Merry Christmas Eve Everyone! It is MINUS 15° Atop a Number Ski Mountains. See Where!

Friday and Friday night were some of the craziest and sustained winds I’ve witnessed in my 33 years of living in the High Country. Watching the Fan guns and snowmaking efforts last night and this morning was like watching something I had never seen before. There is snowmaking and then there is SNOWMAKING like was on display all day on Friday, Friday night and now this morning.

A phrase that comes to mind is SHOCK AND AWE!

I wasn’t the only one astonished at the HUGE plumes of “manmade, Champaign, SMOKE” that was being shot out of those Super Pole Cats (fan guns). Kenny Griffin texted me at around 5:30pm on Friday saying, “Man I am watching the snow coming out of the guns right now and it is CRAZY! So cold.”

There is indeed something different about the fine, quality, snow that is being made right now across the region. Check the webcams because MANY of the ski resorts have the snowmaking systems now turned off for today to allow for guests to ski and ride unabated by blankets and clouds of snowmaking. Beech Mountain Resort and Timberline Mountain remain CLOSED for today and they are bombing their slopes right now.

The Real Snow Was Quality as Well!

While 25-50 mph winds don’t allow for natural snowfall to drift playfully to the earth and pile up the way we all like. The snow that was falling across much of the region was ALSO falling through temperatures in the single digits to well below zero and that snowfall looked like “dust clouds” moving across our mountain ridges. Looking out of my back deck towards Seven Devils and Grandfather Mountain on Friday afternoon gave the appearance that a dust cloud or fog was being pushed horizontally to God knows where. However, it was light, powdery, champaign snow. Driven by upwards of 50 mph wind gusts, whatever was falling in Banner Elk, probably ended up in Linville.

Baby it is REALLY COLD out there…

Air temperatures are estimated to be in the negative teens with nearly -40F wind chill temps across MANY mountaintops today and these winds and temperatures ARE messing with slope and lift openings.

We received NUMUROUS emails from disgruntled visitors who drove hours only to find out that only 2-3 slopes were open at various mountains on Friday. Obviously, people are going to complain, and some definitely protest too much, but ski areas have to make decisions for the overall safety of their guests.

I loved Cataloochee’s assessment on the weather forecast for today, “It’s a Wee Bit Cold Out Today. Hats and Gloves required on the lift.”

One reader emailed me on Friday complaining:

“I have followed this website for years and I am really disappointed in the inaccuracy of the snow report for today (Friday). Your website reported “X slopes open at X resort”. When I got there after a three hour drive only 3 slopes were open and those were beginner trails. You have got to do better than that for your readers.”

Well just damn! I know that we have LIVE streaming cameras these days, so I guess the next thing is we need to find a way to allow for our ski resort partners to update us via an app that IMMEDIATELY alerts guests who are on their way, already on the road.

The truth is, it won’t surprise me if at some point in the near future we will have something like that. However, that technology doesn’t exist just yet. Until it does, there’s this thing called COMMON FREAKING SENSE. So it’s 3° outside and the winds are howling like something out of a Tim Burton movie. You would THINK that you would understand that if you are making the decision to drive to a resort, you would also understand that you are taking a chance that those howling winds might be such that they could pull a detachable chairlift OFF the cable and deposit it somewhere in Georgia.

Good grief Charlie Brown.

So let me go  on record to say that today’s snow report (available in the navigation up top) was accurate at the moment we did it. Expect some minor delays in opening as resorts thaw things out a little or as these winds notch up higher.

SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT, BUT KIND OF NOT…

Sugar Mountain Resort just announced:

Due to the extremely cold temperatures, the power company is requiring Sugar Mountain Resort to remain closed for all sessions and all activities today, December 24. Stay warm and Merry Christmas. Tomorrow, December 25, all activities will be open from noon until 10pm. However, please check back periodically for updates.

Also, for perhaps the first time in my 28 years of covering all things snow, Sugar is actually reporting LESS natural snowfall on the season than we are seeing from the official NWS reporting station. Sugar Mountain has actually seen 5″ of snow on the season and they are reporting 4″. Gotta love it.

Also LOVED that Beech Mountain was having some fun with all of that snow and snowmaking. They are not open today, but I would have loved to take a tube ride down those lanes. (This IS NOT the tubing hill!)

HERE WERE SOME 8AM OBSERVATIONS

Notable Schedule Announcements:

Sugar Mountain Resort

As shared earlier, the power company is requiring Sugar Mountain Resort to remain closed for all sessions and all activities today, December 24. Tomorrow, December 25, all activities will be open from noon until 10pm. However, please check back periodically for updates.

Appalachian Ski Mountain

Slopes are open on a regular schedule on Christmas Eve, Saturday, December 24 from 9am – 5pm. They will once again be open for Christmas Day Skiing from 1-10pm, and are still offering 1/2 price ski tickets if purchased before Midnight on Dec 24.

Beech Mountain Resort closed December 24th.
Timberline Mountain closed December 24th-25th.

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