Amazing conditions at Snowshoe yestefday. Packed powder, with several places off to the sides of the trails where you could get some cut-up pow turns. Lower Shays was open and was in such great condition, and I am looking forward to skiing it again later in the season when it is bumped up. Lower Ballhooter was a blast - lots of loose snow and several places to get air. Moguls on Knot Bumper were fun. Crowds not too bad, and they seem to be making a concerted effort at Ballhooter lift to actively manange the line. This is my first year with Snowshoe as my ":home" mountain and it has been fun to get to know the area.

A couple non-skiing odditiies from yesterday as well:

1) On the way out we saw a couple fires. The first one was off of route 64 driving west from Charlottesville, and was a pretty impressive site in the early morning darkness. The second was on rt 92 in WV, just before the turn onto rt 66 to go into Cass. This one actually closed the road and forced us to turn around and go thru Marlinton and rt 219. Probably cost us 45 minutes.

2) My first time down Shays I was almost hit by a deer. Well, not exactly almost, but as I was skiing on Upper Shays a deer popped out of the woods and was on a path to intersect me.  Wild and wonderful WV indeed!

 

Heading up this weekend.  Can't wait!!!  Thanks for the report.

Yes, conditons were great this past weekend.  Saturday was awesome with powder stashes even up to the end of the day.  I think the cold kept at least 50% off the mountain.  Never had to wait in lines so we didn't get over to Silver Creek.  I'm sure they had lots of pow to be had.  Favorites of the weekend were Cupp, Knot Bumper, Spruce,, Lower Ball Hooter, Widowmaker and Grabhammer..

I would say the best condtions of the year.  Chundra!

 

 

I'll be at Snowshoe this weekend (MLK) with the fam, staying in a condo at Expedition.  White helmet, grey pants, blue poles, likely blue K2 skis.  If cold / windy / snowing / raining, I'll be in a red Arteryx hardshell, if the weather is nice, a teal Patagonia jacket.  If anyone sees me, feel free to say hi.

wgo wrote:

...

2) My first time down Shays I was almost hit by a deer. Well, not exactly almost, but as I was skiing on Upper Shays a deer popped out of the woods and was on a path to intersect me.  Wild and wonderful WV indeed!

Wow, that's not necessarily something I'd be looking out for!  Nearly every time I've driven to Snowshoe, I've almost been hit by a deer, but that was on the roads and not the slopes.  On the other hand, I have seen deer grazing off to the side of trails at Whitetail, but I don't think the deer appreciated the irony.

wgo wrote:

2) My first time down Shays I was almost hit by a deer. Well, not exactly almost, but as I was skiing on Upper Shays a deer popped out of the woods and was on a path to intersect me.  Wild and wonderful WV indeed!

It happened again! This time to my son, again on Upper Shays. When oh when will Snowshoe do something about these reckless out of control deer?

Just kidding. Still a weird thing to have happen twice.

 

Not surprised you saw some deer on the slopes. A couple of years ago, I was skiing some side country at Timberline with my boys and ran into some people on horse back. Not sure was more surprised. Had to teach my kids some trail ettiquitte.