No, I’m not kidding. Despite the recent mild temperatures, every ski resort in the region (that is open) HAS good, side-to-side coverage on the slopes for today and Sunday. This should be a nice weekend to play on the slopes, and there are still EIGHT of SIXTEEN ski areas to play on within the Southeast and mid-Atlantic.
Three of the remaining eight resorts (Appalachian, Timberline and Massanutten) will call it quits on the season after Sunday’s sessions, but that will leave four ski areas (Beech, Cataloochee, Sugar and Snowshoe) looking to extend their seasons through NEXT Saturday or Sunday. Wisp is not saying just yet.
4 of 6 North Carolina Ski Areas are still open.
Appalachian Ski Mountain is holding their annual Meltdown Games today and Sunday and will call it quits at 5pm on Sunday. Beech Mountain Resort, Cataloochee Ski Area and Sugar Mountain Resort all seem to be pointing to Saturday, March 26th or Sunday, March 27th as a closing date.
2 of 4 West Virginia Ski Areas are still open.
Timberline Resort looks very good today, and as I was there last weekend, I can tell you there was plenty of good snow on that mountain. However, they have closed down Twister and they are having some fun and games today and Sunday and closing the for the season on Sunday, March 20th.
Snowshoe Mountain Resort is pointing to Sunday, March 27th as their closing day for skiing and snowboarding. If you want to play on the Silver Creek slopes – you will need to get their today as they will stop night sessions tomorrow at 4:30.
1 of 4 Virginia Ski Areas are still open. – Massanutten Resort.
Massanutten is the flag bearer for the Virginia ski areas and Kenny Hess sent me this nice shot by Snowmaking Supervisor, Jesse Reist of just how good they looked on Friday.
Wisp Resort in Maryland is still open and it look like they may be staying open through March 27th.
“Farmed-Fresh Mashed Potatoes” Available at Your Favorite Ski Hill This Weekend!
There will be SOME Thin and Narrow coverage at most every resort with the possible exception of Appalachian this weekend. As I was checking in on the LIVE SKI CAMS this morning, I witnessed the grooming teams at each resort whipping those mashed potatoes into shape. They were ‘taking a little from here, and placing over there’ and creating swathes of clean, white snow over quickly diminishing base depths.
To be clear – it’s hard to believe just how good the slopes look. Many times over the years – at this point on the calendar, I’ve seen resorts with only narrow strips of snow left to ride. Things are MUCH better than that which is a huge testament to the snowmaking techs and technology that allowed for more snow to be made with less than stellar temperatures on and off this season. It is also a testament to the grooming crews and aggressive management teams who have been willing to work harder/longer throughout this season.
This won’t be a record-breaking, skier-visit season for any ski area in the region, AND it won’t be one that management teams might classify as a “top five year”, but for probably eleven of the sixteen resorts in the region – they will tell you that it has been another good one. In this case “good” means profitable and that’s a great thing as a good share of those profits will go right back into further enhancements in snowmaking and more.
Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse of a Different Kind
Over the last several years, THE WEATHER CHANNEL and other weather resources have resorted to naming snowstorms and classifying some of the more prolific snow storms as snowmageddon or something of a snowpocalypse. We HAD some decent snowstorms this season, however, this season WILL go down as a SUB PAR natural snowfall season.
As most of our readers have come to know – we archived every flake of snow all season long, for every ski area in the region, and we have done so for the past 18 of our 26 years of doing this website. We are the ONLY resource that does that…and as usual this time each year – I share you the math so you don’t have to. All of these figures are available by clicking on each resort link on SkiSoutheast and then clicking on “mountain stats”.
However, here is a quick-glance compilation of all of the data.
Note that the Virginia ski resort picked up 90-100% of their average snowfall this season, with the exception of Homestead. The West Virginia resorts saw from 38%-47% of normal snowfall this season and the North Carolina ski areas about 55-60% of normal.
We also shared each resort’s “marketing number” that they share is their average snowfall each season, and you’ll see that we also have shared their actual average snowfall for the last 18 seasons. It might be time to adjust some of those marketing brochures.
**** This column reflects the biggest snowfall totals within the last eighteen years.
CLOSING SHARABLES
Snowshoe posted this cool video!
Beech Mountain pride…
Runs for Buns 2022 was a HUGE success! Thanks to all of the participants, community partners, and donors, they raised $45,740 for the Colon Cancer Coalition. The Colon Cancer Coalition uses these funds to raise awareness, increase screenings, and help colon cancer patients and their families. Thank you to everyone for supporting a cause so dear to our hearts.💙
That’s it for today. Email me if you like at [email protected]