Mid-Atlantic/SE skiing (PA, NJ, DC, MD, VA, WV, NC) for 2018-19

[ilovepugs]

WHA

A few of the SkiSE boys (men over 45, long time members) are making plans for how they can beat the storm and get settled in slope side to enjoy the deep snow Sun and Mon at Beech or Sugar in the NC mountains. Could be up to 2 FEET!

Governor of NC is asking people to get ready today and then stay put during the storm. The highways around my house in the Raleigh area have been prepped with de-icer already. Snow not expected until Sat afternoon, 12/8.

WHAT. I want to go! My ski gear is with me!

 

[marzNC]

WHAT. I want to go! My ski gear is with me!

Only the most dedicated powder hounds will be skiing at Beech or Sugar this morning. The roads will be virtually impassable in the region most of the day and well into Monday.

There are three men who are SkiSE regulars who got settled in at a condo within walking distance of Beech on Saturday night. All got the permission of their wives to play hooky from other plans. Kenny Griffin wrote Saturday morning that he even changed plans and flew back to Charlotte after working in DC last week instead of going to a family event in PA this weekend (no snow at all). He introduced his wife to snowboarding while they were dating and they were married relatively recently. She obviously knows how important such a historical storm is to him. Will make great stories to tell their children. Kenny has worked for SkiSE for a while. Among other things, he is the tech who sets up a lot of the leisure-activity webcams around the region. David McCue even cancelled a trip to Loveland to see deep snow in NC. As he said 12/7/18 in a guest blog entry on SkiSE: "So, you may ask: how committed am I to this storm? I’ll put it this way, I was scheduled to fly to Colorado Monday morning; I am cancelling that trip and heeding the axiom, “never leave powder to find powder.” There will be plenty more storm cycles out West this season but some years we never see a day like we can expect this Sunday. Although, I have a feeling this may be a season with many refills; I’m not taking chances by missing this one." I've never skied with David, but read his SkiSE articles and trip reports for years. He's a carpenter who hikes and skis "back country" in NC/WV every chance he gets to chance a big storm.

Looking forward to the SkiSE trip reports. But glad I left home yesterday well before the storm. All the roads I traveled in NC and up I-81 in VA/WV/MD/PA were treated on Friday in anticipation of the rain/freezing rain/snow that is expected in the next day or two.

 

[marzNC]

There are three men who are SkiSE regulars who got settled in at a condo within walking distance of Beech on Saturday night.

Oops, they are skiing Sugar today, not Beech. David put pictures of a past powder day at Beech in his article, so I thought he was headed there again. The issue with Beech Mountain is that first the road goes up to the town, then back down, before going up again to the base parking lots. Even with 4WD, it's a pretty tough drive with this sort of snow. Unfortunately, very often someone ignores the warning sign and flashing lights, and then gets stuck. Sugar is right off a main road in the valley.

 

[ilovepugs]

Oops, they are skiing Sugar today, not Beech. David put pictures of a past powder day at Beech in his article, so I thought he was headed there again. The issue with Beech Mountain is that first the road goes up to the town, then back down, before going up again to the base parking lots. Even with 4WD, it's a pretty tough drive with this sort of snow. Unfortunately, very often someone ignores the warning sign and flashing lights, and then gets stuck. Sugar is right off a main road in the valley.

Ahh, brilliant. I was in Western PA this weekend with skis in the trunk, but my sense of geography in this part of the country is not finely developed. The 8 hour detour wouldn’t have worked for me! I’m insanely jealous, though.

 

[marzNC]

Ahh, brilliant. I was in Western PA this weekend with skis in the trunk, but my sense of geography in this part of the country is not finely developed. The 8 hour detour wouldn’t have worked for me! I’m insanely jealous, though.

From western PA, the places in striking distance that were open were 7Springs/Hidden Valley if you were in Pittsburgh. Or perhaps Canaan Valley or Massanutten. But still not worth the driving this early in the season.

Here's my trip report from the first major snowstorm that I managed to catch in early February 2010. That was the season my daughter had a ski buddy who lived in Charlottesville. I dropped my daughter off there before I went to Mnut just as the storm was starting. They weren't good enough to enjoy deep powder. Came on Sunday when the roads were passable. Charlottesville didn't have school all week. But DD and I had to go home. We had a long weekend together planned in advance for the weekend after the storm so the girls and I got a lot out of that storm.

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/tr-massanutten-feb-3-epic-snowstorm.9096/

 

[ilovepugs]

From western PA, the places in striking distance that were open were 7Springs/Hidden Valley if you were in Pittsburgh. Or perhaps Canaan Valley or Massanutten. But still not worth the driving this early in the season.

Here's my trip report from the first major snowstorm that I managed to catch in early February 2010. That was the season my daughter had a ski buddy who lived in Charlottesville. I dropped my daughter off there before I went to Mnut just as the storm was starting. They weren't good enough to enjoy deep powder. Came on Sunday when the roads were passable. Charlottesville didn't have school all week. But DD and I had to go home. We had a long weekend together planned in advance for the weekend after the storm so the girls and I got a lot out of that storm.

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/tr-massanutten-feb-3-epic-snowstorm.9096/

I thought about going to 7Springs on the way home - hence the skis in my car - but with the limited early season terrain, it didn’t seem worth paying the mid-season lift ticket price!

 

[marzNC]

Kind of unusual when 3 of the top 4 ski areas on the Deepest 1-Day Snow Totals for OpenSnow are in North Carolina. (Ski Snowstar is in Illinois.) Must not have a report from Sugar or Beech, which have similar snow totals from today. App, Cat, and Wolf are small hills but have strong followings among locals. Folks drive from Atlanta and Charlotte to ski at Cat and Wolf.

 

[marzNC]

Some snow totals from SkiSE. Clearly depended on location with NC the big winner, more than expected in central VA, and very little in central and northern WV. Snowshoe only got 4". Notice that Wintergreen is farther south than Massanutten, so that's why there was so much difference. While Charlottesville was a bit of a mess, Roanoke really got dumped on this time. That's where the Weather Channel is reporting from for VA. Official total for Raleigh was 7", with Durham at 12" just 25 miles to the northwest.

Appalachian Ski Mountain – 20″ storm total – 24.3″ season
Beech Mountain Resort – 23″ storm total – 33.5″ season
* Sugar Mountain - 20" storm total
Cataloochee Ski Area – 14.6″ storm total – 18″ season
Sapphire Valley – 14.9″ storm total – 15″ season
Wolf Ridge Resort – 13.5″ storm total – 18″ season

Wintergreen Resort – 19″ storm total – 24.3″ season
** Massanutten - 4-6" storm total - ~16" season

Winterplace Resort – 15″ storm total – 20″ season
Snowshoe Resort – 4″ storm total – 29″ season
Canaan Valley – 0″ snow from this storm and 25.8″ on the season.

* from Weather Channel on 12/10/18
** from Massanutten Daily Report on 12/10/18

 

[marzNC]

Per usual, Massanutten has an advantage over Wintergreen after big snowstorms because of accessibility. So while Wintergreen has more fresh snow, it's harder to reach because it's an upside-down resort with a climb to the top of the mountain required. Not only that, Wintergreen lost power early on Monday morning. They hope to be open soon. 4WD is needed to get to Wintegreen today. I expect US33 is probably clear between Harrisonburg and Massanutten. The private contractors that clear the snow on resort at Massanutten do a great job all night long for big storms.

 

[marzNC]

By 12/15/18, all of the ski areas in the southeast will be open. That includes Ober Gatlinburg in TN, which is very unusual. A lot more trails than usual for mid-December in NC. Silver Creek at Snowshoe is opening on Friday.

Should be a great holiday season, which all the ski areas/resorts in NC/TN/VA need after a few years of warm temps in late December. Of course it will be crowded. But for those of us who want the option to ski in the SE, all those dollars are important.

 

[ilovepugs]

By 12/15/18, all of the ski areas in the southeast will be open. That includes Ober Gatlinburg in TN, which is very unusual. A lot more trails than usual for mid-December in NC. Silver Creek at Snowshoe is opening on Friday.

Should be a great holiday season, which all the ski areas/resorts in NC/TN/VA need after a few years of warm temps in late December. Of course it will be crowded. But for those of us who want the option to ski in the SE, all those dollars are important.

That is fantastic! I think it will be raining at massanutten and the general area this next weekend. I may try to drive out there the following weekend. The Snow Time resorts are still making snow and not yet open.

 

[Marigee]

Whitetail will not open this weekend. The heavy rains predicted, along with the groomers, would greatly diminish what snow has been made. Couple that with the likely low turnout and you have an economic disincentive towards opening as well. I don't know if Liberty and Roundtop will be open, but I suspect not.

 

[EeveeCanSki]

It looks like per Roundtop's FB page that they will also not open. It was indicated to someone who asked about Sunday that the resort would wait until after the rains for the snow stock to dry out. I was really wishing hard for a ski this weekend at one of the three local to me but I completely understand. I hope this will keep things looking good for New Year's, which would be my next window of opportunity. I'm ready to see the hills again!

 

[Ski Sine Fine]

Finally, Liberty & Whitetail are scheduled to open this Sunday, 12/23. Here in northern VA it was in the 60’s yesterday. I started to despair for the local hills.

 

[marzNC]

Finally, Liberty & Whitetail are scheduled to open this Sunday, 12/23. Here in northern VA it was in the 60’s yesterday. I started to despair for the local hills.

From what I've heard, there is plenty of snow to withstand a warm spell. Way better conditions in the mid-Atlantic than a few years ago when Christmas week was really thin.

 

[marzNC]

Inches of snow in the NC and WV mountains this morning! But too warm in VA for snowmaking.

Whitetail, Liberty, and Roundtop are open today although not too much terrain yet. Still there will be something open for Christmas week.

 

[marzNC]

Massanutten is hosting the K2/SheJumps International Women's Day event again. Will be on Jan. 12, 2019. That's the same weekend that Freestyle of Charlottesville will have a demo tent set up at the base of Lift 6. I plan to be around all weekend.

 

[Ski Sine Fine]

Liberty is closed until further notice. Whitetail & Roundtop are still open. I wonder why Liberty couldn’t keep the slopes covered? I didn’t think their distance apart makes such a difference.

 

[HikenSki]

Liberty is closed until further notice. Whitetail & Roundtop are still open. I wonder why Liberty couldn’t keep the slopes covered? I didn’t think their distance apart makes such a difference.

I signed up for the Whitetail Women's Day on the 18th. Really hoping they have some decent terrain open. Husband coming with to check out the place and we will ski after my session ends. We are here at Snowshoe this week and it is so bumpy yet icy in sections. Very tiring always needing to be on point and alert every second because it is so variable. Sigh... Lot of snowpack lost the last two weeks.

 

[Lmk92]

And it was such an exciting start to the season...:(