Check the SNOW REPORT for today for all of the morning temperatures, resort and slopes open, as well as snowmaking.
Sunday’s are my “ramble days” – not that I don’t ramble to some degree every day. That’s kind of how the news comes in, and I’ve always claimed, “Information IN, is Information OUT”.
The resorts that wanted to, made a lot of snow over the last few days. Some snowguns are still running as of this post, but at some point today, the guns will turn off for a bit and today should be an awesome, awesome day to ski or ride. This weather pattern seems to be delivering good, snowmaking temperatures and we should see more snowmaking happening tonight (Sunday night) and again Tuesday. The weather looks to be moderating a bit mid-week through at least Saturday so the snowmaking crews will take a bit of a break. However, the skies should be clear and conditions on the snow should be pretty sweet through this next week.
The Photo of the Day up top is from Winterplace Resort this morning. How ’bout those whales. Not sure why but Dolly Parton comes to mind 😉
SNOW NEWS….
The West Virginia mountains picked up another 1″ to 1.3″ of natural snow in the last 24 hours. That takes Canaan Valley and Timberline Mountain to 9.7″ on the season. Snowshoe is at 5.6″ on the young season.
Want to Hear A Scary Bit of Negativity?
Probably not, but “Amy S” of Congress Heights (near D.C.) wrote me,
“I love your site. Found it last year and have shared it with many friends. I have a question that might be stupid but figured I’d ask anyway. If you share this on your newsfeed please don’t use my last name. I’m kind of known around Capitol Hill. My question, since the ski resorts can make snow so easily now, why don’t they open sooner and stay open longer? I know Seven Springs could already be open. The way it is with some ski areas like Snowshoe just opening, nearly 10% of the season is already gone, if they close at the end of March.”
Well THAT is the most depressing thing I’ve read in a while. I will admit, I had to break out my damn Jethro Bodine calculator and that in and of itself ticked me off! Let’s see if Amy is correct. I’m pretty good at my “ciphering & goes intos” math.
Sugar Mountain Resort got us started on November 15th, 2021. If they remain open until March 31st or possibly until Sunday, April 3rd, 2022 that will give us a 139 day ski & snowboarding season. We are skiiing (today) on DAY 14. So using my “goes intos”, that would be 14 into 139 and that gives me….
Holy Crap, 9.9% of the season is already GONE!!!!
Haha. That actually tells me two things.
One – we all need to make the most of the good times and good days that are ahead of us. There are still 125 more wonderful days of this ski season to enjoy.
…and TWO, Amy, my dear friend, you have got to stop feeling the need to share such depressing comments with us.
As a quick answer to your question Amy, it takes COLD TEMPS to make snow. Thankfully, those 139 +/- days will provide us with plenty!
SOMETHING MORE POSITIVE
Joe Stevens posted his annual Long-range Winter Forecast from numerous meteorologists around the Southeast. Joe always goes us a great service by connecting with many of the area’s finest. While La Niña is on all of our minds, I like Meteorologist Tony Edwards’ summary:
If you don’t have a travel budget that supports a ski vacation to the resorts of Washington or New England, there’s still hope for the southeast! There have been some major winter storms in past La Niña winters. A storm on New Year’s Day 1971 dumped over two feet of snow on the West Virginia and Virginia mountains. The month of December 2010 was also very good for ski hounds with 65” of powder measured during the month at Snowshoe and 52” at Beech Mountain, NC. And let us not forget that the epic winter of 1995/96 was also a La Nina winter and featured over 275” of snow measured at Snowshoe!
Tony, I am WITH YOU, my friend. Let’s have at some of those deep snows this winter!
More Positives…
Beech Mountain Resort got their season cranked up and by these comments it was a sweet day.
Frances Miller wrote: “It was a good opening day! The snow was great with very consistent grooming!”
Alexander Hall wrote: “It was great to be back on the snow. Thanks to the team at Beech for continuing to improve the resort. Looking forward to seeing more of the runs and shops/bars being open.”
Steve Ortley added: “Fantastic opening weekend! Nice job!!”
SNOWSHOE MOUNTAIN RESORT with some love:
Alex Padon: “Fantastic conditions! Trail crews did an amazing job! Hell of an opening weekend so far!!”
TIMBERLINE MOUNTAIN pulled these:
Jason R Davis wrote: “What a PERFECT day. From 1st chair to last run at 3:58:30. If this is a sign for the season it’s going to be amazing. Good job TM.”
Danny R. Haught Jr. went one step further: “Best day of skiing ever today! Perfect slopes.”
Some Notables….
I received three emails this morning asking me “How?” could Appalachian Ski Mountain have received 3″ of “new snow” over the last 24 hours and yet Beech Mountain and Sugar saw none? That is because App’s snow report has a column that is called “New Snow”. I can assure you that App is not intending to misrepresent here, but it IS confusing enough to spur some emails when they post their MANMADE SNOW numbers there. What App is sharing is that they made 3″ of new, manmade snow over the last 24 hours.
I do wish that all ski areas would adopt a consistent means of sharing the same information. Snowshoe’s website does a nice job, and really all but one other ski area (Sapphire Valley) reports manmade as “new snow”.
Speaking of Appalachian Ski Mountain, their ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND is fast approaching.
Celebrate App Ski Mtn.’s 60th year of family fun as we roll back tickets to 1962 prices on Saturday Dec. 4 & Sunday Dec. 5! Tickets are for day session only, and must be purchased by midnight the day before.
Reserve your $5 Tickets
BRYCE RESORT
Bill Nabers shared:
Bryce got the Virginia ski season off to a good start today (Saturday). Two slopes from the top Redeye (Green) and Bootlegger (Blue) were open and enjoyed by a nice crowd of skiers and snowboarders. The quad lift and two carpet lifts were operational. Skiing was not bad at all. It should be even better on Sunday. Hopefully, Monday night we can squeeze in a night of snowmaking to build up the base. Bryce will be closed during the mid week. I did not attach any pictures because opening day keeps Ski Patrol busy. In addition to the usual tasks there were ribbons and pads to be put up or adjusted. Friday night was a snowmaking night as well. Lots of things to check on, but a fun day never-the-less.
Bryce is open today with 3 to 4 slopes open for day sessions.
MASSANUTTEN RESORT
They open for snowtubing yesterday and today. Slopes will open soon.
Massanutten WaterPark Annual Passes are now on sale! 💦
Get in on a year full of water park fun with an annual pass to Massanutten WaterPark, available for the general public, MPOA, and Gold Card Holders. Buy your season pass now to lock in the lowest price – https://bit.ly/3xgpled
Shameless Promotion
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We do hope that you will follow us on Facebook and Instagram as we are seeing HUGE growth is our reach on social media.
That will do it for me today. We are truly thankful for you, our readers. Check back tomorrow for more!
Email me at [email protected]
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