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

marzNC

Angel Diva
Appalachian expects to open on Nov. 20. They are going with a reservation system for lift access.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Snowmaking has started in NC! Cataloochee and Sugar have had guns on. It's supposed to be in the 30s at my house tonight so certainly should be cold enough in the mountains for overnight snowmaking for a few nights. The sooner a base can be built on the core trails, the sooner a date can be set for opening day.

Snowshoe has been making snow in several sections of the resort. Remains to be seen when Silver Creek can get open. That really helps to spread people out. As an Alterra resort, Snowshoe is not requiring reservations for passholders.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Appalachian is putting in a reservation system. Presumably for lift tickets and perhaps rentals too. It's a pretty small place so not much extra room to space people out. Still planning on being open on Nov. 20.

NOV 12, 2020
Online Ticket Platform Update
Development is ongoing for our new comprehensive online reservations platform for the 2020-21 season. We are currently conducting comprehensive testing and finalizing small details to make the user experience as simple and intuitive as possible. We now hope to have this reservation platform online by Thursday, Nov 19. We apologize for any inconvenience, but guests can be assured no reservations are being accepted until the site is live so there will be ample availability when the new platform launches. We appreciate your patience, think cold and snow!
 

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
Snowmaking has started in NC! Cataloochee and Sugar have had guns on. It's supposed to be in the 30s at my house tonight so certainly should be cold enough in the mountains for overnight snowmaking for a few nights. The sooner a base can be built on the core trails, the sooner a date can be set for opening day.
The problem is how warm it's getting during the day. It's getting up into the 50-60's here, even tho it's in the 30's at night. Is it cooler there?
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
The problem is how warm it's getting during the day. It's getting up into the 50-60's here, even tho it's in the 30's at night. Is it cooler there?
What I know is that SkiSE is starting to report about snowmaking. Highs around my house are supposed to be in the 40s during the day on Wed. The NC mountains are 3000-4000 feet higher, so that's why there can be enough snowmaking to have a ski season from mid-Dec thru mid-March most winters.

Did you know that Beech Mountain is at 5506 feet? Is the highest town in the eastern U.S. The summit of the ski area is close to the the town (maybe 2 blocks long). You drive thru the town, down the hill, then back up to the base parking lots. Then ride up the lifts. From the top of the lifts you can look down on the town.

Southeast ski areas are relatively small and can usually open core trails after about 48 hours of non-stop snowmaking. Often have to start over more than once during the season after a thaw, which usually happens in January and then sometimes again in February. The goal is to have open slopes for the winter break, MLK weekend, and Pres. Day weekend. The oldest ski areas in the southeast have been around since the 1960s. Those that survived into the 21st century continually update their snowmaking infrastructure.
 

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
I saw the webcam on the Cataloochie website -- they certainly seem to be getting a good amt of snow down! And no, I didn't know that Beech was that high. Well, now I'm really getting stoked to get skiing!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
For a sense of how weird southeast snowmaking can be, take a look at the SkiSE forecast for 2020-21. The meteorologist works in Charlotte and has been doing snow and cold weather forecasts for quite a while. Sounds like my home mountain, Massanutten could be in good shape. WV should be decent regardless.

 

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
Great video -- thanks!
 

HikenSki

Angel Diva
Snowshoe announced today they are delaying their opening. Not surprising given how warm it has been lately. It is nice to see some flakes falling tho. No Christmas break trip for us this year. Keeping fingers crossed for our annual Feb trip. Really hoping to to check out Timberline when they open!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Snowshoe announced today they are delaying their opening. Not surprising given how warm it has been lately. It is nice to see some flakes falling tho. No Christmas break trip for us this year. Keeping fingers crossed for our annual Feb trip. Really hoping to to check out Timberline when they open!
Yep, now Snowshoe plans to open the slopes on Dec. 4, instead of Nov. 25 for Thanksgiving turns. My guess is that it's not really due to lack of cold weather but more that Snowshoe wants to have as much terrain open as possible for the first few days. With pent up demand and no reservation system in place, might have been hard to keep everyone safe. Ideally if they can get Silver Creek open that would certainly help.

Snowshoe was open for summer activities, so they have experience with dealing with capacity limits.

I'm hoping to get in a day trip from Massanutten when I'm there is January to check out the new lifts at Timberline. It's been very exciting watching the videos in the past few months. Also want to use my Indy Pass to check out Canaan Valley for the first time.
 

HikenSki

Angel Diva
Good point about capacity. We were there last Thanksgiving and the limited terrain definitely packed people in, but it was to be expected given the time of year and demand.
 

TNtoTaos

Angel Diva
Yep, now Snowshoe plans to open the slopes on Dec. 4, instead of Nov. 25 for Thanksgiving turns. My guess is that it's not really due to lack of cold weather but more that Snowshoe wants to have as much terrain open as possible for the first few days. With pent up demand and no reservation system in place, might have been hard to keep everyone safe. Ideally if they can get Silver Creek open that would certainly help.

Snowshoe was open for summer activities, so they have experience with dealing with capacity limits.

I'm hoping to get in a day trip from Massanutten when I'm there is January to check out the new lifts at Timberline. It's been very exciting watching the videos in the past few months. Also want to use my Indy Pass to check out Canaan Valley for the first time.
Keep me in the loop on that -- I'd be up for doing a loop around those resorts.
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
#%^&&#$$! Pardon my French. PA just implemented quarantine requirements for all out-of-state visitors. All my Epic ski hills are there! I hope things vastly improve over the next 4-5 weeks so I can go ski around Christmas! This is just getting worse and worse.
 

HikenSki

Angel Diva
Oh no! Well I had plans to ski mainly Whitetail this winter but unless things change, we might not be getting in any ski days, especially if WV also implements quarantine. Ugh. I get it for the need to be safe but it's just downright frustrating that skiing may be nixed this year.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Oh no! Well I had plans to ski mainly Whitetail this winter but unless things change, we might not be getting in any ski days, especially if WV also implements quarantine. Ugh. I get it for the need to be safe but it's just downright frustrating that skiing may be nixed this year.
I will be very surprised if WV tried to implement travel restrictions.

PA shares borders with NY and NJ, which suffered a lot in the spring and put travel restrictions in place months ago. PA residents were exempt from NY travel restrictions because it would've been totally impractical. There weren't even any signs on the Interstate about the existence of the NY Travel Form when crossing the border from PA a week ago. I would guess there has been some discussion between the Governors' offices lately as both PA and NY case numbers increased.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
There will be skiing in NC during Thanksgiving week. Sugar announced Nov. 19 as their opening date. Usually once Sugar opens, they stay open even when it's mostly mud at the base with just a little snow for loading the lift.

Northern WV saw 3-5 inches of natural snow as the cold front moved through in the last day or two. :snow:
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Sugar is open today, Nov. 19. Cataloochee opens tomorrow for day sessions. Won't be surprised if they close for a few days next week when temps go back up. Often only open Fri-Sun during early season for a few weeks.

Beech is waiting until there is likely to be consistently cold temps, which is pretty typical. App is the same mode after hoping they could get open by Nov. 20. Mother Nature is more the issue than the pandemic for skiing in North Carolina.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Sounds like snowmaking conditions might be pretty decent for WV and VA this winter. The long term forecast for Dec-Feb is more iffy for NC/TN. But if the southeast ski resorts can get a base built on core trails by Christmas, they have plenty of experience dealing with the warm spells that always happen in Jan and Feb at some point. All of them have increased their ability in recent years to lay down pretty deep snow int 24-72 hours of cold temperatures.

Nov. 22, Ski Southeast
Seven Top Meteorologists Share Their 2020-2021 Winter Forecast For The Ski Resorts Of The Southeast
https://www.skisoutheast.com/seven-...orecast-for-the-ski-resorts-of-the-southeast/
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
As @artistinsuburbia noted elsewhere, Snowshoe delayed opening until Dec. 4. Just not enough cold weather to get enough trails open for the Thanksgiving weekend. That's not particularly unusual though.

The latest weather forecast on SkiSE sounded pretty good for VA and WV in the coming week. I think most places will manage to get open by the weekend of Dec. 12-13 if they don't make it by Dec. 5-6. Warm temps may be a bigger factor for NC/TN.
 

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