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Mid-Atlantic/SE skiing (PA, NJ, DC, MD, VA, WV, NC) for 2020-21

HikenSki

Angel Diva
I was hoping to hit Whitetail this week but it's looking just too warm for my liking. Of course they remove the travel restrictions and now it's too warm. Guess my season is done with only three half days. Missed my chance at Timberline this weekend not feeling well. ☹️ Husband said the conditions were fantastic. Hard and fast.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Perhaps in anticipation of the new Silver Creek pass for 2021-22, Snowshoe is going to open Silver Creek for a bonus weekend, March 19-21.

Snowshoe Basin trails and the Western Territory are supposed to stay open until March 28.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
SkiPA sent out an email about season passes for 2021-22. Seems like all the resorts have them available at this point. Well, all except the former Snowtime resorts that are on Epic.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Forbes has an article about ski resorts for late season skiing. Most are destination resorts out west on Epic or Ikon. The surprise was that Elk was included.

March 9, Forbes
Spring Skiing Should Be Fabulous At These Ski Resorts
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogers...iing-should-be-fabulous-at-these-ski-resorts/
"Elk Mountain, Pennsylvania

Since 1959 Elk Mountain has been offering some of the best skiing in the east with trails cut from the natural fall line of the mountain. Located in the Endless Mountains, Elk resembles a smaller version of skiing in Vermont with wide trails groomed to perfection along with endless bumps on the Tunkhannock slope. Having received a substantial amount of snow thus far, Elk is primed for one of their best spring seasons in history. No official closing date has been announced but there is still plenty of excellent skiing left in the season."
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
The ski season in the southeast is over. Sugar and Snowshoe were open on Sun, March 28 but just barely. Just a bit too warm the last couple weeks to make it into April.

It was a different season for sure. But with the help of Mother Nature in terms of cold temps and few really warm days in Jan-Feb, the ski industry in NC, TN, VA, WV actually did pretty well from a business standpoint. Capacity limits that led to sold out weekends were balanced out by more people on the slopes midweek. It was clear that some people who normally fly out west for ski trips stuck closer to home. Especially when it snowed in their backyard.

https://www.skisoutheast.com/cheers-to-the-last-day-of-the-2020-2021-ski-snowboarding-season/
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
It's way too early to start a thread for next season, but if anyone is thinking about a season pass for a local hill, here's a good summary. There are now early deadlines for the lowest prices, some as soon as the end of April plus several others at the end of May.

April 21, 2021, DCSki
DCSki 2021/2022 Unlimited Season Pass Comparison
https://www.dcski.com/articles/1647
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Sad news I missed . . . a couple of small ski areas in the MidA/SE lost leaders to COVID-19 in 2021. The two men were over 60. RIP.

Jim Hass died in early March. He was the first GM for Big SNOW in NJ. He worked at Snowshoe and Intrawest for quite a while during his long career in the ski industry. The quad chair was renamed and dedicated to Hass on April 23.

Bruce Anders was the President of Ober Gatlinburg in TN and died in January 2021

March 8, SAM
BIG SNOW AMERICAN DREAM GM JIM HAAS DIES
https://www.saminfo.com/headline-news/9783-big-snow-american-dream-gm-jim-haas-dies
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Can't remember if I mentioned in this thread that I skied at Timberline in WV twice this past season. The new high-speed detachable lift makes a huge difference since the ride to the top is now about 5 minutes instead of around 15. The bonus for the first trip was that there was enough snow in the trees to get some first tracks. Both ski days were midweek.

The new RFID system allowed very creative approaches to pricing. The first day we stopped skiing within 4 hours, which gave a $10 credit that could be used for food. Since both days were midweek, I got a $15 credit for the second ticket.

There was still more to do to finish the renovations at the base lodge. There is no doubt that the summer will be busy at Timberline to get ready for the 2021-22 season.

For a general sense of how much the new owners, the Perfect family, has transformed Timberline in a very short span of time, check out the article by a long-time DCSki member who owns one of the slope side houses.

May 9, 2021, DCSki
Timberline Mountain: A Season in Retrospective
https://www.dcski.com/articles/1648
"Despite owning a slope-side property, I had not skied at Timberline for two years at the onset of the 2020-21 season. During the 2019-2020 season, the resort never opened and the season before, it opened briefly with just a few thinly covered trails and then promptly closed. I hung in there, hoping that the resort would rise out of bankruptcy with a new owner committed to making modest improvements to the mountain. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Perfect North Slopes would purchase the resort and invest significant capital into the place, literally transforming it overnight from a “lost ski resort” into one of the premier ski hills in the region.
. . ."
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
So it seems the management group that owns Camelback in PA, KSL, has now also purchased Blue Mountain (PA).

https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/poco...cle_79d598be-b1c4-11eb-8f19-279f9f02c692.html

Not tied to KSL/Alterra/Ikon.
Not necessarily a buyout, but could be. The news report says "managing" in terms of what KSL is going to do at Blue. There are other situations where a ski resort has an owner that would rather have another company with more relevant experience handle the day-to-day operations. That's was the case for Wintergreen at one point and is still true for Winter Park (owned by the city).

Be interesting if Camelback and Blue pass holders are offered a few days at the other mountain as a perk. That's what PGRI does for Wintergreen and Wisp.

There was a lot of confusion when KSL Resorts took over Camelback. Most of the resorts owned or managed by KSL Resorts are in beachfront in tropical regions, for example Hawaii. The "KSL" behind Alterra/Ikon is the investment company KSL Capital Partners.
 

tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yeah, the whole thing has been pretty vague with little info. That article doesn't read like a buyout, but other stuff I read online (Ski the East FB page) indicated it was so I guess we'll see. All a lot of hearsay. I would be surprised if there was any reciprocity between Camelback and Blue, assuming KSL did purchase it, but I guess we'll see. For now it sounds like they're still two independently run mountains.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Yeah, the whole thing has been pretty vague with little info. That article doesn't read like a buyout, but other stuff I read online (Ski the East FB page) indicated it was so I guess we'll see. All a lot of hearsay. I would be surprised if there was any reciprocity between Camelback and Blue, assuming KSL did purchase it, but I guess we'll see. For now it sounds like they're still two independently run mountains.
Doesn't really matter to the skiing public if KSL is only the operator or the owner/operator. Even Vail Resorts operates a couple of small resorts that it doesn't own. When Boyne Resorts didn't own Sunday River and a few other resorts, most people had no idea Boyne was only the operator.

I don't see Camelback on the Ownership Timeline maintained by Ski Area Management (SAM).

Stuart wrote up the situation for Blue pretty thoroughly. He's well aware of KSL Resorts and the oddball relationship it has with the ski industry, including KSL Capital and Alterra/Ikon.

May 12, Storm Skiing Journal
Camelback Manager KSL Resorts Adds Blue Mountain, Pennsylvania to Its Portfolio
The emerging Poconos powerhouse would make a compelling Ikon Pass addition
https://www.stormskiing.com/p/camelback-manager-ksl-resorts-adds
 

tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Doesn't really matter to the skiing public if KSL is only the operator or the owner/operator. Even Vail Resorts operates a couple of small resorts that it doesn't own. When Boyne Resorts didn't own Sunday River and a few other resorts, most people had no idea Boyne was only the operator.

I don't see Camelback on the Ownership Timeline maintained by Ski Area Management (SAM).

Stuart wrote up the situation for Blue pretty thoroughly. He's well aware of KSL Resorts and the oddball relationship it has with the ski industry, including KSL Capital and Alterra/Ikon.

May 12, Storm Skiing Journal
Camelback Manager KSL Resorts Adds Blue Mountain, Pennsylvania to Its Portfolio
The emerging Poconos powerhouse would make a compelling Ikon Pass addition
https://www.stormskiing.com/p/camelback-manager-ksl-resorts-adds

I care only out of my only level of nosiness. lol

I hardly ever ski Camelback unless I'm trying to hit up a Buckman's demo day, and I normally only go to Blue for their adult race clinic.
 

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