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Mid-Atlantic/SE skiing (PA, NJ, DC, MD, VA, WV, NC) for 2019-20

HikenSki

Angel Diva
I skied Whitetail today in very sketchy conditions. It is never a good sign when you glance down at your boots on the lift and see mud spots.

They’ve had a rough year. I’m doing the Women’s Day on Friday, the only day this season I’m able to make due to work schedule. Supposed to drop in temps Thurs night so should be able to make snow and temps Friday will be around freezing with windchills in the teens. Lots more rain expected till then so I’m expected runs to be pretty bad by Friday. Maybe I should bring my ice skates... ugh... :frown:
 

BlizzardBabe

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The good news, @HikenSki , is that Wednesday was great!. They were able to groom out the icy ruts and the snow quality was quite good, considering. Exhibition had the best snow on the mountain. Angel Drop was great early in the a.m. but then deteriorated a bit into the sugar stuff that just gets pushed around. Just know that you'll be doing some dirt-dodging -- I thought of it as running flat, brown gates.
 

HikenSki

Angel Diva
The good news, @HikenSki , is that Wednesday was great!
Good to know! Hoping they can put down a little tonight to fix up some areas and there aren't too many death cookies in the morning. We were dodging thin spots at Snowshoe last week till they got the 6+ inches of snow that was heavenly to ski on. Haven't had those conditions in quite a few years during our annual Feb visit. My bases took a beating back over New Years with their thin base in some areas.
It's good to see Whitetail hanging on and glad we have some snow to slide on. Just wish Far Side was open as it is my fav run there.
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
Went to Liberty today (Friday). Apparently it was some mega ski trip for multiple elementary schools. Snow guns were blasting all day. The back side turned sugary slush by 11:30am. I was surprised because the temperature wasn’t that warm. So I went back to the front side, where the snow usually holds up better. The front side was mobbed with little kids. On top of that, the wind was gusting and it was skiing into ice pellets from the snow guns at the bottom. After two little ones straight-lined past me at Mach 1 within inches, I decided to call it a day.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Snowguns on during the day at Massanutten. I assume at Wintergreen too.

Looks like the Pres. Day weekend will be decent in VA after all. No rain and another chance for snowmaking tonight.
 

HikenSki

Angel Diva
I did the Women's Day at Whitetail yesterday. Conditions were quite nice. Hard granular under inch or two of manmade. Surprisingly not too much ice or many death cookies. Pushed up piles started to form later in the day which made for some fun bumps. They had guns blowing all day. That of course meant sandblasting anytime we went through some areas, and with temps below 30, we were crusted in ice by the end of the day. Crowds were very light which allowed us to make long wide turns and work on edging skills without fear of being run over. Worst run was Angel Drop where we had to watch out for speedsters bombing down the runs to the terrain park. It was a really fun ski day. I picked up some helpful tips and saw improvement by end of the day (yay!), had many laughs, and met some wonderful ladies!
 

tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Nice day at Montage today. Parking and lodge were crowded, and the trails were more crowded than normal, but overall not bad. Montage never gets insanely crazy. Trails weren't too crowded, especially down on the North Face, and lift lines were non-existent to very short. Glad to see they had a good (busy) day today. From the bottom of White Lightning at the bottom of the North Face.

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EeveeCanSki

Certified Ski Diva
I did the Women's Day at Whitetail yesterday. Conditions were quite nice. Hard granular under inch or two of manmade. Surprisingly not too much ice or many death cookies. Pushed up piles started to form later in the day which made for some fun bumps. They had guns blowing all day. That of course meant sandblasting anytime we went through some areas, and with temps below 30, we were crusted in ice by the end of the day. Crowds were very light which allowed us to make long wide turns and work on edging skills without fear of being run over. Worst run was Angel Drop where we had to watch out for speedsters bombing down the runs to the terrain park. It was a really fun ski day. I picked up some helpful tips and saw improvement by end of the day (yay!), had many laughs, and met some wonderful ladies!

That is so nice to hear about WT Women's Day! I've been eyeing doing one of those for a couple of seasons and hopefully next year can bite the bullet and go. The Friday I was at WT during January was their first event and it looked like great fun--I'd probably stick to the greens; still a little shaky on blues.

Crossing fingers the colder nights hold up the week and the National Capital area low country resorts can blow some snow for a good weekend. I want one good ski day this year, just one--it's been rough when I've had windows of time (not many) to go!
 

HikenSki

Angel Diva
That is so nice to hear about WT Women's Day! I've been eyeing doing one of those for a couple of seasons and hopefully next year can bite the bullet and go. The Friday I was at WT during January was their first event and it looked like great fun--I'd probably stick to the greens; still a little shaky on blues.

I did a Women's Day last year and had such a good time that I wanted to make sure I went again this year. The instructors are great, and just having a day with other ladies who love skiing is just so much fun. They break you up into groups based on ability and what kind of runs you want to ski. I was in the mostly blue runs group. We warmed up on the greens but also did a few runs down Exhibition since they groomed out the bumps. The food is yummy and the giveaways are quite nice too.
I'm hoping the weather stays cold enough to blow some snow in the next two weeks. I'm looking to head over there the last Friday/weekend of the month for my third and final 3-day pass usage.
 

BlizzardBabe

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Massanutten was pretty darn good this weekend. I skied Fri - Mon. The guns were blasting all day on Friday and most of Saturday, but Sunday and Monday were super. I can dress for the high velocity ice crystal battering, but the noise gets to me after about 3 hours. There should be some more cold nights this week, so the slopes should hold up well.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Massanutten was pretty darn good this weekend. I skied Fri - Mon. The guns were blasting all day on Friday and most of Saturday, but Sunday and Monday were super. I can dress for the high velocity ice crystal battering, but the noise gets to me after about 3 hours. There should be some more cold nights this week, so the slopes should hold up well.
I had vague plans to get back to Mnut and Bryce in late Feb. I have another day on the Indy Pass for Bryce. Looking at the long range forecast, could be pretty good the last weekend of the month.

Since Mnut has the Snow Moon Fest the first weekend of March, I expect them to make as much snow as possible in the next couple weeks. Freestyle will be back with demo skis that weekend.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Beech Mtn was skiing well today in the snow! Not liking the delay because of accidents on the access road though. Made it home safely:thumbsup:
Glad you got home okay. The road up to Beech is pretty steep but per usual the drivers without snow experience that are the real problem.

Snow started at my house near Raleigh an hour ago. Guess I brought home home with me from the Colorado. My daughter's afternoon class at UNC Asheville was cancelled today. Snow in the southeast is always a bigger deal than up north or out west. :smile:
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Don't know what's happening in PA but snowmaking is happening in northern VA, WV, and NC tonight. Hopefully that means the season will continue at least until mid-March.

The SkiSE Summit at Snowshoe is Feb. 28 thru March 1. Folks who attend should be nice snow conditions. Far better than might have been expected just a week or two ago.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
It's clear that the folks in Tucker County, WV are excited to see all the activity at Timberline. The old lifts are coming down and clean up is happening in preparation for re-opening for the 2020-21 season. The buyer, owners of Perfect North in Indiana, have been aware of the potential of Timberline terrain for quite a while. The family has a very good history owning and operating Perfect North for decades.

Feb 2020, Canaan Valley tourist website
Timberline Mountain Reopening Winter 2020-2021
" . . .
Priorities are being made, if not have already been made, for major infrastructure replacement or upgrades. At the moment snowmaking and new chairlift are the first priority. The only thing that can be shared is that the Thunderstruck Chairlift, best known as the “Triple” will be replaced. The only thing remaining of the triple are the loading and unloading structures. An entirely new “Triple” lift will be operating for the 2020/2021 season.

As for the Silver Queen lift status, the lift is in the process of coming down. Chairs, hull rope, and communications line are all down. These are the only details I know about the queen after making a trip down on Monday for some pictures. Speculation will run rampant, as with anything when big changes are coming. The entire process is in its infancy stage. Details are not being disclosed at this time, as important decisions continue to be made.
. . ."
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Snowmaking in western PA got some good press recently about their snowmaking efforts. The number of "rebuilds" this winter has been more than average. The reporter went skiing at Hidden Valley midweek and interviewed people who were happy to be skiing in the rain.

Feb. 22, 2020, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Despite a rainy winter, new snow blankets Laurel Highlands ski slopes
". . . Somerset County resort community — 1,100 HKD snowmaking towers and supplemental equipment strategically located over 285 acres of ski, snowboard and snowtubing terrain. Those are the initials of Herman Kress Dupre, a snowmaking pioneer and former co-owner of the resort.

Joel Rerko, director of mountain operations, said the patented and customized snowmaking system and his team of 30 snowmakers, who work around the clock in below-freezing temperatures, made enough snow since 3 a.m. Wednesday to add 6 more inches of snow on top of the resort’s 28- to 40-inch base.
. . .
The snowmaking towers range in height from 15- to 40-feet, although most are 30 feet high. The tops stretch out over the slopes. Water, propelled by compressed air, exits through nozzles at the top of the tower into a fine mist with more hang time than the NFL’s top punters. The mist becomes snow on its way down.
. . .
He said the unusual and extended periods of warm and wet weather since the resort opened for snowsliders in late November has forced the snowmakers and snowgroomers to “rebuild” the snow base 10 times. That’s more than three times the usual number of rebuilds.
. . ."
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
For folks in the DC area who can get free for a last minute ski vacation in Europe in March, the Snow Searchers Ski Club trip leader is looking for a single man and/or a single woman to take the place of people who need to cancel. Trip is March 11-21, 2020, flying to Zurich from IAD and skiing in Switzerland.

https://www.dcski.com/forum/98258
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Everyone in the southeast is pretty excited about the cold weather leading into the weekend. Snowmaking started up already in VA. There was natural snow in NC and WV. The folks headed to the SkiSE Summit at Snowshoe this weekend are obviously very happy considering how things looked a week ago. Wintergreen is holding their Winterfest this weekend. Massanutten has the Snow Moon Fest the following weekend, with season pass appreciation events scheduled for March 15.
 

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