Wednesday’s Report –

We had much more snow on Tuesday than most weather gurus were forecasting. SkiNC/SkiSoutheast meteorologist Brad Panovich nailed the forecast (AGAIN) and while some of us around the High Country saw 1-3"…Sugar and Ski Beech received a good snowfall. Sugar received 5" of new snow and Ski Beech 7" of snow since Tuesday morning. It’s STILL snowing very lightly as of the writing (8:40am) and thankfully we have no wind either…so ski conditions simply could not be better in the Southeast right now. All of the resorts have great base depths, all of the resorts have great surface conditions…mostly Packed Powder everywhere you go and with Sunny Skies and highs in the 20s and low 30s today…it will be ONE SWEET DAY to be on the slopes of your favorite resort. BE SURE to check out the Slope Reports though because YOUR FAVORITE ski area might NOT be open until this weekend.

Evidently two or three people are paying attention to local television where they may be picking up or using the Southeastern Ski Areas Association data (or some other source) as per openings, etc. We received an email from a lady in Greenville, SC raking us over the coals because, "You guys are telling everyone that Wolf Laurel is closed this week and we had plans to go up there on Wednesday. The website I’m looking at says they are open."

All we can say, Ms. Witch, is climb on your broom and fly on up there, but be prepared to wait until Friday to get any skiing or BROOMING in! Wolf Laurel actually has stated "weather permitting" as a disclaimer giving them the outside chance that they may not even open this weekend.

It’s OUR GUESS that they will be open for weekend skiing this weekend…but they ARE NOT open today. We keep telling you guys that we are THE SOURCE for accurate information and you need go nowhere else.

Note: For those of you who think we were being "unprofessional" in our comments above…give it a rest. We didn’t name names…and you have no clue how rude this "lady" was with her commentary. She even posted a message on the messageboard blaming SkiNC for ruining her trip. Some people!!!

Speaking of the messageboard…and we’re not going to name names here either: We received a couple of emails from readers claiming that one messageboard poster was making derogatory remarks about them personally…and about Appalachian Ski Mountain. We try as best we can to stay off of the messageboard itself, because we want it to be a forum where people can discuss, complain or praise resorts and related matters to skiing or snowboarding. We don’t allow personal attacks, but we try to stay silent when people are discussing the resorts unless it becomes apparent that ONE person is taking out a single grudge, such as a disgruntled employee or a singlularly upset patron, etc. This one post kept attempting to berate Appalachian Ski Area…and while we or others may not see eye to eye with the management at App…or other resorts for that matter…we HAVE to come to the defense of Appalachian.

I was talking with Tommy Lumpkin yesterday. Tommy is the father of our SkiNC sponsored, seven year old snowboarding phenom, Lindsea Lumpkin. Tommy has skied many places out west (OFTEN) and he was at Appalachian this past weekend with Lindsea, and just coincidently Tommy commented (almost incredulously) yesterday about Appalachian saying, "You know Appalachian is THE BEST ran ski area of any that we have gone to. The moment you walk up there’s someone directing or helping you with where you need to go, they are polite and helpful no matter where you go. They seem to have more than the normal ski patrol monitoring the slopes and yet they allow you to pretty much do whatever you want as long as you aren’t endangering others."

He added, "In fact, I was looking around and I could not believe how many top notch skiers and snowboarders were skiing there."

Tommy concluded by saying, "If every resort was ran like that place…man that would be great." He was even saying that the places out west don’t seem to have the organization that that little mountain has.

So, when it comes to resort operations…stay off Appalachian…they are among the best anywhere…we can assure you.

The Best Conditions of the Season! – Who knew that we’d be experiencing THE BEST slope conditions of the season RIGHT NOW!!?? That darned woolly worm certainly had no clue. Local weather dude, Ray Russell has a tongue-in-cheek battle of the worm and he certainly blew the forecast for this winter. To Ray’s defense so did the Winter Outlook guys at the National Weather Service office. Who DID get this winter right on the money? Two sources that I can attest to.

If you guys will look back or search this website you will note that EARLY this season when I was reporting about all of the forecasting gurus…predicting this winter as a snowier than normal one…that I alluded to having breakfast at Snowshoe Resort with Paul Goodloe early in December and HE laughed at my mentioning of the Winter Outlook. He claimed THEN that Southeast resorts would struggle with periodic snowstorms…and stretchs of mild temps that would have the snowmakers battling to keep snow on the slopes. HE WAS DEAD ON!

The other source? Believe it or not…the Old Farmers Almanac! Check it out. They have pretty much nailed this season. They predicted the slow start. They predicted the cold snap around December. They predicted the long, mild stretch in January…and they nailed this snowy February and March. They actually said that they first two-thirds of winter would have people saying that it has been a mild, snowless winter…and then by the end of the Winter people would be saying it was one of the snowiers ones.

While the latter may not be exactly accurate…it HAS been an amazingly snowing couple of weeks and as of today…it wouldn’t take a ton of snow to get some ski areas close to their averages for a normal winter. Case in point is Ski Beech, which is now at 73" on the season.

You don’t have to look too far back to find MUCH weirder winters:

2001-2002 season saw only – 26.75"
2002-2003 season had – 86.5"
2003-2004 season had – 99.5"

So as you can see we’re not that far off now…thanks to a GREAT finishing kick by Old Man Winter!

Get out and enjoy some phenomenal conditions right now and SEND US SOME PHOTOS!!!


Email me at: [email protected]

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