I am a positive, glass-half-full kind of guy. While I will always look for the positive in any situation, I have also always told our readers “like it is” when it comes to sharing the conditions and outlook on any given day or week of the ski season.
The TRUTH is (and I am not just touting the ‘party line’) there are lots of good, open trails and nice skiable terrain to play on for today and this weekend. It will be a drizzly, wet day in the North Carolina ski mountains; a wintry mix of light rain and possibly a snowflake or two into the Virginia and West Virginia ski mountains. However, if you take a tour via our LIVE SKI AREA WEBCAMS, you’ll see plenty of good snow to play on.
As one of our readers emailed me on Friday, “Mike, I jumped on resortcams this morning expecting a muddy mess (at Appalachian Ski Mountain) and I was shocked to see all that snow! My wife was behind me looking at the camera and yelled, I could ski that!”
Some Ski Areas Were Even Making Snow Overnight Last Night and As of 7:30am This Morning:
38° Appalachian Ski Mountain
38° Beech Mountain Resort
26° Bryce Resort (Reported not making snow)
28° Canaan Valley Resort (Making Snow)
44° Cataloochee Ski Area
27° Massanutten Resort (Making Snow)
25° Snowshoe Mountain (Making Snow)
36° Sugar Mountain Resort (Not Making Snow)
28° Timberline Mountain (No Report of Snowmaking)
34° Wintergreen Resort (Making Snow Despite Reportedly Closing Sunday for the season)
37° Winterplace Resort (Not making snow)
25° Wisp Resort (Making Snow)
My “home office” of SkiSoutheast is located in the bustling, megalopolis of Sleepy Hollow, which is ‘smack dab’ in the middle of those 38° readings above. We are experiencing a very light rain, but significant enough that everything outside of my window is soaking wet. Looks like that is what is in store for most of the region, that is not lucky enough to see some wintry mix or even a little light snow later today.
I’ve read some reports that some of our brother/sister resorts in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland might see snow, but I’m thinking that may be wishful thinking as this system looks more like an icing event even at the usual, colder mountaintops.
Never Seen 38% Of Our Southeastern Ski Resorts Closing Before February 27th.
Four of our 16 Ski Areas are ALREADY Closed for the 2022-2023 Ski & Snowboarding Season. Wolf Ridge Resort, Sapphire Valley Resort and Omni Homestead Resort all closed up for skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing this past Sunday, February 19th. We kind of saw that coming with those three resorts.
Ober Mountain is still offering ice skating and snow tubing, however skiing and snowboarding closed for the season February 22nd.
The sad news this morning comes from Wintergreen Resort in Virginia and Winterplace Resort in West Virginia – who are both reporting that tomorrow, Sunday, February 26th will be their LAST day of skiing and snowboard for the season – as well.
Those six areas (of the sixteen ski areas in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic) will comprise a whopping 38% of our ski resorts that will already be closed before the end of February. That IS unprecedented in all of my (28) years of covering the ski industry here within the region.
Not So Fast; Ski Season is Not Over, Says Appalachian Ski Mountain and Other Ski Areas in the Southeast & Mid-Atlantic
It is NOT Over Until We Say It’s Over! Wisp Resort, Snowshoe Mountain, Canaan Valley Resort and Timberline Mountain (all in West Virginia and Maryland) are getting the most “love” from Ma Nature this morning as a strong night and morning of snowmaking has put a nice, new coat of manmade snow on the slopes. It is ALWAYS amazing what 8-10 hours of snowmaking can do.
However, even without snowmaking temperatures, Appalachian Ski Mountain, Beech Mountain Resort, Bryce Resort, Cataloochee Ski Area, Canaan Valley Resort, Snowshoe Mountain, Timberline Mountain, Massanutten Resort, Wisp Resort and Sugar Mountain are all fighting on…at least to live for another day, week or however long they can.
Cataloochee sums it up for many resorts that plan to fight on…
Cold weather and snowmaking in the forecast for February 28th. We will resume snowmaking whenever temperatures allow, continuing to provide the best skiing conditions possible. Weather forecasters are predicting a colder March. Snowmaking will continue in March to provide great conditions and reopen terrain. Our anticipated closing date for the current season remains March 26th.
That kind of effort gets Cat some Social Media love:
Michael Freas posted: Appreciate everything you guys do and for always being transparent with everyone! Class Act management!
A “Colder March” may be wishful thinking on the part of the crew at Cataloochee, and any of us who simply want to will the weather to cooperate. We are not seeing the kind of weather pattern that would support Cat’s assessment, but we can hope, right? As of right now, there is a chance for 1″ of snow around Canaan Valley this afternoon and then MAYBE two to three nights of snowmaking temperatures in the forecast for the next ten days or so, and that would take us into mid-March.
That does not look promising AND we’d expect to see more ski area, season closures.
…and THAT is the Glass Half Full.
Here are some Closing Comments, Notables and Photo Evidence of Good Snow Available at this time.
David Lesher of Canaan Weather posted:
Feb 25 update: The extraordinary shortfall of snowfall since the beginning of December has now reached 78 inches. There is still no sign of any significant change in the current snow-less weather pattern.
Wisp Resort
They worked to get 15 trails open for today!
The Special Olympics Maryland (SOMD) Winter Games return to Wisp Resort Sunday, February 26th, 2023. Help Garrett County Government, Wisp Resort and the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce welcome the athletes back with a special program and reception from 7pm – 7:30pm. Hear from Special Olympics President Jim Schmutz, Wisp GM Ron Hawkes and local elected and county officials as they help the athletes kick off the 2023 Winter Games at Wisp Resort. Light refreshments and giveaway items will be provided (while supplies last).
Winterplace Resort
We hope you can join us to celebrate 40 years of Winterplace Ski Resort! This weekend, February 25th & 26th, we are offering $40 Lift Tickets online only, so don’t miss out on this amazing deal! The weather has taken it’s toll on our mountain and unfortunately our last day of the 2022-23 ski season will be Sunday, February 26th. Enjoy your last runs of the 2022-23 ski season and take advantage of the great savings. If you have tickets reserved for after the 26th, a member of our team will be in contact with you as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to seeing you on the mountain!
Appalachian Ski Mountain
SFTC SLOPESTYLE FINALS presented by @oakley & @volcomsnow, @alpineskishop_nc starts at noon. See you on the mountain.
Bryce Resort
Operations Update!
We are still OPEN and intend to make this season last as long as we can! As of now we have 6 of 8 trails open. We lost White Lightning this week in addition to Hangover. We still have two tubing lanes as well. Ice Skating is now closed for the season. The last day for NIGHT SKIING will be THIS SATURDAY, FEB. 25th. There is a chance for a bit of natural snow tomorrow morning which could help. We are also keeping our eyes on the long range forecast which is currently showing the return of colder temps in March. If we get snowmaking opportunities in March we plan to take advantage of them so we can go as long as we can. We will continue to groom and manage the snow so that we can have Winterfest on March 11th.
@justbarkley will be in the DJ booth again at Carter’s again this Saturday from 2-5PM so regardless of the weather we’ll be having a good ole time!
#bryceresort #skitheeast #skisoutheast #skiva
Snowshoe Mountain
Snowshoe is now on Shopify! Head to shop.snowshoemtn.com and browse through our selection of logo’d shirts, hoodies, hats, and more.
Wintergreen Resort is OPEN, but is reportedly closing for the season after Sunday February 26th sessions
Here are some nice captures this morning:
The Photo of the Day up top and here is from Timberline Mountain. Photo courtesy of TimberlineMountain.com
It Takes FOUR Photos to Show off Appalachian Ski Mountain this morning!
Snowshoe Mountain was making snow and grooming the slopes to perfection this morning:
Massanutten Resort was fighting the good fight!
Wolf Ridge Resort Tries to Close Quietly and With a Positive Post
Wolf Ridge Resort limped out of the ski season by posting the message to the right on their OWN Facebook page.
Wolf Ridge “Fans” Not Buying It…
Michael Freas posted this message which pretty well sums up the sentiment over there.
Lets break this post down, from a PR standpoint. For context Wolf Ridge is special to me. Its the only place I ever got top 3 in boarder cross growing up as a kid. The only challenges presented were self inflicted. Your constant neglect of a mountain has never been more apparent, and it was full brought to light with your lift issues that made you close early last year. Weather didn’t cooperate, but neither did it for the other mountains and they all reached 100% open. You made it to 4 green slopes The only snowmaking failures you had was that YOU DIDNT TURN THEM ON!!!! The only good things in your future is #FAILEDPROMISES. This is not new either. Its a very known fact that Wolf Ridge is the WORST MANAGED MTN ON THE EAST COAST. Has been for years, because the ownership has zero business being in the business. You have proven that year after year!
Perhaps the clearest sign that Wolf’s ownership is MIA is the fact that fans continue to post their rants ON WOLF’S PAGE and Wolf doesn’t respond. All they want for Christmas are new owners…
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