Get To The Slopes! It’s A Powder Day

Wake up, it’s a powder day.

Snow has fallen – and in some cases, is still coming down – at Sugar Mountain, Beech Mountain, Cataloochee, Timberline, and Snowshoe.

Even resorts that haven’t yet opened their slopes, like Wisp, Winterplace, and Canaan Valley Resort, are getting some snowflakes today, or were the recipients of snow last night. Hopefully, that will help the teams make a push toward opening day soon enough.

Snowshoe takes home the award for most snow for today: the mountain is reporting that it four inches have landed in the past 24 hours, and still coming down Right now, it’s 22 degrees (13 degrees with windchill) and the flurries are expected to keep up off-and-on for most of the day.

A Fluffy Start

Meanwhile, North Carolina’s high country is looking fluffy. Beech Mountain got an inch of new snow in the past 24 hours, and snowmaking is back on at the resort. App Ski got a brief patch of natural snow this morning, but if you blinked while looking at the ResortCam, you might have missed it. And Cataloochee got 1.5 inches of natural snowfall. Upper Omigosh is still closed, as of this morning, but hopefully a combination of natural snow and cold temperatures will get that back up-and-running soon.

It looks like Beech and Sugar will have whiteout conditions today, judging off of the ResortCam. So if you are headed that way, remember to pack your low light goggles and lens, or bring those safety glasses that I talked about a few FirsTrax reports back.

As meteorologist Brad Panovich reports, it’s supposed to warm back up this weekend, with temperatures from Beech Mountain to Snowshoe projected to reach the 50s again. So if you can sneak away from real-world responsibilities today and tomorrow, get the goods while they’re good!

Here’s what else to know today:

Snowshoe

Here’s what the team at Snowshoe had to say about today:

“We picked up 3.5 inches of the good stuff overnight and it’s still coming down hard here at 4,848ft. Snow showers are expected to continue throughout the day. Free refills anyone? Our snowmakers are also back in action and working hard to expand terrain. Please note that we will be making snow on a couple of open trails today.”

Also to note: if you’re a West Virginia resident, you can ski and ride at Snowshoe for free all day on Sunday. Just show up to the Depot with proof of residency, and the team will set you up with a free lift ticket and free lesson for the day. State or government-issued IDs are the only acceptable form of proof, and lessons are for those ages 13 and up.

Bryce

While the mountain is getting hit with a mixture of rain and snow today, it looks like the team over at Bryce is capitalizing on the cold weather to churn out some snowmaking before it reopens for skiing and snowboarding Friday. Just a reminder that the mountain is closed through Thursday.

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A post shared by HKD Snowmakers (@hkdsnowmakers)

Canaan Valley

The whales are out and about at Canaan Valley.

While the ski area has not yet announced an opening day, the treetops and chairlifts are covered at the West Virginia resort this morning. Historically, Canaan opens up sometime in mid-to-late December. In the last 10 years, it opened up in early December and late November just once each, respectively, but as local news station WBOY reported last week, it will be opening up mid-December this year. There is still some grass poking up through the snow, even despite the recent weather.

Timberline

Snowmaking is back on at Timberline, and will continue all day and overnight, while the temperatures allow for it. The mountain got four inches of powder overnight.

If you are headed over there today, just a heads up that the First Flurries beginner area and carpet lifts are closed today. The black diamond trail White Lightning is open.

All Timberline Mountain credits are doubled during this extended preview weekend. Skiers and riders can earn up to $80 in credits for riding on a full priced lift ticket.

Sugar

There are just two days left until SugarFest kicks off.

Attendees are invited to join two-time Olympian Krista Schmidinger and participate in the mountain’s preseason clinic.

There are also food specials, lodging specials with up to 30% off typical pricing, and demos on ski and snowboard equipment from Salomon, Volkl, Nordica, Burton, Head, Never Summer, K2, Atomic, Rossignol, Ride, and Line.

There will also be an After Ski party Saturday with music from Glen Harlow & North Fork band from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. At 5:45 p.m., there will be a fireworks display.

Massanutten

Snow sports operations are suspended through tomorrow, in anticipation of reopening Friday. Right now, the plan is to operate from Friday through Sunday, but significant chances of rain in the forecast could impact Sunday’s operations, the resort said this morning in its daily report. The season pass window will be open 8:30 a.m. through 4 p.m. this week for those wishing to pick up their season passes.

If you’re interested in the history of the resort, check out this video shown at the Massanutten Hall of Fame Dinner last week.

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A post shared by Massanutten Resort (@massresort)

If you missed it, SkiSoutheast’s Editor and Founder Mike Doble is here to guide you through a tour of the region during this burst of snow. Watch that here.

Be sure to check out the chatter about resort openings happening over on our new SkiSoutheast Discord channel.

Think snow!

Think cold!

Also click here to join us on our new SkiSoutheast Discord channel. It is a great way to meet new snow loving friends and shares experiences, ask questions, and more!

And as always, email me at [email protected] with your thoughts and photos. Send powder day photos, please!

Keep skiing the southeast.