Timberline, 8 January
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johnfmh - DCSki Columnist
January 9, 2005
Member since 07/18/2001 🔗
1,992 posts
I made some turns today at Timberline. It wasn't St. Moritz but it wasn't all that bad either. In fact, I had a rather enjoyable day. Timberline had three top-bottom runs: White Lightning, Dew Drop, and Salamander. When I started skiing at 10 am, the temperature was 32 and the snow was corn or "firn" snow as they call it in Austria. Not bad at all! Blue skies and sun made skiing even better.

There were no bare spots on Dew Drop or Sally, but the sides of the slopes were shrinking and the base is minimal. White lightning was another story. A bare spot in the middle of the second head wall forced everyone down a narrow path to the right. This path was tracked out and beginning to show some dirt. I made one run on WL before heading back to Dew Drop for the better snow. No need to trash my new skis this early in the season! I suspect WL will close in the next few days unless T-line can patch the bare spot.

The increased traffic on Dew Drop created some moguls by noon, which made the trail harder and for me, more fun. I made my last run on Sally and it was a dream: firn snow and decent cover from top to bottom. I think Sally will last the longest but I must admit that I am skeptical that the resort will be able to make it to ML King Weekend. Rain and high temperatures will continue to plague WV early in the week and given Timberline's lackluster snowmaking, I doubt it can recover fast enough on Friday to stand a chance of offering much for MLK. Right now, its guns are stationed on Thunderstruck. This is crazy in my opinion. They ought to move every gun to White Lightning, Dew Drop, and Lower Heaven so that when the cold weather hits later this week, they can recover those trails fast and get terrain open for the MLK crowds.

PS Hi Connie! You may be in Tahoe but I at least got to ski under the beautiful sunny skies of West Virginia. Sometimes wild is not wonderful.
jimmy
January 10, 2005
Member since 03/5/2004 🔗
2,650 posts
Good Monday Morning. I got to ski for about an hour on Friday, got into the parking lot (empty) about 3:30 just in time for it to start spitting rain. Got to take a tour of the mountain though; it looks like the last weekend in March. Conditions were more like water skiing and I was soaked to the bone. Too wet for a trip to the pub.

We sat out the rain Sat am and got there about 10:00. Had a mixed group of skiers so there was something for everyone with what was open. Salamander was fast, really a nice cruise. What really amazed me was how fast the wind dried things out ande the temp dropped from mid 40's to 28 with 5 wind chill by happy hour.

johnfmh, that path around the barespot on skiers right almost turned into a chute later in the day. It almost felt like you needed to make jump turns to stay in it. We found a line to the left that worked but there were a lot of bad lines out there too, I found most of them.

Saturday's conditions were fun. Skied til about 5:00 and wentin to TP for red eyes just as the evenings entertainment, Saddletramp, was getting started up. During their 2nd set, none other than Doc sat in to play fiddle with the band. That really revved the place up.

You're probalblly right about MLK weekend but I think they'll still have what was open this weekend next. They've got some big piles left in the terrain park and on the race course that they might save until winter returns. I'm not so worried about the temp as the rain. Rain really burns the base up.

Checked Wisp out on the drive down and was suprised (pleasantly) at how much white they're still showing. We'll be staying @ deep creek MLK weekend. Hope to sneak down to TL one day (unless we get snowed in in Garrett county

jimmy
johnfmh - DCSki Columnist
January 10, 2005
Member since 07/18/2001 🔗
1,992 posts
Quote:


johnfmh, that path around the barespot on skiers right almost turned into a chute later in the day. It almost felt like you needed to make jump turns to stay in it. We found a line to the left that worked but there were a lot of bad lines out there too, I found most of them.






Jimmy, most skiers moved over to Dew Drop on Sunday rather than negotiate that chute on White Lightning. If patched, however, the trail should be skiable for a while--the rest of it was in very good condition.

The weather on Sunday really made for delightful corn skiing. We thought we'd just make a couple runs and then leave, but it was so much fun that we skied for a good part of the day. I've complained in the past that Timberline lays too much base down and this slows snowmaking, but for this thaw, that extra base came in handy.

One other thing about Timberline: the lift operators are super. They really know how to manage crowds and get everyone on and off the old lifts safely and efficiently. I know some of these guys by name and they are just true professionals in every sense of the word.
skiTLINE
January 10, 2005
Member since 12/15/2004 🔗
230 posts
I as well was at Tline this past weekend and must say I was rather suprised with how good the conditions were given the regions weather. Canaan Valley slopes looked like a ghost town and a fellow rider up the list told me they had sent folks over to Tline who had reservations at Canaan. I here the end of this week should get quite cold and Timber should be able to quickly fill in spots on slopes which are sketchy. For them to have as many top to bottom runs open really was impressive. I cant complain.
jimmy
January 10, 2005
Member since 03/5/2004 🔗
2,650 posts
Oh yes, Sunday was a great day, I've got the tanburn to prove it. We packed up @ 12:30 w/very tired legs and big SE Grins plastered on our faces. I noticed that a lot of people moved to dew drop. It had that "human rodeo" look from time to time, definitly fun to watch.

The lifties and safety patrol really did a super job getting people up as well as down the hill. It amazes me that those operators remember faces from one year to the next.

skitline- I was curious about Canaan. Looked like they still had some white. Were they not open?

jimmy
skiTLINE
January 10, 2005
Member since 12/15/2004 🔗
230 posts
Jimmy...from what i heard they werent. not sure but they definately did not have the coverage of Tline. Just going off what a fellow rider told me on the way up. he was with this big boy scout group. i swear "Ski Haus" behind Northwoods condos seems like a youth hostile in Europe. Some crazy stuff goes on there.

Ski and Tell

Snowcat got your tongue?

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