First and foremost guys and gals, we have been a bit AWOL in terms of posting content thus far this “preseason”. Sure, we did the usual August fogs reporting and ended up with 24 beans in the jar, signifying that we can HOPE to get 24 winter snow storms. Frankly, I am hopeful for many more…
About those beans…and more.
So our own, Matt Laws did the bean computations this past August and we’ll happily take his assessment of 24 beans and 24 snowstorms this season.
I have checked in with some locals who all seem to agree that – “we are in for a doozy of a winter”. In this case “doozy” is a negative term if you don’t like snow, and “doozy” means EPIC snowfall season if you want lots of it.
Place me FIRMLY in the latter category. Bring on the snow. We need to make up for lost time as it has been since the 2013-2014 ski season since we’ve seen resorts match their normal/average snow for a season. Last season, most of our Southeast and mid-Atlantic ski areas saw less than one-half of the average.
I want to add that I’ve been the admin on this website since its inception in 1996 (now 28 years in). In all that time, I had always heard that old farmers had passed along that tradition of counting beans. They did, but those oldest farmers were Native American Indians.
One never knows, there might have been some whacky weed in that pipe that got them laying around counting beans; but hey it works for snowboarders and some skiers too 😉
Diana Henretty emailed recently:
“We always picked persimmon seeds and opened them up to reveal the center. When cut into two pieces, the persimmon seed will display one of three symbols…according to old-timers.”
She continued:
A KNIFE shape will indicate a cold, icy winter (where the winds will cut you like a knife). A FORK shape will indicate a mild winter.
A SPOON shape symbolizing a SHOVEL for digging out of the snow.
Well bring on those persimmon SPOONS!
FALL IS HERE, YA’LL!
As I have already shared, I and our team here at SkiSoutheast.com have been a little busy and not been posting up to our usual standards and admittedly some of the higher elevations like on top of Beech and up at Snowshoe’s 4848′ elevation are already a bit past peak color. It is STILL quite beautiful, but slightly past peak.
See this capture from the LIVE WEBCAM atop Beech…
We’ve always shared many of Skip Sickler’s photos from up at Grandfather and this one from Tuesday, October 17th certainly shows a ton of color remains along the Blue Ridge Parkway at the Linn Cove Viaduct.
Here are some more from today.
WOOLLY WORM FESTIVAL IS THIS WEEKEND.
Oktoberfest festivals have come and gone at many of the ski areas and as usual, I and my crew attended Sugar Mountain Resort’s version of it. I know any fan of SkiSoutheast, skiing & snowboarding, or mountains in general are also full-fledged fans of our fall colors. As of this post, we are right now at FULL, peak colors at most of the mountains of the region. Elevations above 3500′ are displaying spectacular color this year and the road traffic proves it!
As mentioned, some elevations above 4000′ or so are still quite gorgeous, but also slightly past peak color. Banner Elk and Sugar are simply awe-inspiring right now and maybe the prettiest I’ve seen in years.
The Photo of the Day was taken on my mid-morning walk with my Carolina Dog named “Molly”. The Sleepy Hollow Bridge always shines with some Autumn color as a back drop.
The last few days (Monday and Tuesday morning) provided us with some (very) light snow and this morning (Wednesday, October 18th) was a cold one with temperatures dipping down to 34° here at my house.
In closing…we will now begin posting as much as possible from around the region. Please share a link to SkiSoutheast.com to your fellow mountain loving friends. Please do the same for our Facebook and Instagram pages.
We have lots of exciting news to share from all across the region, so check back daily. I and our crew will be over at Sugar Mountain Golf Course tomorrow for some friendly golf competition and we’ll be sure to snap some photos and post this weekend.
Stay tuned and feel free to email me at [email protected]