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Massanutten 2020-21

marzNC

Angel Diva
Paradice and DJ stayed quite nice all afternoon. Upper MakAttack too. Rather run to ski it as a steep groomer as opposed to a bump runs since there isn't quite enough snow to seed the big bumps yet. Pacesetter is fun as a groomer with big whales before it gets turned into a terrain park.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Had an absolute blast last weekend at Massanutten! Skied with my friends who rode up from NC with me Friday afternoon into the lights, all day Saturday, in 6+ inches of fresh snow on Sunday, and got in a few bonus runs on freshly groomed trails on Monday morning before we drove home. It was pretty cold, as in highs in the high 20s or low 30s. The snowstorm brought pretty dry snow that was easy to brush off the car and packed down nicely as people skied in the morning.

Have a few pics so may do a trip report later on. Heading out to Denver today.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
With continuing cold temps in the 20s overnight, Massanutten snowmaking has continued to run full blast after the lifts close. One advantage of night having night skiing on Tue, Wed, Thu is being able to take advantage of cold weather to continue to build up the base. There have been seasons when Mnut stayed open into late March. Hopefully this will be one of the longest seasons ever. That will be the payoff for the millions that were invested in upgrading the snowmaking infrastructure over the last decade.

Looking at the webcams this morning, it's a blue sky day with gorgeous groomers. Snowguns will be off on most, if not all, open trails. Still blowing on the snow tubing lanes to add more base there before sessions start. The pole-mounted fan guns put out a LOT of snow when the temps and humidity are optimal.

https://www.massresort.com/play/snow-sports/snow-webcams/
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Looks there could be TWO snowstorms at Massanutten in the coming week. I won't be back until Feb. 19 but will be watching with interest.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Oh wow! Could be 8+ inches of new snow by the end of the storm today! Whoever can get there to ski this morning will have ungroomed snow to enjoy.

Screen Shot 2021-02-07 at 8 AM.png
 

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
Oh wow! Could be 8+ inches of new snow by the end of the storm today! Whoever can get there to ski this morning will have ungroomed snow to enjoy.
Dang! I wish it wasn't such a long drive for me -- I'd be there for sure! I really enjoyed the skiing last week in all that snow!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Who knows what will actually happen, but the snow forecast for late this week keeps going up. I'm driving up from NC on Friday morning. Good thing I've got an AWD SUV now.

Today was lousy though. Mist and fog. Noticed that Upper MakAttack was closed by 4pm, which probably means the big bumps were getting so icy it was getting dangerous.

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marzNC

Angel Diva
Well, not going to be that much snow falling from the clouds in the next day or two but it's going to be really cold over the weekend. Snowmaking is happening at night. By early next week temps will be more normal for northern VA in late Feb, meaning in the 40s during the day. That's my idea of good weather for skiing in the southeast/MidA. 20s feels very cold on short slopes with relatively long lift rides.

Being sold out on weekends seems to be normal when there is snow on the ground near Massanutten. Be interesting to see what happens in March.

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BlizzardBabe

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Flat light today + noisy sleet and goggle icing. I have better hopes for tomorrow morning.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Flat light today + noisy sleet and goggle icing. I have better hopes for tomorrow morning.
I think my friend CB gave up early. He's been there all week but mostly doing WFH until I get there with my friend's tween for a long weekend.

I'll start skiing on Friday afternoon. Hopefully the VA roads will be okay by the time we get across the NC/VA line. We're staying up on the mountain this time.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Last weekend it was deep winter at Massanutten. I was wearing everything for frigid weather on Saturday and was still cold after an hour or so. Temps never got over about 25. CB and I had a great time with the tween. Especially after she was more than ready to ski off Lift 6 after warming up on Friday afternoon.

The good news is that there was lots of snowmaking starting Friday night on the advanced terrain, as well as a bit of extra daytime snowmaking on Geronimo in the mornings before 11am when few people were skiing there per usual. All the trails have contours that only happen when there is more than a deep enough base so that snow whales don't have to be flattened out yet. Sunday morning was wonderful, with sunshine, great snow conditions, and temps in the mid-30s by lunch time.

Later this week it will probably be really good spring skiing. Especially if the mountain stays in a bit of a dry slot as the rainclouds move through.

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marzNC

Angel Diva
Spring is here! At least in VA. Massanutten is planning to stay open daily until March 21. No night skiing after Sat, March 6. That's fairly typical.

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marzNC

Angel Diva
Massanutten is taking full advantage of the cold nights in the 20s for more snowmaking. The temp fell to 26 degrees by 1am and it was still only 25 degrees at 8am. There is a layer of fresh corduroy all around the base, and presumably on the upper mountain as well. The lodge porch was covered with snow first thing this morning.

Lifts will be running for at least two more weeks.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I figured out why there was snow blown over towards he J-bar where there used to be a big terrain park in the last couple decades. There is now enough snow for the Perfect Slope that's part of Terrain Based Learning (TM by SnowOperating). Massanutten started working with SnowOperating during the 2019-20 season. Building more features in the teaching area was one part of the new approach. Although the changes to the rental process were more dramatic.

As of a few weeks ago, the teaching area had enough snow to have Banked Turns, Rollers, and the Perfect Slope. The Perfect Slope is on the other side of the longer magic carpet so harder to see from Geronimo. But it can be seen from the webcam that's looks from the snow tubing area. When it's busier, there are flags put up that are numbered and help someone who is practicing on their own know what sequence to start with.

Looks like a wonderful day for March skiing! It's 35 degrees as of 11am.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Apparently it's been good spring skiing at Massanutten in the past few days. Plenty of soft bumps left Saturday, March 13, with temps in the 50s.

Going to be open daily until March 21. Might have some bonus days after that. Much depends on how much it rains late next week.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
As I guessed, Massanutten is hoping for extra days for weekends after the announced Closing Day of March 21. There is another cold front coming in by Friday.

Heard that last weekend was really fun for folks who are regulars. Coverage on the upper mountain is quite good considering the few days with temps in the 60s. Helped that there were chances for snowmaking after Pres. Day. Next weekend should also be really nice spring conditions, with highs in the 40s.

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