Christmas Eve and Holiday Weather and Holiday Schedules Being Requested…
Quick note: We messed up and posted the wrong report to the Southeast pages this morning but this is the SE report! Thanks to Jamie Edwards of Washington, DC for emailing so fast! 🙂
We’re going to offer today’s news in the order of who has the most terrain open for today. Before we update you by resort, the weather is the big news for today. It will be a WET Christmas Eve no matter where you go today. Most resorts from Ober Gatlinburg in Tennessee to Wisp Resort in Maryland are looking at from a tenth of an inch to one-half inch of rain today. It will be WINDY as well.
I have been living "mountain style" since 1990 and I have experienced some windy days and nights but I am not certain that any others have been as forceful as some of the winds overnight last night. Christmas Eve started out VERY WINDY as we saw some 60 mph direct hits last night that will have me rounding up outdoor furniture, plants, and Lord knows what else!
Tonight things get exciting for resorts further north into West Virginia and Maryland as some natural SNOW is in the forecast. Perhaps an inch or so of snow will make for a White Christmas for Snowshoe, Canaan, Timberline and Wisp Resorts – with maybe a dusting at Winterplace. Further south into Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee look for all rain, though not tons of it.
Christmas Day is shaping up to be nice with mosting sunny skies south and snow lingering snow in WV and Maryland.
The Holiday weekend will offer some chances to dodge some raindrops! (We’re playing the glass-half-full game!) Monday and beyond into the Holiday week really looks quite nice with mostly sunny skies and seasonable temps that should allow for more snowmaking at night! That will make for even more trail openings etc. There’s no natural snow in that forecast, but PLENTY of it on the slopes and trails as base depths have sky-rocketed over the last 72 hours.
We’re all wishing that a few more slopes and trails were open at each resort, and some have added some open trails to their count. With no more snowmaking temps from today through Sunday we have what we’ll have in terms of base depths. Most all of the resorts are looking good in that department right now with only Ski Beech currently reporting some thin areas. They are doing the best that they can with what they have but they will be working overtime to keep their groomers pushing snow around to keep a consistent base through the next few days. It appears that Sunday night we’ll get a return to some snowmaking temps over the next few days past that as nighttime temps may allow for some snowmaking.
SANTA IS GETTING AROUND!
"Somehow" he is making an appearance at App today and evidently taking a sleigh ride over to Sugar for some day skiing. He’s apparently going to be riding at Snowshoe as well! Then from what we understand he will be skiing at Cataloochee on Thursday! He’s THE MAN!
HOLIDAY SCHEDULES ADDRESSED IN OUR REPORT TODAY: (We’re changing the order today to reflect the resorts in the order of how many slopes they have open.)
Snowshoe – 51 Trails Open – They are looking at some wintry weather today. They had some freezing rain last night and the light drizzle of this morning should change over to snow today as maybe an inch or two should create a White Christmas at the 4848′ elevations! Laura Parquette writes, "Well it looks like we’ll be saying goodbye to the sun and hello to some rain today as we have a 90% chance of precipitation this afternoon. However, the latest snow dept figures are in and it’s good news for skiers and riders. With the incredible base the snowmaking team has built, the slopes should still be in top shape. Please use caution this morning as we have had freezing rain through out the night and there will be some slick spots along the edges of the slopes and pathways. Snowmaking has ceased for today but will restart as temperatures allow. All open trails have been groomed so we will have wet packed conditions to play on. If all goes to plan, temperatures are expected to drop this evening giving us some expected snow by Christmas morning."
Wisp Resort – 23 Trails Open – They added three more open trails to their count and now have "Eye Opener, Highline Pass, Mainstreet, Odin’s Chute, Over the Edge, Squirrel Cage and The Face" – all black diamonds – open for today. They are open 9am-9pm today and offer the mountain coaster and 4 lanes of snow tubing today as well.
Winterplace Resort – 18 Trails Open – They also added three more open trails AND West Virginia’s (and the Southeast’s) largest snowtubing park will be open today! They have 18 of 28 trails open with a base of 20-50" and some terrain park features on Wanderer today.
Timberline Resort – 17 Trails Open – Jessica Scowcroft passes on, "Merry Christmas everyone!" They have 17 of 37 trails available for day skiing today and Jessica advised us that Timberline will be operating from 12-4:30 on Christmas day.
Of the 17 trails open, they have "Upper White Lightning" (a black diamond), and "Upper Silver Streak and Off The Wall" (double blacks) open for today. The Bear Claw Terrain Park is open as well.
Sugar Mountain – 11 Trails Open – They are open with 11 of 20 slopes for day skiing, snowboarding and ice skating until 4:30pm today. No night skiing tonight. Then Sugar opens Christmas Day at noon and stays open until 10pm tomorrow night. Look for Santa out and about today! Sugar added 2" more snow over the last 24 hours and the slopes are in good shape.
Wintergreen Resort – 9 Trails Open – They added three more trails to their open count. Anne Marie Jones writes, "Tequila, Sunrise and Upper Sunrise re-open today! Our mini terrain park will begin to take shape over the next few days with about 6 features open on 12/26. Ridgely’s Fun Park grand opening is Saturday, bring your little ones up here for some on the snow fun. Our slopes are in great shape, we made lots of snow over the last 3 days. Bouncing back quickly after a thaw is something we do very well. Thanks to fully automated snowmaking, we can cover our trails with a fresh layer of dry snow overnight. This is something our loyal customers know they can count on and often rave about."
Today they have 9 of 26 slopes and trails open and 3 lifts. They will be open from 9AM-8PM. They will be open on Christmas Day from 10AM until 10PM.
There are several resorts open with EIGHT TRAILS so we’ll provide those in Alphabetical order:
Appalachian – 8 of 10 trails open. They added 4" more manmade snow and the guns are now off. It should be a fablulous day of skiing and snowboarding today as far as the slopes are concerned. (It may be tough dodging the rain drops though!) Appalachian is only DAY SKIING today and they will be closed this evening AND all day Christmas Day. App will offer ice skating for Christmas Day if you’d like to come out, but no skiing or snowboarding for Christmas Day. They will reopen for normal hours on Friday with what should be great conditions.
Canaan Valley – 8 Trails Open – David Vance says, "Happy Holidays from your friends at Canaan Valley Resort. Think Snow!!!!!!!!!!" He added that they made snow overnight but the guns are off now and they expect to open "Timber Run" Soon.
Cataloochee Ski Area – 8 Trails Open – (As predicted by yours truly) Cat has added another open trail to their mix today as they now offer 8 of 14 slopes open for day skiing only today from 8:30am-4:30pm. They layed down another 5" of manmade snow and conditions should be wonderful for today! (Again, wet, but great snow!) They will be skiing day, twilight and night everyday till January 3rd, except for Christmas Eve: 8:30am – 4:30pm and Christmas Day: 1pm – 10pm.
Tube World located in Maggie Valley, across from Ghost Town four miles from the ski area will be open from 10am until 6pm today. They warn, "Please remember that tubing is on a first come, first served basis and some sessions do sell out. Should the session you wish to tube be sold out when you arrive, you may purchase a session for later in the day." They will tube Christmas Day, when they will be open from 2pm until 10pm.
Massanutten Resort – 8 Trails Open – They are offering one black diamond, "Diamond Jim" of that mix and 8 lanes of tubing as well. Mass will operate from 9am-4:30pom today and then Christmas Day from 12:30pm-8pm. They made snow and should have very good conditions on 8 of 14 trails.
Bryce Resort – 7 Trails Open – They report no snowmaking overnight but they have plenty of snow and are open daily for today and Christmas Day.
Two resorts have 5 trails open, and here they are in Alpha order:
Ober Gatlinburg – 5 Trails Open – Slope Hours Christmas Eve Wednesday: 9am – 4pm; Christmas Day Thursday: Noon – 7pm. Upper half of Bear Run open. Happy Holidays!!!
Ski Beech – 5 of 15 trails open for day sessions only today. They will be opening at 12:30 on Christmas Day and ski and snowboard until 10pm. So night skiing begins Christmas night! Ice skating opens at noon. Ski Beech is still reporting 10-30" base with thin areas. We’d have to bet that those are all but gone for today, but we’ll mention them since Beech is.
Wolf Ridge Resort – 4 trails Open – We’re not certain what’s happening over at Wolf, because they are not updating with any reporting service. Some have them not open, some have them open but are not listing any slopes, and some are reporting "No Report". We called over there and they ARE open today until 4:30pm with 4 trails and as you can see via the live cam THEY ARE IN GREAT SHAPE for today. Wolf will be CLOSED on Christmas Day. No skiing or snowboarding at all on Christmas Day or night. They have tubing open today as well.
Sapphire Valley is open with both trails "as far as we know" according to the guy at the community center who was bothered that I called and asked (since they had not updated their report). They will also have the Frozen Falls Tubing Park open. They ride today from 10am-5pm and Christmas Day from Noon until 9pm. He hung up before I could finish saying "Thank-" (There was still a "you" coming.) Someone won’t be receiving a visit from you-know-who tonight.
That was too much work, so I’m doubtful of doing that again! My brain doesn’t operate on all 8 cylinders this early! Regardless, enjoy your Christmas Eve and may Santa be good to you! Also, remember the reason for the season and take some time to celebrate the birth of Christ.
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