It seems that every few years we have a sluggish ski season and we start looking at ways to help ‘mother nature’ get moving in the right direction. It is nothing new. I searched our own archives and back in 2009 things were so dire that Snowshoe’s (then) Brand and Communications Manager, Laura Parquette took things into her own hands and put out a call for people to submit snow dances. She was such a great person, she didn’t complain when I shared that I was going to do the same here on SkiSoutheast.com.
We received some hilarious videos and if memory serves me correct, Evan Wiley won that competition and got a free vacation and some lift passes. We received people doing their own dress ups like URLL and other Nordic mythical creatures…banging drums and chanting to the heavens for cold and snow.
I also took some of the blame for the poor weather over the years by admitting, like some kind of sports superstition, to forgetting to place our 48″ tall, wooden snowman in my yard prior to the season. Call it our own version of baseball’s rally cap, but it always seemed to work. I burned my old, rotted snowman in the backyard and filmed it with some Cherokee Indian music playing in the backyard during a particularly slow, warmer-than-desired season.
There’s been six or eight of those kinds of seasons over the 24+ years that we’ve done this website. Crazy thing is every time we’ve done something nutty like that, it has worked. Do you guys REMEMBER what 2010 was like? That 2010-2011 season gave us tons of cold and 130.5″ of natural snow at Beech Mountain Resort – which traditionally sees 80″ annually. That was QUITE the ski season!
Then we got all lazy and forgot about all the mojo and the 2011-2012 season was the pits…as only 46.2″ of snow fell. I remember rallying our readers to put their “prayers and positive thinking to work” and BOOM, we saw 114.5″ during the 2012-2013 season. Don’t believe me? Look up the Mountain Stats on any resort via this website and the numbers are there.
Things were THE PITS in early 2009 when Laura Parquette of Snowshoe and I took matters into our own hands and put the word out that we wanted some cold air and snow. That 2009-2010 season saw 250.8″ of snow hit Canaan Valley Resort and Snowshoe Mountain. (They annually see about 180″ of snow.)
We got lazy…and 2011-2012 saw 110.2″…well under their normal. (I’m just saying…)
Lately, I have received more than a couple of dozen emails from long time fans either asking about what we could do about this weather or offering their own remedies. I can’t tell you how many readers have shared that they have recently placed many of their used lift passes from various ski resorts in their freezers.
Here’s one of the cuter, funnier videos that was shared with us from back in 2012 (and again remember we had a great season!).
Here’s another, somewhat embarrassing video of my guys burning “Frankie the Snowman” in 2015. Things turned pretty cold…
So there’s been snow dances, burning of snowman, placing lift tickets in the freezer and more.
So if you’ve got them…bring them on and share your photos and videos with us. I’ll work something out with our team and sponsors to give away some freebies.
However, I’m Bringing Out the Heavy Artillery
A number of years ago, I remember seeing those roadside billboards where ‘messages from God’ were published by anonymous souls. You’ve seen them. One of my favorites was, “If you’re going to curse, use your OWN name.” and the signage was signed “God.”
Well, a few readers started emailing me lately about how challenging and tough this season has been to date (and it has) and just sharing that “something had to give”.
It hit me that we should petition the guy who is in control of everything. Yes. God Himself. Look – I KNOW He’s busy with things that are a whole lot more important than some cold temperatures and snow, but He’s omnipotent, one heck of a multitasker, and I’ve always known Him to have a great sense of humor.
Listen, I don’t mind sharing that I pray a lot. Agree. Disagree. That’s on you. However, I realized that I would need a little help in putting that message out in front of the masses…so I called my marketing buddy, Don Iverson of Banner Elk who owns a couple of digital billboards and told him what I wanted to do. He gave me a great price and voilà, they are up and running on Highway 105 and also on Highway 184 on your way to Sugar and Beech Mountain.
Some will snicker and claim this is only a marketing ploy, because, after all, several meteorologist have already forecast cold and snow to return. However, I just checked the most recent forecast and the temps have moderated some now for this weekend and what was being forecasted as a chance of snow is now rain to snow to rain.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m tired of it. Hence, this message TO God. Like I said – I know God has a sense of humor, so let’s see how things turn out.
You with me?
(By the way, still send me those snow dances and rally cries and anything else ya got!)
email me if you like at [email protected]