If you were out skiing yesterday (and tons of you were) you got experience what those of us who live here see with some regularity. It was COLD, and it was WINDY…though not quite as windy as forecasters were warning. (See Weather Post to the right.) We did get some recorded wind speeds in the 40-50mph range but that was some 20mph less than some were predicting. Actually at times yesterday, the winds were pretty quiet so those hitting the slopes were probably loving that. At other times beginners didn’t need a lift to get back to the top as the wind would get you there!
Here’s some quick notes from around the Southeast – We change the order just to confuse you guys!
Ober Gatlinburg in Tennessee saw 2” of snow yesterday and they made a ton of snow to increase base depth to 24-42” on five trails.
Canaan Valley is reporting 8” of snow from Saturday’s storm and that takes them to 52” of snow on the season. Conditions should be perfect today at the Valley! We forecasted 4-6” of snow with locally higher amounts and that forecast was nailed!
Snowshoe hogged another 9” of snow on Saturday taking them to a Southeast leading 75” on the season. 9" of new snow has fallen over the weekend. Combine yesterday’s new snow with the snowmaking and today’s sunny skies and you have the perfect recipe for incredible skiing and riding. All 57 trails continue to be open and in great shape – this is the most open terrain in the region! Don’t miss out on the fun.
The Mountaineer Terrain Park at Silver Creek is open with two table tops, one mail box, one set of picnic tables, two boxes and four rails. The Mountaineer Terrain Garden is open with one box, one set of picnic tables and one rail. The halfpipe is open today, was recut last week and is groomed. The Spruce Glades Terrain Park is open with four rails, two boxes and one wall ride. The Snowshoe Terrain Garden on Whistlepunk is open with one box and three rails. Snowmobiling is available in the afternoon.
Timberline Resort received 6” of snow and 67” on the season! Timberline is showing 80% of their terrain as groomed. Expect great conditions up there.
Winterplace got 3” of snow on Saturday and made snow as well. Conditions should be great today.
WISP resort in Maryland received 3 of snow Saturday and that takes them to 62” of snow on the season. They have packed powder and groomed conditions on 32 trails.
The Ford Built Tough Terrain Park has a 40 Ft. Rainbow, 40 Ft. Flat Up-Flat, 20 Ft. Wall Ride C-Box, 12 Stair Steel Rail, Down Flat Down Combo, 2 Large Table Tops
The Savage Rail Park features a 15 Ft. Butter Box, 10 Ft. Mail Box Slide, Mini Rainbow, 3 Small Table Tops
The Savage Half Pipe is Now Open!
Bryce Resort in Virginia saw no snow and evidently didn’t make snow either. (That could be an oversight.) Bryce is hosting the Locher Dual Open Championship tomorrow. If you are up there take some photos and send them to us – [email protected]
Massanutten Resort reported 1” of snow and they also made snow so conditions there should be very nice today.
Wintergreen Resort in Virginia saw 2” of snow (18” on the season) and they are reporting that the cold air is back allowing them to make incredible snow! They will be open today from 9am until 10pm skiing and riding on 22 trails. They will continue to make snow through the day in an effort to provide the best surface available. The Plunge will be open from 10am until 11pm and The Slide will be open from 10am until 6pm. They also report that High winds forecasted could cause intermittent lift closures.
Most of the High Country and the surrounding Western North Carolina mountains reported from 2”-3” of snow. Cataloochee and Ski Beech reported 4” and we received some reports from over towards the western part of the state and even Mountain City, Tennessee that told us of 6” snowfalls. Sugar Mountain reported 2-3” and that is on the money with three other reports from over there. (We’re so proud!)
In addition to the nice natural snow, all of the ski areas were able to crank out the manmade snow and those two ingredients – combined with diminishing winds should make for a Kodak moment kind of day. (Send those photos and reports to [email protected].)
Have You Guys Seen The Deer?!?
Over the last few weeks we have received emails telling us how much you guys have been enjoying watching the deer on the BooneCam on www.HighCountryWebCams.com. We have not seen them. Many of you have. Then last night we were adjusting several of the cams and we caught four deer foraging for food at about 8pm. You’ll have to check that on out. It was very cool watching them. I don’t know WHY it was so cool – but it was!
Congratulations to Kendall Clark and the “Ski Nc and NGS Race Team are Number One!”
Kendall Clark, who goes by “Mr. Stinky” on the messageboards (don’t ask!) called me the other day and informed me that Last Tuesday night was the first race for Ski Country Interschollastic Race Series. For those who don’t know, they came in 2nd place as a team last season.
Kendall said that before the race that two of the racers, Kendall Jr (goes by Mr. Stinky Jr – again Don’t Ask!) and Cade approached their coach and said, “We’re gonna win this one for SkiNC Dad!” That is always cool. They and the rest of the team delivered on their promise as “Stinky Jr” took 1st place, his nxt door neighbor (also a team member) took 2nd and Cade took 3rd place! A clean sweep!
Other members of the Cat Crew were there to watch and cheer them on. Way to go guys and THANKS Jr. and Cade for doing for us…and your team. Keep the streak alive.
A Couple of Notes and Comments:
Our North Carolina Ski Resorts ARE doing a better and better job of reporting conditions and base depths. Conditions should be very, very nice and in some cases close to excellent out today. We want to congratulate Sugar Mountain (again) on very good reporting of late. They’d get an “A” except that they weren’t reporting the bare spots that were showing through on Thursday and Friday. However neither were any of the other resorts. We’ll have to keep working on all of them. Perhaps the only resort that had no bare spots were Appalachian.
Here’s our Reporting Report Card for this past week: We’re bound to ruffle a few feathers with this report, but we’re just telling it like it is. You guys voted 81% that we need to keep at it. Here’s our grading based on On-Snow Reporters, live observations and webcam views…as well as documenting reports every day of the season thus far.
We’ll take them in Alphabetical STATE order:
Maryland:
Wisp Resort – They get a C plus – Wisp Resort doesn’t fluctuate much in base depth, regardless of weather. They showed very little in the way of a reduction during all of the mild weather of last week and show no difference even with 3” of snow and snowmaking yesterday and today. Their maximum is the HIGHEST of any resort in the Southeast by more than a foot, and that’s a bit high as well. Needs improvement.
North Carolina Resorts:
Appalachian – They get a B – They showed reductions in base (though still on the high side regarding maximum depth report. They also reported a reduction of 2” more since yesterday, EVEN with snowmaking last night and some natural snow mixed in. (Good Job.)
Cataloochee – They get a B minus – The Cat has shown reductions but didn’t mention any of the thin coverage areas in their reports. The Cat does a nice job of keeping visitors informed. They show an increase of 4” since yesterday, which is exactly the same number as the natural snow they received. With visitors packing that down some today AND with snowmaking tonight…we’d think that we’ll see that figure remain steady tomorrow. We’ll see.
Hawksnest – They get a B Minus – They showed reductions in their base, but didn’t report the thin coverage or bare spots were apparent both on the live camera and in reports. The Hawk increased their base by 2” in the last 24 hours which corresponds with the 2-3” snowfall that they had on Saturday.
Sapphire Valley – They get an F – Poor reporting frequencies. They report when they get to it. When they do report, they didn’t mention the thin to no coverage on one slope…etc. Gotta get better RJ.
Ski Beech – They get a C – Remember that a C is average. No reports of bare spots or thin coverage last week. No reduction at all in the base depth except for ONE day last week. To their credit, they didn’t increase it since yesterday with 4” of natural snow and snowmaking all day either. We’re thinking that they are very busy and just didn’t get to it. Beech does a nice job of reporting the surface conditions and accurate weather to expect, etc. but the report is important. Need improvement.
Sugar Mountain – They get a B plus – They’d get an A except they left off the few bare areas and thin spots. We should probably give them a “B” but they’ve been great stewards of accurate conditions, weather and snowfall tallies of late…we just have to reward the effort. Just tell us of those bare areas.
Wolf Laurel – They get a D – No change at ALL in base depths in more than a week of mild weather and some rain. No reports of thin coverage or some of the bare areas that began showing late in the week. We’d give them an F, except that they have been sending reports this season. Last year they’d go days and days without updating their site or reporting (sending faxs, etc) Need improvement.
Tennessee:
Ober Gatlinburg – They get an A minus – These guys should be running a resort with 50 trails. They keep everything advised right down to the smallest detail. Reductions and increases are on the money. You can believe their base depths and the only thing we’ll gripe about is that they should send us a few photos from time to time. Thanks to Dave McConnell we get a few pics from up there. Great job Kathy and crew!
Virginia:
Bryce Resort – They get a B – They HAVE been doing a better job of reporting reductions and changes in base depth of late. So we’ll leave it at that.
Massanutten Resort – They get a D – Mass Resort hasn’t changed their base depths since World War I. Seems they post a figure early every season and pretty much go to sleep other than reporting slope openings, conditions and snowfall. Needs Improvement.
The Homestead – They are a resort that happens to have skiing or we’d give them an F since they never change their base either. But heck they didn’t report any snowfall or whether they made snow in the last millennium! Aw, heck – let’s give them that F. Get better guys.
Wintergreen Resort – They get an A minus. We LOVE the fact that they don’t even report a base tally on their own website. We’d give them an A but we’re stingy! Frankee, we want more of those sweet photos that you send!
West Virginia:
Canaan Valley – They get a D – We’d give them a little less, but they do better than Sapphire and Homestead…so it wouldn’t be fair to give them the same F. Canaan Valley is another resort that hasn’t changed their base depth since the beginning of the season. They have been stuck on that 24-36” base through snow, through rain, through mild temps…you name it. Get better guys.
Snowshoe Mountain – They get a B – Snowshoe used to get straight A minuses in our book. Andrea and crew aren’t quite staying on top of the reporting of some of the thin coverage areas that showed through last week, and they have only changed their base one day in the last ten…through mild temps, rain and even 9” of snow on Saturday. That base has to change! They’d get a C, except that Snowshoe does a great job of keeping news forthcoming. We’d like a few more photos Brian, Andrea and crew!
Timberline Resort – They get a C – They were in the D and F category last season and they have made improvements! They are just stuck on that 18-50” base figure with little or no changes coming over the last three weeks. They are working on a B. Just needs a little improvement.
Winterplace Resort – They get a C plus – Reporting is decent except that they never change their base and didn’t report any thin coverage areas or bare spots. They rarely report happenings or news.
Top “student” – Ober Gatlinburg in Tennessee. Congratulations to Kathy Doyle and crew!
Honorable Mention goes to Sugar Mountain – Congratulations to Gunther, Kim and crew!
It should be a VERY NICE today on the slopes
With winds diminishing and Blue Skies already showing this morning…combined with lots of snowmaking and some natural snow to boot – it should be one of the nicer MLK Sundays and Mondays in some time. Enjoy it!
Until Next Time!
Be sure to email photos, snow reports and comments to: [email protected]