Old Man Winter threw a little curve to forecasters as snow fell overnight. Actually snow was falling while we were skiing last night at Hawksnest. We made some turns up there last night with some friends and family; we gave away a few SkiNC Hoodies and Lift Passes, and enjoyed some great conditions. Hawksnest began cranking up the snowguns at about 8pm and we headed to the house shortly after. There was really a great crowd out their last night to enjoy ladies night and the super conditions. You ski bunny hunters should check at Hawksnest on Wednesdays as there were as many or more young ladies out on the slopes as there were guys and if I were a bit younger (and unmarried!).
Top Gun at Hawksnest sure looked ready to open last night and speaking with a couple of the ski patrol, they said it was ready and The Nest would probably open it today or Friday. That is sure to get fans of Hawksnest smiling!
The snow is really falling right now as I update this morning’s stories. I had everything ready to post and then this snow hit! It’s worth being a little late. We’ve got about 2.5” at my home. Hawksnest is reporting 2-3”, Appalachian is reporting 2-3”, Cataloochee is reporting 4” so far and Ski Beech and Wolf Laurel are both reporting about 2”
There’s NO excuses today people! God gave us some beautiful snow to go enjoy…so get to it!
Here’s some notes from all of our SkiNorthCarolina resorts!
Appalachian Ski Mountain – We called over there this morning and Dave told us that they had about 2” of snow so far. Appalachian also made snow all night and added about 4” to their maximum base depth. They still are keeping Hard Core and Thin Slice closed today with what App says is, “One More Day of Snowmaking”. They have to be building some huge amounts of snow on those trails.
Cataloochee has already received 4” as of 8am this morning and the snow is still falling! Tammy Brown, the popular Public Relations Director up there works until about 11pm so we weren’t able to hear her squeals of joy from this morning’s snowfall but you can bet she’s pumped, as are Chris Bates, Tony Waddell and crew! Cataloochee is 100% open and skiing on some powder today! Even before the snow hit, Cataloochee is reporting that they grew their base 11” in ONE DAY across all ten trails. As much as we love The Cat, that’s a bit of a stretch according to three independent reports. Just know that conditions are GREAT and there’s LOTS of snow! Hopefully they will reel in some overzealous snowmaker!
Christine up at Hawksnest reported that they had about 2-3” of new snow this morning. She also confirmed that they were considering opening Top Gun today, but they are still showing it as closed. Look for that trail to open later today or Friday! Hawksnest is skiing and riding some of the best conditions in a while right now on 10 slopes and trails and the tube run. If you haven’t played on Sock ‘Em Dog in a while, you should try it as they’ve got some good features and a few snow hits that even us older guys don’t mind trying. Of course I don’t get the air I used to!
Ski Beech is reporting about 2” of snow at 8:00am this morning. We spoke with Whitey in ski patrol and he said that the snow was still falling and the conditions were looking sweet up there. Ski Beech is offering FREE SKIING for the guys today and you can’t get much better than free skiing and new snow. Beech has 14 trails running and they are looking to open the OZ RUN shortly!
Wolf Laurel has been catching a little flack on the messageboards lately. A couple of people reported that Wolf was reporting more trails open than there were. We spoke with Shelly this morning and she said that they had been creating huge walls of snow in preparation of pushing them around and that Jonny Goin and crew decided that they’d hold them closed until today. They do have (12) trails operating today and about 2” of new snow. Shelly told us that had they opened the other couple of trails they’d have beed triple-blacks! Expect great conditions at Wolf Laurel today!
Sapphire Valley is OPEN for skiing tonight and they picked up a little snow as well! Expect very nice conditions down there! Hey RJ, get us some photos dude!
Until Next Time!
Be sure to check out www.SkiSoutheast.com for more news and stories for all of the Southeast’s ski areas.
Be sure to email photos, snow reports and comments to: [email protected]