My drive to work this morning was a little hairy. What started out as just a bit of sleet and snow very, very early this morning has changed into a nasty misting rain. The roads would be in pretty decent shape if we could stick with the sleet and snow which leave a little crunchiness on the surface. It’s the misting rain that can freeze and get dangerous. Judging by some of the weather info floating around out there, Snowshoe and the surrounding areas may very well pull down another six to eight inches of snow through tonight. Mike says, "Snowshoe might be getting dumped on again." That’s pretty awesome! some ski areas, namely Canaan, Timberline, and Beech Mountain already have over 50 inches of natural snowfall on the year, and those totals are certainly going to increase!
I’ve received several good responses from you guys about being On-Snow Reporters this season, and I’m hoping the interest continues. I’m starting to get some really awesome photos, and I’ll be posting a bunch of those today! Big thanks today to Kevin McNamara, "jamsandwich," for sending in two great trip reports on Appalachian and Sugar. Keep it coming guys! I was super pumped this morning when I was checking email at 6:30 am to find I already have some great stuff filtering in!
Brad Panovich plans to send us a forecast later tonight that will give us some more insight into the next storm that is headed this way tomorrow, so be sure to check back for that tomorrow!
North Carolina…
Appalachian – 20°- Slightly warmer today. Appalachian is open with 12 of 12 slopes running all 5 lifts. Appalachian offers reduced rates to students and teachers out of school due to weather, very cool! This gives some kids the chance to get out there and shred when they might not otherwise be able to!
Beech Mountain – 30°- OPEN! New Terrain today. The Beech Mountain team says, "On Thursday December 16, 2010, Beech Mountain Resort will open Upper White Lightning and Upper Southern Star, bringing our total number of open trails to 14. Remember, $15 lift tickets and $15 ski rentals on snow days are available to teachers and students whose school is closed due to snow."
Cataloochee – 37°- OPEN! 100% of Cataloochee is open this morning! According to Tammy Brown this is the earliest ever 100% opening of the mountain, that’s 16 trails running on 3 lifts. Hats of to Mother Nature and snowmaking ops for getting the mountain open for all of us to enjoy!
Sugar Mountain – 33°- OPEN! Skiing and snowboarding on 17 of 20 slopes. NO new snowfall but conditions are excellent!
Wolf Ridge Resort – 34°- Open today on 11 of 20 trails with 2 lifts. The Wolf Ridge peeps say, "We are making snow on the majority of the closed part of the mountain and will open the upper lodge and those ski runs and lifts this weekend." Also open for tubing!
Virginia…
Bryce Resort – 19°- No new natural snow to report but Bryce is forcast to recieve 1-3 inches from this current storm. The resort is open on seven slopes with three lifts for skiing and snowboarding on machine groomed surface.
Massanutten – 23°- It’s currently snowing at Massanutten! Snowmaking continues all over the mountain as low temperatures are allowing. Massanutten offers 11 trails and 7 lifts today. Tw0 to four inches of new snow are expected to fall over the next day. Tubing is also open and the track speed is listed as FAST!
Wintergreen – 16°- OPEN! From Wingtergreen’s morning message: "LOWER DIAMOND HILL, THE GAP AND DEVIL’S ELBOW OPEN TODAY! TO SWEETEN THE DEAL, HOW ABOUT 4 INCHES OF NATURAL SNOW STARTING MID-MORNING???" Sounds awesome! Snow tubing opens on December 17, night sessions also start Friday!
West Virginia…
Canaan Valley – 19°- Re-oping on December 18 with 9 trails,two lifts,Tube Park, Ice Rink, Cross Country Skiing and Snowshoeing. ALSO, more snow on the way!!
Snowshoe Mountain – OPEN and expecting up to 6 inches of new snow to add to the already insane amount Snowshoe has collected. Snowshoe is open on 25 trail running 6 lifts!
Laura Parquette writes, "Mother Nature sure is working her magic this month! We’re just over half way through December and already this month we’ve seen almost 40" of snowfall. With today’s storm, which could bring up to 6", we could easily surpass that 40" mark and there’s more snow in the forecast! Conditions really do seem to get better every day with the help of our expert snowmaking and grooming team. Today we open Grabhammer for the first time this season, giving expert skiers and riders more room to play. With temperatures rising above 20 degrees for the first time in days, it’ll be a super day on the slopes! Tomorrow and Saturday we’ll look to open a variety of basin terrain, including Upper Ballhooter, Skip Jack, Knot Bumper and CUPP RUN!"
Timberline – 19° – Timberline is open with 17 of 37 trails today. Among those are two expert slopes, Off the Walk and Upper Silver Creek, which feature 100% natural coverage! The West Virginia ski areas are expecting a possible six to eight inches of additional snowfall!
Winterplace – 21°- Additional snow in the forecast! Open with 14 of 28 trails and four lifts on powder, packed powder, and groomed surfaces. Winterplace will open to the top of the mountain on Saturday! With new snow on the way conditions this weekend at any of the WV ski areas are going to be phenomenal!
Maryland…
Wisp Resort – 18°- Open! Skiing and snowboarding on 23 of 32 trails with 7 lifts operating! Snowmaking is in progress on various sections of the mountain. The NOrdic Center is closed to day but will be reopening soon! Ice Skating is open as well as the Mountain Coaster!
Tennessee…
Ober Gatlinburg – 30°- Open today for twilight and night sessions only! It’s a touch warmer today but the snow conditions are still great. There are a few fun features in the Terrain Park and Ober is open for snow tubing today as well!
THINK COLD! THINK SNOW!
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