LIVE SNOW REPORTING…from Watauga Lake???
Technology is ramping up so fast that we’re barely aware of how it affects our daily lives. That fact has surfaced in numerous ways over the last few days. Last week when I was up at Snowshoe I overheard a conversation where one young 20-something was describing how worried she was on her way up from Lewisburg on Hwy 219 to Snowshoe because she lost cell connectivity on her phone. She was worried wondering "What are you supposed to do if you have an accident or your car breaks down with no way to call anyone."
I’m starting to sound like my mom and day, BUT IT IS A DIFFERENT WORLD. I was on a chairlift a while back when this guy beside me starting talking about the conditions. I responded in agreement and then asked him where he was from. He carried on talking but didn’t answer me. I repeated, "Where’re you from?"
Then he said, "Girl, I don’t know what you’re asking me."
I was about to get upset when I looked over and saw a Blue Tooth earpiece in his ear. I shook my head in disbelief. Some people can’t be "disconnected" even on the slopes these days. There’s a lot of great reasons to have a cell phone, but for the most part I think that it’s one of the worst inventions ever created.
I GUESS I’M GUILTY AS WELL… 
<LIVE, reporting from the edge of Watauga Lake in East Tennessee!
This morning I am sitting here on my boat doing the daily snow reports for the region. So I’m on a boat, on Watauga Lake, updating the ski and snowboarding conditions for 17 ski areas located in five states with the same accuracy as if I were there on the mountain. The wireless connectivity here at Watauga Lakeshore Resort is pretty darn fast. In fact it’s faster than when I was updating from in the Village at Snowshoe Mountain last Saturday and Sunday!
Speaking of "being connected" or more accurately "not being connected", I and my girls headed off the mountain for the weekend to enjoy the milder temperatures here at Watauga Lake. After unpacking our things I looked around and saw both of my youngest kids and my wife on laptops. I was on my iPad. We had to make it a point to shut down everything so that we could spend some quality, family time last night.
This morning as I am typing this blog, my wife is on HER LAPTOP looking at television entertainment center options. My youngest daughter is playing a "Nancy Drew" game on her laptop. There are four of us this BOAT right now with four laptops, an iPad and two cell phones that are internet capable.
Talk about connected.
At LEAST I CAN report that while I HAVE a smart phone, it is rarely ever on me. Right now it is laying on the corner of my desk, at my office in Foscoe – Right beside the computer at my desk…which I am connected to right now…via this laptop. I am checking emails and pulling images to this laptop so I can post them to the internet. First thing this morning I was noticing the website was a little sluggish, so FROM this laptop I connected to my desk at my office and through a Cisco tool, connected to our server farm in Houston, Texas to remotely reboot a server…902 miles away from Banner Elk…and another hour away here to Watauga Lake…on a boat.
Wow!
Here’s the news…
Today is the LAST DAY of skiing and riding for the 2010-2011 season if you want to ride at Beech Mountain Resort. Things look pretty darn good for their closing day of fun. They’ll offer 13 of 15 trails with only The Oz Run and Crossway closed.
Appalachian Ski Mountain is still 100% open with all three terrain parks, ice skating and all 12 trails.
Sugar Mountain is 100% open with good looking conditions on all 20 trails.
App and Sugar are open with night skiing and snowboarding as well.
Up in Virginia things are looking pretty good considering the mild weather they’ve had.
Massanutten Resort is still running 100% open with all 14 trails and 6 lanes of tubing. They will operate til 7pm today and then close for Monday through Thursday and they plan to reopen Friday March 18th through the weekend.
Wintergreen is looking nice and they will play for DAY SESSIONS ONLY on Sunday wuth 24 of 26 trails and tubing as well. Wintergreen plans to remain open through March 26th. They will be open this week for day sessions as well.
Bryce is open with 6 of 8 trails for day sessions. They are starting the day at 50° so it should be a mild one.
West Virginia is still looking "Wild and Wonderful" hence their state marketing motto.
Snowshoe Mountain is reflecting a chilly 30° this morning and they’ll offer 59 of 60 trails for today. There is NO night skiing or riding tonight. Today marks the last day to hit up the Silver Creek side of the mountain. Tubing is closed for the season.
CHECK THIS NEWS FROM SNOWSHOE…
Just because Silver Creek is closing, doesn’t mean that winter is over for the season. In fact, we plan to celebrate another amazing season on snow, but expanding on our famous Last Hurrah celebrations by offering FREE SKIING for all during the last week of the season! That’s right, join us over at the Snowshoe area, and enjoy Free Skiing between March 21 and March 27th. All you need to do is lodge with us, and your lift tickets are absolutely free! Can’t get away for an overnight stay? No worries! We want you to help us celebrate the fact at Snowshoe, winter sticks around through the entire month of March. So, we’re offering $26 lift tickets for anyone who just wants to come up and ride for the day. We’ll also have some amazing shopping that will save you up to 50% off our winter inventory at all village owned shopping outlets, and even discounted rental prices!
Canaan Valley is still at 100% and playing for day sessions only today.
Timberline is showing 34 of 39 trails open for day sessions.
Wisp is open with 29 of 32 trails for day sessions.
Drop me an email with your favorite photos, videos, and any comments to [email protected] . Also be sure to visit:
Our Sno!Forum Messageboard – http://www.skinc.com/messageboard/
www.HighCountryWebCams.com
www.HighCountryWeather.com
www.SkiSoutheast.com