Mid-Atlantic/SE skiing (PA, NJ, DC, MD, VA, WV, NC) for 2017-18

[marzNC]

There is a ski swap this weekend, so it's time for the thread for people who ski anywhere in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, southern NY, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, or North Carolina, as well as those who just want to talk about MidA/SE snow. Hope there can be a meetup or two of Ski Divas in the MidA/SE this season.

NC: Sugar, Beech, Appalachian, Cataloochee

VA: Massanutten, Wintergreen, Bryce
MD: Wisp
WV: Snowshoe, Canaan Valley, Timberline, Winterplace

PA, western: Blue Knob, Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, Laurel Mountain
PA, closest to DC: Liberty, Roundtop, Whitetail
PA, eastern: Elk, Montage, Jack Frost, Blue, Camelback, Bear Creek, Big Boulder

NY Catskills: Belleayre, Hunter, Windham, Plattekill

For the Mid-Atlantic discussion for 2016-17, click here

 

[marzNC]

Pro-Fit in Leesburg, CA has a ski swap this weekend on Sunday, Sept. 24.

Pro-Fit is installing an indoor skiing facility. Supposed to be open some time in October.

"2017 Ski, Snowboard & Bike Swap & Tent Sale ! The biggest event of the year for new and used bikes, skis, snowboards, boots, clothing and more! This a great opportunity to get growing families outfitted for the upcoming season! Join us Sunday, September 24th AND Sunday, November 19th, 8AM – 4PM rain or shine under the tents! To benefit the Whitetail Ski Patrol, member National Ski Patrol."

 

[marzNC]

Here are the dates for ski swaps from last year, 2016. I would expect these places to have swaps at similar times this fall.

2016 dates as a reference for 2017

Oct. 1: Ski Haus in Annapolis
Oct. 1: REI Member Sale (most locations)
Oct. 1-2: Alpine Ski Shop in Sterling - benefits Timberline Ski Patrol
Oct. 1-2: World Cup - Mechanicsburg PA

Oct. 8: Bikles' Hagerstown MD
Oct. 8-9: Mountainside Sports Mechanicsburg PA
Oct. 15-16: Liberty Mountain Fall Fest has a swap
Oct. 22: Whitetail Festival Ski and Board Swap

Nov. 5: Ski Haus in Annapolis
Nov. 5-6: Roundtop Fall Fest has new and used gear
Nov. 5-6: Freestyle in Charlottesville - Oct. 28-29, 2017
Nov. 5-6: Alpine Ski Shop Sterling
Nov. 12-13: Sun and Ski Chantilly
Nov. 12-13: Baltimore Ski Swap - Towson
Nov. 20: Pro-Fit Leesburg (Whitetail Ski Patrol) - 9/19/17
Nov. 25: Wintergreen swap - benefits Wintergreen Ski Patrol

 

[marzNC]

Sounds like the Snowshoe 3-For-All is happening again. Went up to $149 but still a good deal if planning a trip to Snowshoe this season. One opportunity to get the deal is a the early season sale that used to be called The Dilly in Chantilly Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. Has moved to Falls Church but still called The Dilly.

The Snowshoe Facebook Page is the place to find out about other sale dates and locations.

In general, Facebook is a better source of info than static websites these days. Although some shops and resorts have blogs that can be worth checking.

 

[marzNC]

For those in the DC area who are interested in getting boots, Brian Eardley is now with Alpine Ski Shop in Fairfax location. He was at the Ski Shoppe Ltd in Resistertown, MD last season. Best to call first to find out when Brian E. is available.

Brian Beaumont is still a co-owner of Ski Shoppe. He and Brian E. were at the Ski Center in DC before it closed it's doors a few years ago.

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/boot-fitter-in-nova.22017/

The other Brian who is a good boot fitter is at Pro-Fit in Leesburg. That's where the new indoor ski belt is being put together. Should be open in a week or two.

 

[SallyCat]

Blue Mountain in PA is having their tent sale the last weekend in October. It's not a swap, just last year's stuff discounted.

Buckmans' tent sales are Oct. 11-14 and Nov. 8-11. It's both tent sale and consignment/swap, though if you sell anything, you get store credit, not cash.

 

[marzNC]

Looks like the Whitetail Demo Day will be Feb. 16 this year. That's the Friday before Pres. Day weekend. Guess they got tired of having very few runs open at the early Jan. demo day. The advantage of a midweek demo day is that it's not as crowded, assuming you can get there.

I'll be at Taos so definitely won't be at Whitetail.

 

[marzNC]

More ski swap dates for 2017. Leaving the 2016 dates for reference. Post in the thread if you know the 2017 dates. Got some of the 2017 dates below from a DCSki thread.

Buckman's in eastern PA has five locations now after adding Exton to King of Prussia, Montgomeryville, Reading, and Whitehall.

Sept. 19, 2017: Pro-Fit Leesburg (Whitetail Ski Patrol)
Sep. 30-Oct.1, 2017: Dilly in Falls Creek

Oct. 1-2, 2016: World Cup - Mechanicsburg PA
Oct. 7, 2017: Ski Haus in Annapolis
Oct. 7-8, 2017: Alpine Ski Shop in Sterling - benefits Timberline Ski Patrol

Oct. 8, 2016: Bikles' Hagerstown MD
Oct. 8-9, 2016: Mountainside Sports Mechanicsburg PA
Oct. 11-14, 2017: Buckman's
Oct. 15-16, 2016: Liberty Mountain Fall Fest has a swap
Oct. 22, 2016: Whitetail Festival Ski and Board Swap
Oct. 28-29, 2017: Freestyle in Charlottesville
Oct. 29, 2017: Princeton Sport in Columbia - for Liberty Mountain Ski Patrol

Nov. 5, 2016: Ski Haus in Annapolis
Nov. 5-6, 2016: Roundtop Fall Fest has new and used gear
Nov. 4-5, 2017: Alpine Ski Shop Sterling
Nov. 8-11, 2017: Buckman's
Nov. 12-13, 2016: Sun and Ski Chantilly
Nov. 12-13, 2016: Baltimore Ski Swap - Towson
Nov. 24, 2017: Wintergreen swap - benefits Wintergreen Ski Patrol

 

[marzNC]

Snowshoe seems to be trying to hook people during early season. Offering a $99 Early Season Pass that's good from opening day thru Dec. 25. Afterwards can upgrade to a full season pass with full credit for the $99 already paid.

Last spring I thought it was smart of Wachusett to give me credit for a day ticket towards a Late Season Pass. Certainly made it easier to make a decision to go for it. Only needed to ski two more days to make the pass worthwhile, which seemed quite likely at the time. In fact I went more than twice more.

 

[marzNC]

Canaan Valley has announced both an Opening Date and a Closing Date on regional ski forums. Be interesting to see what Timberline manages to do this season.

DCSki 18Oct
"Our ski area will be open every day from Dec. 15, 2017 through March 18, 2018. Single-day lifts tickets for adults will be $52 on weekdays and $68 on weekends. There are also ½-day, two-day, three-day and Value Season (Dec. 15-25, 2017 and March 5-18, 2018) rates available as well as lift ticket/rental equipment combination packages."

 

[marzNC]

Snowshoe has an online special until Jan. 1, 2018. Three lift tickets for $169, limit 10 per household, non-transferable, no black out dates. Window rates are $99/$79/$59 for Weekend/Holiday, Midweek, and Value (before 12/16/17 or after 3/12/18).

 

[marzNC]

SkiSE is revving up for the season. A few places in NC/VA have announced tentative opening dates in November.

Appalachian Ski Mountain – November 17
Massanutten Resort – November 18
Snowshoe Mountain – November 22
Beech Mountain Resort – November 24

Clearly the folks at Massanutten intend to push their new water supply to the limit as soon as possible. I've never seen a mid-November opening date. But it only takes a few nights to get Southern Comfort and Lower Showtime deep enough to open. Supposedly VA is expecting a colder than normal winter season. Since Mnut doesn't rely on natural snow at all, it's just a matter of having confidence that day time temps aren't going to be over 50 for more than a few days after a base gets built.

It did snow at the NC/WV ski areas at the end of October. Snowshoe even started snowmaking.

8.4″ at Timberline Resort [Canaan Valley ten min away]
1″ at Sugar Mountain Resort
1″ at Snowshoe Mountain
1″ at Winterplace
0.5″ at Wolf Ridge
0.2″ TRACE at Cataloochee
0.2″ TRACE at Appalachian

 

[marzNC]

Massanutten plans to test snow guns this weekend . . . in mid-November! Sounds like there may be snow blowing in parts of PA too.

For those Divas in eastern PA, NJ, or western MD, check out Meet On The Hill. There are plans afoot for a few Divas to meet up in mid-December in the Poconos and/or Catskills.

For lurkers or new members who can't find the Meet On The Hill section, it's one of the sections for Divas Only. Need an active account with at least 25 posts. Get involved and then you can see where else Divas are getting together this season.

 

[marzNC]

Oh well, the cold weather didn't quite last long enough. Plus there is rain predicted this week. Going to make it tough to have any skiing in VA before Thanksgiving.

Did confirm that the Demo Weekend by Freestyle of Charlottesville will be Jan. 6-7, 2018 at Massanutten. I plan to be there.

Anyone know the date of the Whitetail Demo Day that's usually in early January?

 

[marzNC]

Anyone planning to ski in WV before Christmas?

Joe Stevens, Exec. Dir. of the WV Ski Areas Assoc., is pretty excited about the cold weather that could mean good skiing by Thanksgiving. SkiSE posted about a WV TV news station report that included comments from Joe. At the end, a meteorologist explains why Snowshoe, Canaan Valley, and Timberline can have good snowmaking weather when the wind blows from the midwest.

 

[marzNC]

According to a Snowshoe homeowner and regular on DCSki, Snowshoe will not open on 11/22 as previously announced. An update is expected on Monday, 11/20. Presumably they will do everything they can to open by the Thanksgiving weekend so they don't have to do the same scramble as last year to create non-skiing activities for those who will be there regardless.

 

[marzNC]

According to Facebook, Snowshoe is looking at opening on Nov. 24.

 

[marzNC]

Snowshoe spent money on tweaking the trails and adding snowmaking power over the summer. My understanding is that the problem for snowmaking lately is that while it's been cold, it's also been too humid for good round-the-clock snowmaking that's the best way to build a base that will last through the inevitable warm spells that will come in Dec and Jan.

". . . 1,000’s of feet of air and water lines were replaced, which will increase snowmaking efficiency, allowing the resort to open terrain more quickly and keep it maintained. Several new high-efficiency snowguns have been added in critical locations like Heisler Way, Whiffletree and Shay’s Revenge. The Resort has also widened several ski trail intersections, put up new trail signage, increased ski in/ski-out access for the Shamrock and Black Bear Crossing neighborhoods and added a new high-powered grooming machine to their fleet. . . ."

https://www.theintermountain.com/sports/local-sports/2017/11/opening-day-set-for-snowshoe/

 

[marzNC]

Anyone who lives within a couple hours drive of Massanutten should take a look at the sale they are having for Full Season Passes. Sale ends Dec. 1, 2017.

 

[Marigee]

For anyone in the DC Metro area looking for used and nearly new equipment there will be a ski swap tomorrow (Sunday, November 19) from 8-4, at Pro-fit Ski and Mountain Sports in Leesburg, VA. This swap benefits the Whitetail Ski Patrol (my patrol.)
https://pro-fitski.com/ski-snowboard/