Beware the big buried boulders on Bold Decision.

Can I presume that the weekend of the 11th & 12th will be the last weekend of the season for Whitetail? Based on the current weather forecast, it now seems that the weekend of Mar. 4th and 5th will go into the books as the last weekend of legitimate skiing at Whitetail for the 2005-2006 season. The upcoming weekend will simply be the TCD (Technical Closure Date), as the snow is going to be a wet slop, with just a few takers.

This weekend will be a warm one, but I spent Monday skiing at Whitetail and had a blast. The snow was a bit soft by late afternoon but not too slushy -- very pleasant to ski in. There is good snow cover on most of the trails (and all trails except the halfpipe were open). There were some thin spots in a couple places, but still large mountains of snow at the top that Whitetail can use to patch up any problem areas. Remember, Whitetail was making snow as recently as Saturday night, and made snow just about every night last week. Far Side was awesome, Angel Drop was awesome, etc. Exhibition was growing big moguls but sucked the grace out of my skiing, so I only tried it once.

While there was plenty of snow, there was one thing there wasn't much of: crowds. As in most years, Whitetail and other local areas will close for the season not due to lack of snow cover, but due to lack of visitors. Packed snow really doesn't melt that quickly, and even with temperatures pushing into the 60's this weekend, Whitetail's slopes will be snow covered come Monday. I think their closing date decision will be based on the level of visitors.

It's easy to forget about skiing once it gets warm, but I love spring skiing. It's kind of liberating to shed the layers and enjoy a sunny day on the slopes. Beats sitting at home watching TV, in my book.

Whitetail is planning on staying open AT LEAST through the 19th. Scott is correct that crowds will dictate the closing date this year. We had a good crowd last weekend for SpringFest, but the numbers usually tail off very quickly this time of year.

I'm going to be there this Saturday for sure. I had the best weekend of the season in the park last weekend and I'd like a repeat. Time for me to start hitting some rails. It's not a big strong point for me but I'm getting better. I want to start getting a little bigger in my jumps too.

Hey Kennedy,

Stop by the ski school desk between 9-2 and say hi.

Sure, see you Saturday.

Hey Rusty it's looking pretty rough. I'll be checking the webcams in the morning to see if it's worth the trip. If I don't make it I'll be sure to call in and say hi next season

Saturday was great. Today the rain was not too bad, mostly just drizzle. There were a lot of happy people talking about having the mountain to themselves as we were closing up. The fog from melting snow was pretty weird today. At one point you couldn't see 20 feet at ground level, but the top of the mountain was clear.

Hopefully you won't find me at the ski school desk next season. My broken collarbone should be fixed by then.

Agreed - I thought Sunday was great (besides the rain) There were probably only 50 cars in that lot at the most!

Quick look at the Whitetail webcams this AM does kinda dent the theory that WT will close for lack of skiers, not lack of snow this year. Perhaps some aggressive grooming/snow relocation could allow them to reopen for a few days, but not much.

The next couple weeks will really show the difference that being west of the Allegheny front makes - TL, SS, Wisp all getting meaningful snow today.

It looks like they tried the groomimg and decided there was not enough snow left to pull it off.

I have been to Wisp, Timberline(wednesday) and Springs(Monday) this week and had a blast at all of them. Timberline Wednesday Morning was by far the best, good coverage, great grooming, adn some fresh snow(about 3inchs) just no bumps.... Wisp which is alot that lower in evevation wednesday afternoon, had a much bigger base on some of trails, but even through the snow was soft, it wasnt Timberline quality or grooming. Wisp had much less natural snow too, maybe an 1 inch there the same day an hour later.