Massanutten 2018-19

[marzNC]

While I won't be skiing that much at Massanutten for 2018-19, I'll still follow the snow conditions all season. Especially opening and closing days since those are so weather dependent in Virginia. Have heard that they replaced most of the water pipes used for snowmaking on DJ.

The Demo tent by Freestyle, the ski shop in Charlottesville, is scheduled for Jan. 12-13, 2019.

For those curious about last season, check out the 2017-18 threads for Massanutten or the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/massanutten-2017-18.21870/
https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/i...kiing-pa-nj-dc-md-va-wv-nc-for-2017-18.22001/

 

[marzNC]

Massanutten is having a sale on the Full Season Pass for people who go in person to the Ski Swap on Sat, Nov. 17, 9am-2pm. Not only 20% off, also get a Buddy Pass Voucher good Sun-Fri and Sat night (same times as the Special Value Pass). The swap benefits the Mnut ski/board team.

OMG, the snow guns were on on 11/11! That means Mnut is starting to build a base at the top.

 

[marzNC]

It's now possible to buy Massanutten lift tickets online. Looks like still have to go to a ticket office to get the actual lift ticket, but still worth considering. Have to pick specific date(s).

There is a Black Friday sale on 11/23 with offer code 25OFFSLOPE. Limited time sale for limited numbers of lift tickets. First time I've ever seen a sale on lift tickets.

 

[marzNC]

Massanutten managed to make enough snow to get the Snow Tubing open for Thanksgiving weekend. Will be more than cold enough at night this week for more snowmaking. My guess is that the goal is to open the slopes by Friday, Dec. 14. Rain and temps too warm for snowmaking is in the forecast for the upcoming weekend, Dec. 8-9.

 

[marzNC]

Surprisingly, Massanutten is aiming for Dec. 8 to open. I had my dates wrong in Post #4. It's Dec. 1-2 that's going to be warm and rainy. But apparently they've been able to make snow already and should get 3-4 solid cold nights next week.

 

[marzNC]

Well, here's a first. Massanutten is have a special opening on Fri, Dec. 7, for season pass holders. Ironically this is the first season in quite a while that I haven't had a season pass. But can't get up there on Friday in any case.

At 62, I qualify for senior rates for the first time. Given my ski trip schedule for this season, made more sense to simply buy day tickets for the two long weekends that I'll be skiing Mnut in the first half of January. That includes the Demo Weekend, Jan. 12-13.

 

[marzNC]

@Tryin2Ski : any chance you'll be skiing Mnut on Dec. 8?

 

[marzNC]

Snowed at Massanutten! Lots of opportunities for snowmaking between now and opening day for the public on Sat, Dec. 8. Will be open daily after that with early season prices until Dec. 14.

 

[marzNC]

The storm that dumped two feet of snow in NC and southeast VA is over. Massanutten got more than expected as the storm move northeast. There was 5 inches at the summit when the lifts closed at 5pm on Sunday. I'm sure that helped in getting Upper Showtime open today for the first time. Mnut will be open daily from now on. I expect night skiing to start after Dec. 14.

School's Out special pricing for locals on 12/10.

December 10, 2018 - The snow ended last night around 9:30 but not before dropping another 1"+ leaving us with a total of 4" - 6" on the hill. Upper Showtime will open today and we'll be spinning lifts from 9:00am - 5:00pm. Schools Out Special today if you are out of school for weather related closures, $40 lift and $20 equipment rentals. Snow Tubing will be open from 12:00pm - 8:00pm.

 

[BlizzardBabe]

The skiing was great on Monday!

 

[marzNC]

The skiing was great on Monday!

Lucky you!

Was everything groomed or did they leave some ungroomed on the edges of DJ or Upper Showtime?

 

[BlizzardBabe]

The edge of DJ on the left was ungroomed from the top down to the race shack. There were some nice bumps for a while. Upper Showtime wasn't groomed at all - they ran the guns for a good part of the morning. It was good fun but my legs were fatiguing by the time I got over there - I'd been out for about 4 hours at that point, so I only did a handful of runs.

 

[marzNC]

The edge of DJ on the left was ungroomed from the top down to the race shack. There were some nice bumps for a while. Upper Showtime wasn't groomed at all - they ran the guns for a good part of the morning. It was good fun but my legs were fatiguing by the time I got over there - I'd been out for about 4 hours at that point, so I only did a handful of runs.

Nice! Skiing under the snow guns isn't fun but they need to get the base built up before the weekend rain. When there are big whales, going over the top of those can be fun too. But can't go too fast the first run. The backsides can be frozen solid sometimes.

I bet there was some instructor training on Upper Showtime. Those who are planning to take the Level 2 exam need all the practice on ungroomed terrain that they can get.

 

[marzNC]

Been a tough couple weeks with warm weather and way too much rain at Massanutten. But they managed to stay open for the holiday period.

Hopefully the cold front coming thru midweek will allow for enough snowmaking to get things back on track by the weekend of Jan. 12-13. As far as I know, the Demo Days are still on. I'll be at Massanutten for a long weekend in any case.

 

[marzNC]

If anyone is curious to see what a WROD looks like in the Mid-Atlantic, check out the Massanutten webcams before Thursday, Jan. 10. The official base depth on the conditions report is down to 18 inches. I've seen it as low as 10 inches. Only the core trails are open, including Geronimo (harder green). No terrain park features, which means they probably moved the snow in the jumps elsewhere.

The forecasted temps for Wed night have gone lower. So definitely snowmaking then and probably well into Thu during the day, if not all day on the upper mountain. Will be snowmaking every night this week. Some natural snow expected on Saturday.

I expect pretty decent conditions for the Demo Weekend, Jan. 12-13. I confirmed on Monday with Freestyle that the demo days are on. Brands include Stöckli, Nordica, Blizzard, Head, and hopefully the Volkls they want will get shipped in time. But no Volkl Secret. Those are selling very well so they don't want to mount any with demo bindings.

 

[diymom]

Yikes! Glad to hear you have some snow making temps coming up before the weekend!

 

[marzNC]

Yikes! Glad to hear you have some snow making temps coming up before the weekend!

This sort of melt off almost always happens at least once every season. It's just a question of whether it's before or after MLK Weekend. Of course, the hope of the management of Mnut snowsports is there are reasonable conditions and little rain during the holiday weekends. Everything else is a bonus from a revenue standpoint.

 

[marzNC]

Yippee! Winter is back at Massanutten! It was 28 degrees when I arrived yesterday afternoon. Showtime was closed completely so that the guns could be on full blast for as long as possible.

 

[marzNC]

Fun this morning on DJ. Got to ski with a couple friends from the Gold Clinic. Snow guns on but mostly dry snow. Had to watch out for a few wetter spots. But DPS Phantom really is nice on sticky snow because then my skis only slow instead of wanting to stop.

Temp at 20 as of 11am.

 

[SuperSkiMom]

Great to hear! Enjoy the powder, while the weekend warriors live vicariously through you. :-)