As our Photo of the Day shows, Sugar Mountain made snow really for MOST of the day Friday. The temps hovered in the mid-to-upper 30s (depending on where you were on the mountain) and Sugar was able to make some snow from the top of the mountain down to just below the 3/4 station. I called over to Sugar and wasn’t able to speak with anyone of power, but I was able to discern that they ARE trying to see IF they can make enough snow to get open for skiing tomorrow (Saturday the 14th).
I got a bunch of emails from you guys asking the always obvious, “Why are they doing that when it will all be gone in a couple of days?”
Yes, grasshopper, it will all be gone. However, you have to think like the marketing geniuses that Gunther and Kim Jochl are.
One look at the forecast for Sugar Mountain from now through November 27th will attest to the fact that any snow that is made today, tonight and tomorrow morning will be gone in short order. Temps are forecasted to be too mild to make snow again through at LEAST the 24th.
So why do it?
Simple – marketing. Sugar is having a ribbon cutting ceremony tomorrow morning at 10am – complete with Governor McCrory of North Carolina making an appearance – and the weather seems to cooperating JUST ENOUGH for Sugar to make snow and potentially even get a slope of two open. Of course, they really need to be able to get open to the top for it to be a huge marketing win, but if I were a betting man (and I’m not) I wouldn’t bet against Gunther to pull this off.
Sure, by Monday or Tuesday it will all be gone, but the marketing value of getting any and all of those photos and videos with that new Summit Express Lift with snow in the shots – will be…priceless.
Snowshoe Mountain Made Snow as Well!
Thanks to SnowshoeGuy from the SkiSoutheast Messageboard we got word that Snowshoe Mountain Resort was ALSO making snow earlier this morning. He captured a short clip and sent that to us, but we don’t have permission to use it. However, it appears that the snowmaking at Snowshoe might have been some “testing of the systems” as the photo below will show that there was no snowmaking going on at the top or bottom of the mountain at 4PM this afternoon.
See the capture below and also remember that you can always go to Snowshoe Mountain Boathouse Cam and all of the mountain webcams via ResortCams.com.
Welcome to the Mountain… Snowshoe
I have to give a shout out to the marketing department at Snowshoe Mountain this season as they have really done a nice job to sell its most influential asset – the people of the mountain. They put this short clip together and we wanted to pass it on.
Randy Johnson is planning on being at Sugar Mountain bright and early Saturday morning and we’re looking forward to his first official post here at SkiSoutheast.com.
Check back OFTEN and pass the word to your snow-loving friends. Visit www.SkiSoutheast.com and www.ResortCams.com for all things snow in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic!
email Mike at [email protected]