– Story by Will Mauney
We’ll we’ve got a bit more snow and "underdeveloped snow" finding its way to the ground this morning and I’m sure a few more slippery roads. Road crews are out in the high country making sure there’s no ice on the main roads with temps hovering around or below freezing in most of the mountain regions. Fortunately nothing like we had during the ice storm around Christmas. Some snowfall expected around Wisp and the Virginia and West Virginia resorts. Snowshoe may see around 3-6 inches. Just a little cold rain falling at Sugar, Beech, App and Ober right now.
If you were one of the few lucky skiers/snowboarders or free-heelers able to make it up this weekend to your favorite resort you no doubt experienced some of the best conditions yet this season. Sunday was blue-bird and beautiful with packed and groomed powder at every resort in the Southeast. The sun stuck around for us on Monday as well and the temperature rose from 8° at my house yesterday morning to around 40° in the afternoon. I even saw a few folks skiing in t-shirts at Sugar. The night sessions have been just as nice with good visibility, little or no snowmaking, and smaller crowds.
Today is another no-school day for many happy kids and not so happy parents around the Southeast and Mid Atlantic and despite the rain it’s still a great day to ski or ride. It should taper off by the afternoon. Beech Mountain offers there "School Daze Special" with $15 tickets and $15 rentals for teachers and students whose school is closed due to snow/ice. Sugar has a great mid-week learn to ski package that includes rentals, lift ticket, and a one hour group lesson. Roads are fine at App, Sugar and Beech. Ober Gatlinburg will host the 25th anniversary Tennessee Winter Special Olympics today and tomorrow with over a 100 athletes competing in Alpine skiing and snowboarding in divisions based on age and ability.
GROUNDHOG DAY
Just as predicted, Phil saw his shadow. We are good for another six weeks. We’ll see what this next system brings us (feet of snow!) and according to Brad Panovich we’ll see a few more big storms. I found it interesting that a lot of the trip reports I viewed from this weekend mentioned or depicted snow covered roads in the foothills and Piedmont and clear roads once they arrived in the mountains. So it’s good to know if you can make it to the mountains you should be able to get up them. Check back tomorrow for more updates on the upcoming weekend storm and start planning your trip for some more Southeast and Mid Atlantic pow!
We’re on day 66 and there are 71 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 https://www.skisoutheast.com/skireports.php and please send us your favorite ski photos, ski videos, trip reports and comments to [email protected]