the snow coming our way and was missing her Snowshoe buds. We miss you as well Laura! The girls say "hi" and we love you.
This morning things look MUCH MORE like Winter around here after 5" of snow fell overnight here at Snowshoe. We were fighting high winds and blizzard like conditions going to and from dining, the Big Top etc last night. The wind is driving MORE SNOW this morning.
2.6" of snow fell at Canaan and Timberline; 2" fell at Wisp Resort and about 1" fell at Sugar, Beech and Appalachian Ski Mountain. Everyone else who got snow picked up a good dusting.
The Virginia ski resorts are seeing temps that unfortunately have them still waiting for things to get colder as only Wintergreen Resort was able to make snow. All others are managing what snow they have and waiting for tonight’s colder temps.
Beech and Cataloochee are looking like the best places to be in North Carolina for today. Sugar is much improved with great snowmaking overnight and 1" of natural snow but they are still looking a little worn at the base of the resort. That will change quickly with continued snowmaking that is happening as I am writing the column.
Here’s the state by state report for today. Enjoy the snow. I know I am!
North Carolina Report:
About an inch of snow fell at most of the ski areas with a dusting or snow of snow at the lower elevations like in Boone. You can see perhaps an inch of snow on the LIVE cams. Check out: http://www.highcountrywebcams.com/webcameras_BannerElkLIVE.htm
Appalachian Ski Mountain – 26° – 1" of snow – 3 trails open – They are making a blizzard of snow on the mountain and should be opening more trails soon.
Beech Mountain Resort – 20° – 1" of snow – 5 trails open, ice skating open as well. Things are looking like a whiteout up there!
Cataloochee Ski Area – 19° – 1" of snow – 8 trails open – Making snow like crazy!
Sugar Mountain Resort – 21° – 1" of snow – Up to 8 trails open now. Ice skating is open as well and they are looking much improved at their base area.
Wolf Ridge Resort – 29° – Trace of new snow and they are making snow. They are currently still closed.
Virginia Resort Report:
Things are a bit milder at the Virginia resort locations. Only Wintergreen was able to make snow overnight.
Bryce Resort – 39° – No snow being reported. They have 4 trails open for day sessions.
Massanutten Resort – 35° – No snow or snowmaking. Two trails open for day sessions and 6 lanes of snowtubing.
Wintergreen Resort – 28° – No Snow but they are making snow and have 3 trails open for day sessions and tubing is open as well.
West Virginia Resort Report:
All of the WV resorts got in on the snowfall act with Winterplace seeing 1" and Snowshoe getting the most with 5". Canaan and Timberline picked up 2.6". All of the resorts are making snow like crazy to open more terrain ASAP!
Canaan Valley – 25° and 2.6" of new snow and that takes them to 40.6" on this crazy season where all of that snow doesn’t equal great conditions. Things are looking UP though as Canaan has 5 trails open and tubing as well.
Snowshoe Mountain – 22° and 5" of new snow! Woohoo! They are offering 29 trails open and have day and night sessions running. Tubing is open as well! Snowmobiling is offered in the evenings.
Timberline Resort – 24° – 2.6" of snow and 11 trails open for day and night sessions. That Bear Stroll to Upper Salamander trail is looking great according to several reports.
Winterplace Resort – 21° and 1" of new snow and 9 trails open for day and night sessions. Winterplace has Cascade, Meadows, Rendezvous, Rendezvous Too all open!
Wisp Resort – 17° and 2" of new snow and they are bombing their slopes with that hitech snowmaking plant. They are offering the same 4 trails as yesterday but working to open more by the weekend.
Ober Gatlinburg – 28° and making snow. They are not open yet.
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