West Virginia’s Snowshoe Mountain Resort plans to inaugurate the Mid-Atlantic ski season in two short weeks when it begins opening trails. Sub-freezing temperatures have allowed Snowshoe to fire up the snow guns, and the Pocahontas County resort has even received two doses of natural snowfall.

On Thursday morning, Snowshoe’s Joe Stevens documented the results of recent snowmaking and provided the following pictures to DCSki. (The last two pictures were taken Friday morning.)

“I walked down the trail and believe me, there is more snow on the mountain after 40 hours of snowmaking than what was on the mountain when we opened last year,” he reports. “We made snow from 6 p.m. Tuesday to 10 a.m. this morning.”

Warmer temperatures this weekend will put a hold on snowmaking, but Snowshoe plans to fire the guns up again as early as Monday night, when temperatures are expected to drop. If weather remains favorable, Snowshoe should be reporting a decent base depth on limited terrain when the lifts start running on Friday, November 19.

Although Snowshoe is set to be the first resort in the Mid-Atlantic to open, other local resorts are dusting off the snow guns and keeping an eye on the thermometer. West Virginia’s Canaan Valley Resort has set its tentative season opening for November 27, and Seven Springs and Wisp may also have runs open before December.

Photos provided by Snowshoe Mountain Resort.