Mid-Atlantic/Southeast skiing (PA, NJ, DC, MD, VA, WV, NC, TN) for 2024-25

[marzNC]

Winter in back in NC, VA, WV, PA! Daytime snowmaking happening all over the region to recover from the warm temps last week.

Snowmaking in progress at Massanutten on the upper mountain as of lunch time, Jan. 2. I'll be there next week.

The cold arctic blast is supposed to last for two weeks according to the current forecast. The snow conditions in the southeast and mid-Atlantic is going to be fantastic for MLK weekend.

 

[kmb5662]

Skied at JFBB today (my first time ever going there) and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of coverage they had with the recent rain and warm spell. Pretty firm with a few death cookies here and there but nothing too terrible all things considered. VERY windy and started to get pretty busy by lunchtime. Lots of young kids- I am guessing some are still off of school until next week + blackout dates are no longer in effect.

Beforehand I was at Elk on the 30th and they had some brown/thin spots in some areas (Lenape towards the bottom was is really rough shape) but conditions were otherwise soft and slushy. They didn't have many lifts running esp for a holiday but it wasn't very busy either, which is honestly sad from a busine$$ standpoint.

 

[marzNC]

Snowmaking all over the southeast this morning. I would guess in PA as well.

Northern VA bracing for heavy snow and probably a mix with sleet and freezing rain coming in on Sunday, Jan. 5. Snowshoe reported 10 inches already, with a bit more expected before the storm system blows out of WV. My plan is to get onto the mountain at Massanutten tomorrow before the roads are impacted too much.

 

[marzNC]

Cataloochee was one of the founding partners for the Indy Pass. It's well known for opening early and closing relatively late in the spring because of great snowmaking. People in the Asheville area, as well as folks who drive from Charlotte or Atlanta or eastern TN have been enjoying skiing at Cat for decades. The big news is that an old double is going to be replaced in 2025 with a quad lift. The Omigosh lift goes to the peak and accesses essentially all the trails except the bunny slope that has a magic carpet.

January 4, 2025

OMIGOSH!!! CATALOOCHEE SKI AREA ANNOUNCES NEW QUAD LIFT!

CATALOOCHEE SKI AREA ANNOUNCES NEW QUAD LIFT Maggie Valley, N.C. – Cataloochee Ski Area, home to great skiing in the great Smokies since 1961, has announced the purchase of...

www.skisoutheast.com

 

[tinymoose]

December 21, 2024

Steepest slope in Pa. draws skiers, snowboarders to Laurel Mountain Ski Resort for opening day

For Marnie Golden, having the steepest ski slope in the state just 20 minutes away from her house is a point of hometown pride. Golden, 17, of Ligonier Township was 9 when she started skiing at Laurel Mountain. Lower Wildcat, the steepest slope in Pennsylvania, is her favorite there. “I

triblive.com

Today I learned White Lightning isn't the steepest trail in PA.

 

[marzNC]

Today I learned White Lightning isn't the steepest trail in PA.

Not necessarily. I doubt the writer knows much about Montage. There was also a short steep section in western PA at Denton that was called "steepest in PA" when those slopes were open.

According to SteepSeeker, White Lightning is clearly steeper than the steepest slope at Laurel Mountain. It's a relatively new website that's fun to check out when comparing named trails.

 

[BlizzardBabe]

I haven't posted in the last 2-3 weeks b/c I've been too busy skiing. Massanutten got off to one of the best early season starts ever. We've had terrific man-made conditions. They've run out of water twice since the guns started blowing. Fortunately, we've gotten some natural snow today -- of course, I'm back at work and having to resort to snowshoeing on the golf course . . .

No Hessitation opened at noon yesterday, but was far too crowded to bother. Pardon my French, but every swinging dick was on it for bragging rights and it was downright dangerous. Best to save it for weekdays.

MAKattack should be open this week - if not today. They've been working on it the last several days. I'll take upper MAKattack over No Hess any day.

I'll be skiing Thursday - Sunday this week b/c of the DC shutdown for President Carter's funeral. I'll dedicate a few turns to his memory on Thursday.

 

[marzNC]

I started skiing at Mnut after lunch yesterday. Left NC early in the morning in order to make sure I made it before the snowstorm started. Staying on the mountain and decided buying groceries so we could cook a couple dinners was the best approach.

No Hessitation opened at noon yesterday, but was far too crowded to bother. Pardon my French, but every swinging dick was on it for bragging rights and it was downright dangerous. Best to save it for weekdays.

What I heard during a lift ride with one of the long time instructors is that the initial snow coverage was thin and the drop off to the ground on the edges was sharp. His instructor friends decided to wait for a better day.

Today No Hessitation wasn't bad. Of course, it's still flat. The college students lapping Peak were staying on other trails for the most part.

MAKattack should be open this week - if not today. They've been working on it the last several days. I'll take upper MAKattack over No Hess any day.

Upper and Lower MAKAttack were open this morning. Upper is still flat, but has plenty of snow. Be interesting to see if any more grooming is done before the weekend.

Per usual Upper Showtime and Paradice had the best snow. Mueller's was more fun today than yesterday, and not that busy even late morning. I saw more people than usual on Lower Mass Transit, which had good snow.

Based on what I measured with my glove on the edge of Pacesetter, Mnut got 6-7 inches overnight. Started snowing a bit around 4pm, but not that much more is expected.

Digging out at 8:30am, Jan. 6


Trees next to Pacesetter

 

[marzNC]

Cross-posting a mini-TR by @Amplify on Jan. 13 about Montage:

@marzNC I wanted to thank you again for putting Montage on my radar. We went yesterday and had a GREAT time. They were basically 100% open (which I found really impressive and surprising) and my kids and I skied happily for the entire day. Cannonball was the group favorite, as well as the little crossover trails like Rattler, Sidewinder, etc, but everything was just really fantastic.

Note that Montage is on the Indy Pass. Something to consider for future seasons.

 

[Skac1919]

Note that Montage is on the Indy Pass. Something to consider for future seasons.

Oh nice, hadn’t realized this! Between there and Wisp some solid Indy long-weekend options from the Baltimore/DC area.

 

[marzNC]

Not going to add AL to the thread title for the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast but Cloudmont in Alabama will have open slopes for the 2024-25 season! It's operated by volunteers. Needs lots of help from Mother Nature to get enough snow on the slopes to open.

January 13, 2025

https://www.powder.com/news/skiers-celebrate-alabama-open

. . .
Over this past weekend, Alabama's only ski area, Cloudmont, opened fully for the first time in five years. Following a winter storm warning for the area, the ski area received 1-2" of snow, and with a little help from man-made snowmaking efforts, it proved just barely enough to cover the area's modest slopes.

Cloudmont opened for a half day of skiing at 1 p.m. on Saturday, January 11, 2025 and plans to be open, conditions dependent, through MLK weekend. The ski area will be open today, January 13, 2025 for night skiing only.
. . ."

 

[marzNC]

MLK weekend is going to be very popular in the southeast and mid-Atlantic. I expect that the resorts that limit day tickets will sell out on Saturday and/or Sunday.

I'll be skiing with friends at Massanutten Sat, Sun, and MLK Day. The weather forecast has the potential for iffy weather on Sat. Although if that happens, could be good if beginners and those who don't get on snow often decide to skip that day. It will be too warm for snowmaking in any case. Although in my experience Mnut doesn't blow snow during open hours on holidays unless absolutely necessary. The snowpack is so deep at this point, it would take a warm spell of more than a week to be in any danger of having to close any trail.

 

[sorcamc]

Anyone up to meet at JF POCONOS tomorrow?

 

[kmb5662]

Went to Blue Mtn today and HOLY DEATH COOKIES. It was like trying to ski on a gravel driveway on a bunch of runs. Given conditions I headed to the bunny slope to work on some drills (if you saw someone falling a lot trying to do some 1 ski skiing today that was me ) and then bounced.

 

[Amplify]

Oh nice, hadn’t realized this! Between there and Wisp some solid Indy long-weekend options from the Baltimore/DC area.

This is our first year on Indy Pass and I am honestly LOVING it! So far we have skied at Berkshire East, Magic, Bousquet, and Montage. We will be at Catamount tomorrow as well but that's a school trip so I'm not counting it as Indy Pass-inspired outings. My other goals to try out this season are Pat's Peak (this had been my plan after New Year's but their blackout period extended, alas - it prompted me to head to Magic instead, though, which was an amazing win), Ragged, Big Bear, Shawnee, and Mohawk. With possibilities of some other places like Whaleback, Dartmouth Skiway, possibly West. I'm trying to make a late-season overnight trip to Jay happen but still TBD. Now that skiing so many days at such a variety of places is wildly more affordable due to the pass, I am now finding that my limit is taking time off work to fit in all the skiing I suddenly have much easier access to - the next obstacle to navigate! Especially if I try to fit in and spring for some of my non-Indy local faves like Plattekill etc.

I was impressed by Montage. We had a really great time and I was shocked they were basically 100% open. I totally would have missed that it's on Indy if not for MarzNC calling it out, because I was just sorting resorts by "East" and didn't realize PA got sorted into a different region. I had never even heard of it before; I had a strong Vermont bias and always had a kind of idea that if I'm driving to a slope, I'm heading north and east - it never occurred to me to look west (I mean outside of REALLY WEST). I have since corrected that error and now I always just look at the full resort map, because it would have been a travesty to miss Montage.

 

[tinymoose]

Oh yay, I'm really glad you enjoyed my "home" mountain.

 

[marzNC]

I was impressed by Montage. We had a really great time and I was shocked they were basically 100% open. I totally would have missed that it's on Indy if not for MarzNC calling it out, because I was just sorting resorts by "East" and didn't realize PA got sorted into a different region. I had never even heard of it before; I had a strong Vermont bias and always had a kind of idea that if I'm driving to a slope, I'm heading north and east - it never occurred to me to look west (I mean outside of REALLY WEST). I have since corrected that error and now I always just look at the full resort map, because it would have been a travesty to miss Montage.

Glad you are now considering Indy locations not that far west of the Hudson Valley.

I've heard good things about improvements in recent years at Greek Peak in central NY. Haven't skied there but have stopped by during the summer on the way north to Lake Placid.

If going to Plattekill (not Indy, open Fri-Sun), perhaps use Indy to check out West Mountain just north of Albany. Bonus for a shopper for outdoor gear is that Queensbury has outlets for LL Bean and Eddie Bauer.

 

[marzNC]

The southeast is having a phenomenal winter. The amount of natural snow up to now is far above average in NC, TN, VA, WV. Snowmaking conditions were great the past few weeks so essentially all the ski hills will be 100% open for MLK weekend.

Here's the SkiSE forecast for the upcoming week.

 

[marzNC]

@Amplify : click on the link for a post on NYSkiBlog with a few good pics of a powder day at Plattekill. Can be well worth paying for lift tickets if a couple slow lifts and a small unpaved parking lot aren't deterrents. Apparently had a crowd for MLK weekend. Some might have been people unhappy with snow conditions lately at Hunter. Windham is limiting ticket sales on busy days. Belleayre has good snowmaking lately, but issues with parking from what I understand.

 

[Amplify]

@Amplify : click on the link for a post on NYSkiBlog with a few good pics of a powder day at Plattekill. Can be well worth paying for lift tickets if a couple slow lifts and a small unpaved parking lot aren't deterrents. Apparently had a crowd for MLK weekend. Some might have been people unhappy with snow conditions lately at Hunter. Windham is limiting ticket sales on busy days. Belleayre has good snowmaking lately, but issues with parking from what I understand.

Awesome, thank you so much! We are not bothered by slow lifts at all - I learned to ski at Smuggs on what I'm sure must be the same two-seater lifts my kids now ride there each year, so we know how to sit and enjoy the scenery, lol! They were AMAZED by the high-speed quad at Berkshire East on Monday. It wasn't their first ever but I guess it was their first of the season so it was a real jaw-drop moment for them.

I rarely can muster up the energy for Belleayre (the parking schlep, the crowds, the specific bro-y demographic that acts like it's an 80s ski movie...). If I'm driving that way I would almost always prefer to drive a little further and go to Plattekill.

You always have the best intel! Elsewhere you also mentioned West and I totally am thinking of building a stopover there into our annual Smuggs drive. We pass right by it on 87 so I'm thinking of just leaving a day early, stopping at West which is about the halfway point time-wise, skiing for the rest of the day, sleeping nearby wherever is cheapest that night, and then finishing the drive up the next day on our check-in/arrival day. Possibly also doing another stop there on the way home a week later, if we have the presence of mind to pack the car somewhat sanely on our check-out day (big "if").