I just put a yardstick in the snow pile on top of the wood container on my deck at the Summit condos. The yardstick sunk fully into the snow... 36 inches!!!!!! All of that in less than a week, about 24 inches of that in the past four days.

The conditions this afternoon were more than excellent. Superb. Outstanding. Incredible. The snow is so deep that it allows skiing between the trails among the trees. Eat yor heart out Colorado.

Yes it's cold... Right now, 9 PM on Tuesday, it is 9 degrees and with blizzard conditions. The heavy snow warnings continue until tomorrow. Snow in the forecast until the end of the week...

Knot Bumper and Grabhammer, the two black diamonds on each side of the detachable Ballhooter lift, were absolutely a dream. With very little and I mean little traffic, it resembled Snowmass rather than Snowshoe.

As far as the lines... What lines?

Seventh Heaven here, gents... Will be here for another two weeks!!!

Wow... thats in the SAME WV I live in??

Here in Wardensville it was nearly 40 today and most all of the paltry 5" we got has nearly melted.

My big problem now is that early tomorrow I have to drive to Charleston's Yeager airport to send off my Florida-based family and the mountain is pretty much locked tight. Today the shuttle buses barely moved as many of the workers couldn't make it up the mountain... I will drive down the mountain with chains and hopefully take them off somewhere in Marlinton...

..... ENVY!!! .....

I was there saturday and me and my friends and a dorky grin on our faces all day. I can only imagine what its like now.

Family owns in D @ Summit (also on the first floor). Couldn't make it up this past weekend and the only shot I have left is the week before Easter which sucks because Silvercreek will be closed (never got to ski any bumps on Bear Claw this year).

What do you think of all the planned improvements?

MadMonk:
Planned improvements? At Summit or generally? ... do you know something we don't know about land expansion, upgrades, additions etc.?
I wonder if the environmental impact study has been completed yet and what are the implications for new runs on Basin side and Western Territories?

Didn't mean to raise any alarm. I was speaking of the improvements to be done over the summer at Summit. The owners recently voted to approve the proposal. It includes replacing the siding, adding decks to all the units (only the first floor has sizeable decks now), repairs to the footers (if needed), and an improved facade incorporating the lodgepole theme that the rest of the village is incorporating, and improved entrances to each building.

I think this weekend is THE WEEKEND. By that I mean, the best weekend of the year with respect to conditions and terrain in WV. Lou's report on Snowshoe and Chip's WG report have me seriously thinking about blowing a leave day on Friday to squeeze in three more days of skiing at Timberline.

Powder is a rare commodity in this region--something not to be taken lightly.

As of 4:00PM today Snowshoe is reporting 31 inches of powder from this storm and aftermath, and it is still snowing. Temperatures are cold and it is not supposed to go above freezing through Sunday. REAL POWDER...it just doesn't get better than this in this area.
The Colonel

What a great birthday present.

The down side: it is a driving mess and will be so till probably Friday. The temperature now at midnight is 3 degrees with about a 35 - 40 mile wind, blowing snow, and everything between Marlinton to the South and Seneca Rocks to the North is a mess. Driving up the mountain is not a pretty sight... I just drove to Charleston and back, from Marlinton to Snowshoe it was miserable. A normally 3 hour ride was 5 hours

Any DCSkiers coming this weekend?

Having told about the driving mess, however, the conditions by this weekend once the winds get normal, will be awesome to say the least...

I'm planning on heading down late Friday night/early Saturday morning. Probably make the drive at 3am'ish from DC, so I can ski when the lifts open. Girlfriend's not crazy about it, but she can sleep in the car on the drive. We'll stay Saturday night, and ski Sunday as well.

My only worry is the roads. Specifically, I'll be driving a late model BMW coupe. Rear wheel drive and summer tires don't do well at all on snow. I'm thinking maybe I should rent an SUV? Unfortunately, that just adds more cost to the trip, and I'm trying to make it budget...

Reisen .. or anyone else heading up to SS this weekend:

Need a tow?

We''ll be arriving at SS tonight so will have a good idea of conditions. If you want, I can publish the conditions on this thread some time this evening after 20:00. Would that help?

Reisen has a clever username--it means "travel" in German.

Kudos to John. First person on any message board to get the reference. Most people just think its after the candy.

Kann jemand Deutsch sprechen? Ich hab' dort Skilaufen gelernt. Am Ostereich hab ich meistens Skireisen gemacht, aber niemals im Bad Gastein oder Dachstein Tauern. Ich hab an einem Landeskarte gekucht, und die beiden Orten sind in der nahe von Zell Am Zee, wo ich sehr gern reisen.

Anyway, I'd love to hear conditions from Snowshoe, both ski and road conditions. I'm thinking I might play it safe and rent the SUV, as getting stuck in the mountains could be ugly.

Reisen:

Your Username and the fact that you drive a BMW in some way connected you to Germany. I hope you also ski on Volkls.

I don't speak German but my wife does and she tutors me in it when we travel to Deutschland or the Ostereich. From your response, I take it that you've never skied Bad Gastein or Schladming but you've spent some time at Zell Am Zee. Am I correct?

PS I think it is fair to call DCSki.com a Skigemeinschaft.

You're right on, John. I haven't skied either of those areas, but have spent a lot of time at Zell Am Zee, Kaprun, etc.

I spent 9 years living in Germany, as well as a few years each in Madrid, Holland, and Great Britain. I'm sure I'm not the only military-brat, given their affinity for settling in the DC area.

My BMW was actually bought in Germany and shipped over, as opposed to bought from a US dealership. Saved roughly $10k, minus $800 for shipping (having it trucked from the German dealership to Bremershaven, then loaded on a ship and dropped off in Charleston, SC) and $1000 in import tariffs.

Oddly enough, I'm a dedicated K2 skier, having only strayed once to Dynastar, which I had a negative experience with (the Dynastar 4X4's were great skis, but defective, and Dynastar's customer service was horrible!). I think I still have my Merlin V's somewhere, but currently I'm riding on K2 Apache V Force's (this year's version of last year's Apache X).

Still looking for anyone who's up at snowshoe on how the slopes are. I'm renting an SUV tonight then heading up early tomorrow morning. If anyone sees a 25 year old in a red Arcteryx hardshell, black Fate pants, and blue K2's, it'll be me. I'll likely be failing miserable at skiing bumps!

Hallo Reisen:

Ich auch kann Deutch, aber es ist sehr lang dass ich Deutch gesproked oder gescheiben haben.

-Eine frage... Wie sagt mann "gekucht" auf Englisch?

Hola Reisen! Como estas? No hablo la lengua de Goethe pero sino la de Cervantes...

Been at Snowshoe for the last two weeks and will be here another week and a half. I drove yesterday from Emmitsburg MD on a side trip. The roads were clean. However, this afternoon we had about another 5 inches of snow with wind on topside. Right now, at 2327 hours on Thurs, the temperature at top is 27 with clouds. The weather radio says Elkins is 34 with fog and so is every community in the Potomac Highlands it seems. The weather forecast calls for rain or snow.

SUV is about the best way to get here with these conditions. We've had lots of snow and the most significant danger is the snow drifts. One second you're on a dry road, the next second you round a curve and encounter two inches of snow accross the road. Can be dangerous. If you're coming over via 92/28 into Greenbank, the meadows between Circleville and Greenbank had several of those drifts.

If anyone from the web site is at the 'Shoe tomorrow, stop by the Foxfire for apres ski about 5:30. I will have finished walking my Black Lab and normally take a libation at the Foxfire.

Today we were plowing first tracks as late as 1500 hours throug Knot Bumper, Grabhammer and Spruce Glades. I've never seen these conditions at Snowshoe before.

'Nuff said....

Lincoln Aviator for the weekend... $25! That includes taxes! Was gonna get an Escalade, but my gf said it was too big. Heading up there now. Looking forward to being a powderhound for the weekend, thanks for all the reports!

-Reisen (who has hookups in the rental car biz)

I am speechless! I have never seen such amazing conditions at Snowshoe! We arrived Thursday night, eat, slept and awoke Friday morning to the perfect bluebird day. Temps in the 20s, gorgeous corduroy, perfect conditions, fast runs ... everything you could wish for. And THEN! It starting snowing about noon. By 3:00 there was several inches of silky powder! We skied until they kicked us off the runs.

This morning there was a good 6 inches of snow .. Sierra cement but, never the less, truly untracked and still snowing. By 10, the snow had really separated the men from the boys, anyone who wasn't used to deep stuff was either giving up and going home or participating in testing the snow with their backsides. I don't like to over use this word but conditions are truly AWESOME!