The photo of the day is compliments of Ober Gatlinburg, where they celebrated their opening day for the 2021-2022 ski & snowboarding season.
Let’s get right to my usual, Sunday ramble.
I drove past Sugar Mountain Resort and up to Beech Mountain on Saturday evening and they were blasting the slopes with manmade powder last night. That was also the case at most of the ski mountains of the southeast and mid-Atlantic last night – at least until the temperatures moderated above the freezing mark sometime overnight.
As I looked around this morning at all of the SKI CAMS all of the snowmaking equipment has been turned off. I’m seeing some CRAZY temperature climbs/moderations around the area.
Here’s something you won’t see everyday:
David Lesher of Canaan Valley Weather charts the highs, lows and snowfall totals in Davis, West Virginia and on Saturday morning (yesterday) it was MINUS 2°. The 7am temp there on Saturday morning was -1°. Just 24 hours later, this morning’s 7am temperature is 45°!
As always, you can view the SNOW REPORT for all of the deets, including morning temperatures for all of the ski areas, as well as reported base depths and slope counts. Suffice to say, that Sunday will be a “no-snowmaking-day” and every resort has VERY GOOD base depths to ski & ride as they’ve all made a ton of snow since Tuesday.
Highs should be pretty seasonal today with some mid-to-upper 40s and some rain today. The great news is that the rain should transition over to some chances of ambience snow this evening (no real accumulation) and lows around 19° at places like Beech and Sugar Mountain. Lows tonight should be in the 24° range in the Virginia mountains, and a VERY COLD 9° overnight in the West Virginia mountains – where THEY have a good shot at 1-2″ more in the way of natural snowfall.
Those Snow Dances are Working…
Thanks to Dana Spaulding who sent me this cool depiction of ULLR, the mythical, Norse god, often associated with winter, skiing and snow sports.
Thankfully, as Meteorologist Brad Panovich has shared, the pattern certainly flipped a bit and at least for now, we have a great weather forecast ahead for this weekend and next weekend!
Monday through Wednesday are going to be VERY cold and will offer around-the-clock snowmaking at most ski mountains. This week should be an awesome AWESOME week to get to YOUR favorite ski mountain as temperatures will be slightly colder than normal (a great thing) and sunny skies. We also have some additional chances for natural snow as we look into next weekend.
No Snowmaking Today
So in summary, most every resort made snow overnight as temperatures were in the low to mid 20s at most locations. However, as of 7am this morning, ALL snowmaking teams are taking a break. You can check out the 7am temps on the SNOW REPORT.
MASSANUTTEN MIRRORING OUR MESSAGE FOR A DRIZZLY, DAMP SUNDAY
…or Maybe WE are mirroring Massanutten’s message! Either way, I’m kind of loving it.
Paradice and Pacesetter trails open today! The temperature crept overnight and the snowmaking has been shut down for the day. Snowmaking temperatures return early Monday morning. Cloudy and breezy today with a chance of some light rain but certainly no washout, highs in the lower 40s. Don’t let the rain icon on your phone discourage you, a few passing sprinkles won’t hurt you or the snow!
Monday Night Madness begins on Jan 10, tickets for Monday Night Madness are limited so purchase online in advance to reserve your spot! $25 Slope-Use and $25 equipment rental.
Ober Gatlinburg’s Opening Day, Saturday was a Great One!
Their patience with the mild December weather paid off and their fans were able to take advantage of a bluebird Saturday with awesome conditions. Here is a nice video capture of just SOME of the good times.
SNOWSHOE DITTOS THE WET SUNDAY SENTIMENTS
It’s looking like some “under-developed snow” will be making its way through the area throughout the day. Some freezing rain is likely early this morning, which may potentially lead to a delay on our detachable lifts (Ballhooter and Soaring Eagle). Our grooming team is headed over to the Western Territory today to prep it for opening tomorrow morning.
Darren Prasinos sent us this nice photo of the giant snow whales ready on top of Cupp Run.
MORE WEST VIRGINIA LOVE
I was chatting briefly with Tom Wagner of Winterplace Resort the other day and the excitement in his voice was evident as they were getting significant snowfall AND the ability to make snow. Our own, Brian Dix skied Winterplace on Saturday and he shared some social media posts. We’ll get his full account of the great day at Winterplace later.
In the meantime, here is a nice video clip that Winterplace shared from yesterday.
While chatting about WV resorts, I’ll bet a lot of you guys and gals are not even aware that there are actually FIVE ski resorts in the Wild & Wonderful state of West Virginia. Oglebay Resort, in Wheeling, West Virginia is a self-described, “Beautifully landscaped, 2000-acre public park and wedding venue. They also have horseback riding, ice skating, golf and…drum roll, please – skiing & snowboarding.
The Wheeling ski area opened for the season on Saturday, January 8th with a base of 6-12”. They have ONE trail, serviced by ONE lift and a vertical of 168′. Hey don’t laugh, it’s skiing and they are open and they offer tubing as well.
So WV is five for five in terms of ski areas open currently.
In Other Snow News…
I heard from readers, “David and Sherry”, who visited Timberline Mountain in WV for the first time this weekend. They shared that my new favorite trail, Twister, has reopened. They wrote:
“Thanks to this website, my girlfriend and I decided to try Canaan Valley and Timberline for the first time. Both ski resorts are a great change of pace from the overcrowded places we usually ski on weekends. Canaan had no lift lines and Timberline’s line was all of maybe 5 minutes at most. We’ll send photos and videos when we get back home, but you were right about the Twister trail! Love, love, love it. We love how laid back this place is and highly recommend it.”
Well there you go David. We agree.
We tell you guys all the time – make it a point to try all of the ski areas in our coverage area. Each offers skiing, snow boarding and tubing of course, but each also has a different vibe, feel, ambience and ALL are worthy of checking out.
On the subject of Twister, I have shared this video before and it has been viewed more than 27,000 times on Facebook alone, but here is a nice, top-to-bottom run down Twister from December 2020.
That’s it for me today. Enjoy your Sunday…
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