Skiing in the Mid-Atlantic (PA, NJ, DC, MD, VA, WV) for 2014-15

[tinymoose]

We're headed to Blue tomorrow. Should be crowded but a good time. Last year they handed out cookies in the lift lines once the lines started getting really long. Although, I never mind early season lines as much. It's just a very different atmosphere; everyone is in a good mood, excited to be skiing.

 

[SkiQT]

@tinymoose we are planning of going this weekend as well [emoji2]

 

[marzNC]

Guess what! Pretty Faces has a screening scheduled for Washington DC in January. Will be at the Burke Theatre at the Naval Heritage Center on Jan. 11.

Also have Asheville, NC on the schedule for Jan. 6 but no location yet. Just my bad luck that I'll be skiing in WV that day. Although I'm not sure I would've made the 3.5 hour drive or not.

 

[tinymoose]

Well, I have to say... Blue Mountain outdid themselves today. They opened today with quite a hefty base of snow, no rocks or bare spots to be seen. Their website is reporting a base of 24"-36". Snow quality was better than average too for opening day (for Blue), and for those of you not from PA, Blue is not known for having the best snow. They also opened with Lazy Mile today, which I've never seen. Also open were Upper/Lower Main Street with seeded Barney's Bumps, Midway, The Chute, Come Around Park, and Easy Out to Vista.

 

[marzNC]

Well, I have to say... Blue Mountain outdid themselves today. They opened today with quite a hefty base of snow, no rocks or bare spots to be seen. Their website is reporting a base of 24"-36". Snow quality was better than average too for opening day (for Blue), and for those of you not from PA, Blue is not known for having the best snow. They also opened with Lazy Mile today, which I've never seen. Also open were Upper/Lower Main Street with seeded Barney's Bumps, Midway, The Chute, Come Around Park, and Easy Out to Vista.

Sounds like a fun day!

Definitely more terrain available than usual even with early openings. Seems as if all the money invested in new snowmaking equipment in recent years is paying off with the the early cold spell that was more than long enough to lay down a solid base at least on core trails. Massanutten will open both Lift 6 and Lift 5 to the top on Opening Day. Wintergreen plans to have Eagles Swoop, Upper and Lower Dobie, both cross trails, and part of the Terrain Park open on Nov. 29. Both seem to be looking forward to a bit of rain to get the water supply back up for more snowmaking when night time temps get back below 32.

 

[marzNC]

I just realized that Jan. 11 is the Massanutten Demo Day with a special Women's Clinic in the morning. That means I'll be close enough to consider going to the Pretty Faces show in DC. It's 6:00-8:00pm.

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

Some snow is on the way which is great, shoulde be good at Snowshoe over the long weekend. But it's too bad that the temperatures will be so warm for a while after the storm. Not good for snowmaking in the near future, hoping it cools down next week again so that Whitetail could make enought snow and would open at least next weekend if not this weekend.

 

[dianakate]

Here's the forecast for the southern PA resorts over the next couple days. Fingers crossed! https://www.justinweather.com/news/2014/11/25/wednesday-snow-focus-on-ski-areas/

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

I got an email from Whitetail saying they open this Friday, November 28th! Yay! I can ski every week starting this week!
Edited to add that all three resorts Whitetail, Roundtop and Liberty open on Friday.

 

[Marigee]

I got an email from Whitetail saying they open this Friday, November 28th! Yay! I can ski every week starting this week!
Edited to add that all three resorts Whitetail, Roundtop and Liberty open on Friday.

Working at Whitetail Friday afternoon-evening. Whitetail will close Sunday at 5:00 PM and reopen on Friday, 12/5, for the season.

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

I will be at Snowshoe this whole long weekend, but will go to Whitetail next weekend probably.

 

[marzNC]

Already snowing pretty hard at Massanutten as of 7:30am Wed, Nov. 26. Forecast is for 3-6 inches. I can see snow on the top of the lift huts.

 

[LauraVa]

I will be at Snowshoe this whole long weekend, but will go to Whitetail next weekend probably.

Looks like Snowshoe is going to have stellar conditions for opening weekend. Have fun.

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

Looks like Snowshoe is going to have stellar conditions for opening weekend. Have fun.

It is great up here. They got a foot of snow in over 24 hours. It's still snowing.. Driving to Snowshoe was rough yesterday, DH and I were thankful that we got here ok, took us about 10 hours, it usually takes about 5 without snow. Didn't ski yesterday, but got a nice first ski day today. Will post some pics later.

 

[marzNC]

Looks like conditions were stellar at Massanutten after Thanksgiving. Will be open again Dec. 6. I assume Sunday too. Upper Showtime and DJ were open so could ski from the top of Lift 5 and 6.

 

[LauraVa]

I went or just a couple of hours Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Lots of snow for November. It felt so great to be out again.

 

[marzNC]

The warm and wet forecast for this week is shifting plans for some places. Canaan Valley decided to stay closed until Dec. 13. Timberline was never planning to open before Dec. 12.

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

The warm and wet forecast for this week is shifting plans for some places. Canaan Valley decided to stay closed until Dec. 13. Timberline was never planning to open before Dec. 12.

Sigh, that is sad. Hope it cools down again soon.

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

It is great up here. They got a foot of snow in over 24 hours. It's still snowing.. Driving to Snowshoe was rough yesterday, DH and I were thankful that we got here ok, took us about 10 hours, it usually takes about 5 without snow. Didn't ski yesterday, but got a nice first ski day today. Will post some pics later.

Ok a few pictures and a short description of the trip, like I promised. DH and I were at Snowshoe from November 26 to December 1.
Wednesday we drove for about 10 hours, didn't make it in time for skiing although Snowshoe had an amazing pow day on Wednesday. It started to snow heavily when we were driving in the mountains, that was rough.
Yes, we drove in this. Sigh, I wish we drove in the night before, although traffic was pretty bad Tuesday evening from what I hear.
After we arrived and went for dinner:

Thursday - soft groomers, and pow in the afternoon, few people on the slopes. Restaurants were crowded for Thanksgiving dinner though, but they only had maybe 3 restaurants open and a lot of people came.

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

Friday morning, soft groomers and pow on top on some runs, then afternoon it got really crowded, 20+ min lift lines:

A view from the top of Spruce on Friday (blue run)

Saturday was crowded too, I only skied a few hours after opening with DH then an hour or so before closing, starting about 10:30 am the lift lines were kind of crazy. Sunday was a lovely spring-like day with 50F weather and no crowds.