As I sat down this morning with a cup of coffee (I need some serious pep today) I was checking the morning e-mails. We usually get several emails from various ski areas with their morning ski reports attached. My favorite this morning came from wonderful Tammy Brown at Cataloochee who said, "It’s a bit chilly here!" Well, Tammy, I think it’s a bit chilly everywhere.
The biggest thing on my mind this week has been snow. Here in the High Country over the last few days we got quite a bit of it. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the amazing DOT guys out there for doing an incredible job of getting the main highways cleared. Highways 321 and 421 look great and are even DRY in some spots. No doubt the sunshine yesterday helped out a lot, but props to all the men and women who brave all the elements to make sure we can still manage to get where we need to go! So, here’s to you! Thanks.
Yesterday I posted a thread that here at SkiNC.com and SkiSoutheast.com we are looking for some on snow reporters. We’ve gotten a little bit of initial response and I’m sure we will be getting more. So, if you think you’ve got what it takes, and basically it just takes a desire to shred the pow and have a great time, sign up. We’ll be contacting you guys shortly. Thanks to those who’ve already shown some interest!!
Let’s get down to business, shall we?
North Carolina…
Appalachian Ski Mountain – 4°- It’s chilly. A quick check of Appalachian Ski Mountain’s live slope cam shows sun peeking up over the top of Big Appal and snowguns blasting the park areas. Appalachian is clearly building a solid base and conditions look amazing. The last updated park report from Friday, December 1oth shows a pretty impressive lineup of features: 16′ flat box, 12′ juice box, 24′ flat down, 24′ down flat down, 16′ propane tank, and several table tops…just to name a few!
Beech Mountain – 2° – Adding to another inch of natural snow, Beech Mountain is pounding the hill with snowmaking ops in attempts to get even more terrain open. Today they are open with 12 of 14 runs on powder and packed powder conditions. It’s forecast to be sunny with a high of 24 today up on Beech, it just doesn’t get any better than that…beautiful Beech Mountain blue bird morning! Beech has pulled down over 50 inches of snow so far this season!
Cataloochee – 6.4° – Efforts at Cataloochee to have the whole mountain open by the weekend are looking pretty good. Cat is skiing and riding on 15 of 16 trails, including the Cat Cage Terrain Park. Tube World at Maggie Valley opens Saturday!
Sapphire Valley – 14.9° – Opens this Friday, the 17th at 9 am for skiing, snowboarding and tubing. Sapphire Valley is great for beginners and families! Single digit temps and brand new snow have set opening weekend up to be beautiful with great conditions!!
Sugar Mountain – 1° – Sugar got another inch of natural powder over the last day. They are riding and skiing on 16 of 20 trails with 5 lifts operating. Conditions at Sugar should be great today as the sun is planning on shining today and temperatures should rise up out of the arctic zone and into just plain cold! Frost bite warning is still in effect and Sugar requires a hat and gloves!
Wolf Ridge Resort – 13° – Combine the massive amount of snow Wolf Ridge pulled down from the last storm with round the clock snowmaking and you’ve got a recipe for…incredible conditions. Wolf Ridge is open today on 11 of 20 slopes for day and night skiing, and for tubing! Wolf has pulled down 35 inches of snow this season!
Virginia…
Bryce Resort – 21° – Open today for skiing and riding on almost the whole mountain with 7 of 8 trails open.
Massanutten – 18° – Open today for skiing, snowboarding, and tubing. Ten of 14 trails open for business as snowmaking continues on closed trails and in the terrain park.
Wintergreen Resort – 8° – New terrain open: TYRO! Wintergreen is now open on 14 of 26 trails and plans to be 100% fired up and open by Christmas! Between now and Sunday the crew at Wintergreen plans to add 5 more trails to the OPEN list!
West Virginia…
Canaan Valley – 3° – CLOSED, but Canaan got another 2.6 inches of snow over the last day, that’s 50.1 inches this season!
Snowshoe Mountain – 3° – OPEN with 25 of 60 trails! Another 2" of snow fell at Snowshoe. Silver Creek, including night skiing and the tubing hill, opens Friday! CUPP RUN from top to bottom as well as Ballhooter are expected to open on Saturday!! Conditions at Snowshoe are near perfect!!
Timberline – 3° – OPEN today on 14 trails. Snowmaking ops still blasting on closed terrain!
Maryland…
Wisp Resort – 9° – A belated Happy Birthday to Wisp Resort who turned 55 this weekend, and THANKS to Lori Epp for sending us some great photos of the festivities! Another inch of snow over the last day brings the natural snowfall at Wisp to 32 inches! Wisp is operating on 22 of 32 trails with 7 lifts running. The Nordic Center is also open along with the Mountain Coaster and ice skating.
Tennessee…
Ober Gatlinburg – 16° – Open today!! Snowmaking ops are turned off, combine that with the fresh snow Ober got from this last storm and you’ve got amazing conditions. Ober Gatlinburg is open on 6 of 9 trails and running 3 lifts. Slightly warmer temperatures make this an ideal day to head to Ober!!!
THINK COLD! THINK SNOW!
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www.HighCountryWeather.com
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