It is the calm before the storm with a chill opening act Thursday night and Friday.
A small clipper system will move through late tonight and tomorrow morning giving us a shot at some light natural snow – generally speaking, accumulations should be an inch or less – to help us open the weekend.
All eyes, however, are on the weekend system that is just beginning the trek from the Pacific Northwest as we could see significant snow accumulations Saturday night through Monday.
We will share updated snow totals and forecasts throughout the next couple of days as this is a very complex system.
The big takeaway so far?
Buckle up as it is going to be a fun ride.
If it wasn’t for the winter storm on the horizon, the big story today would be the number of new trails that have opened in the past 24 hours.
Just this morning, our open trail count jumped by 23 with more on the way over the next couple of days.
That is pretty sweet and the mountain operation crews deserve a round of applause.
For all the details, be sure to visit the Snow Reports page, but here is a quick glance at where we sit this morning.
North Carolina
App Ski Mountain – App is 100% open after opening the final two slopes this morning. That gives them 12 trails and six lifts and is reporting a 50-60″ base with groomed conditions.
Beech Mountain – White Lightning is now open bringing the tally to 13 trails open with five lifts spinning. They are reporting a 36-56″ base with groomed conditions.
Cataloochee – Cat upped the trail count to 16 this morning with all five lifts open. They are playing on groomed conditions atop a 34-46″ base.
Sugar Mountain – After opening Oma’s Meadow earlier in the week, Sugar has 13 open slopes serviced by five lifts. They are playing on a 40-76″ base with manmade and frozen granular conditions.
Wolf Ridge – Wolf is now playing on six trails with two lifts spinning. They are reporting groomed conditions with a 23-40″ base.
West Virginia
Canaan Valley – Canaan added one slope to the mix bringing their total to seven today with two lifts in operation. They are reporting a frozen granular surface with a 24-36″ base.
Snowshoe Mountain – The crew at the ‘Shoe added three new trails today – including Upper Shay’s Revenge and Grabhammer – as they increased the open slope count to 38 with 11 lifts spinning. They are playing on 145 acres of open terrain with a 36″ base and groomed conditions.
Camp 99, Skip Jack, and Bear Claw are on the on-deck circle as far as terrain expansion. Of note, slope capacity for the basin side has been reached for Saturday and Sunday with a limited amount of Silver Creek-only tickets available.
Timberline Mountain – Timberline is holding at 18-of-20 trails open with three lifts in operation. They are playing on a groomed surface with an 18-24″ base.
Winterplace – With Buttermilk, Milkshake, Over Easy, and Snow Bowl now open, Winterplace is playing on 18 trails with five lifts spinning this morning. They are riding on a 30-56″ base with a groomed surface.
I anticipate them adding more terrain over the next couple of days as well.
Virginia
Bryce Resort – Bryce is also 100% open with the addition of Hangover and Thunder Jug bringing the tally to nine trails and three lifts available.
Massanutten – The ‘Nut upped their trail count by two today giving them 15 total. This comes a day after they added Lower and Upper Mass Transit, YeeHa, and Lower Makattack to the mix.
They are playing on a groomed surface with a 32″ base
Omni Homestead – Omni Homestead is set to reopen for regularly scheduled hours today. After a successful opening weekend last weekend, we expect even better conditions this weekend. While they haven’t shared the snow report just yet, I expect 2-4 trails to be open with both lifts in operation.
Wintergreen – Wintergreen added three slopes to the tally today as they now have 11 trails and three lifts open for play. With a 36″ base, they are reporting groomed conditions.
Tennessee
Ober Gatlinburg – Ober is riding a 30-35″ base with groomed conditions. They are holding steady with five open slopes and three lifts spinning.
Maryland
Wisp Resort – Wisp added a trail to the mix as they are now playing on 10 slopes with six lifts turning. They are reporting a groomed and loose granular surface atop a 16″ base.
Our buddy Bill Nabers sent over some great shots from Bryce on Wednesday (including today’s featured image). Bill said that the conditions were primo right now with deep bases and wall-to-call coverage.
Things are only going to improve as we head into the weekend.
That does it for today, but until next time, #ThinkSnow!
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