Timberline experts......I am heading up to the valley for a few days arriving Dec. 18 and headin out the 21st. Was wondering what to expect as far as terrain openings with the great snowmaking opportunities this week. I know last year when i was up there at this time they had Off the wall open. Am i living in fantasy land if i have any hope whatsoever that they can pull that off this year? I expect to see WL and Salamander probably open with round the clock going on all of this week except probably daytime wednesday. Looks like there could be some nighttime snowmaking opportunities next week as well. Is it possible they get Dew drop and maybe off the wall up and running the week before Xmas? I just hope there are a couple options from the summit and i don't have to spin 25 laps on WL. By the way, I got an unbelievable deal on a house at timberline resort realty for those 3 nights....i think they are giving significant discounts until Dec 25 for anyone who may be interested. thanks for any input!

I think it's going to be a crapshoot (I know, not what you wanted to hear). All of the long range forecasts that I can find have it warming up from the 9th to the 16th (with a high of 50 on the 16th.) Even then, the lows are forecast to be below freezing (sometimes barely) so there might be hope. This aligns with what the "Skiing Weatherman" says as well - very cold this week and then warming up through the end of the month and then cold again either the last week of the year or the first week of Jan. (too soon to tell). His latest musings are here.

But back to T-Line - I think the answer to your question depends on how aggressive they are at night next week. Obviously they are looking at the same (or similar) forecasts that we are and I imagine they will want to get as much open for Christmas week as they can. So we can only hope they get as much snow on the ground as humanly possible this week, and at night next week.

Keeping my fingers crossed....
Clay

They've installed a lot more snow-making over the last couple years. The amount of terrain open last Christmas was by far the most I've experienced so early in the year in five seasons at Timberline. Snow making and natural snow conditions were also way favorable last year. It remains to be seen how much terrain they can open early under the less than awesome snow making temps we are experiencing this year. A nice lake flake dump could change this prognosis dramatically though; however, I'm with Clay - don't expect a lot pre-Christmas at Timberline.

Tom

With the increased snowmaking, itis my best bet that lightening, salamander, dew drop, twister, and possibly parts of thunder will be open. With the snow sticks on the drop and off the wall, they should have those open in a couple of weeks. I'll know more after this weekend. They need more/deeper snow on advanced terrain to keep it skiable, however, it all depends upon how well their infrastructure holds up. If there are temps below freezing at night, they will keep the guns blowing. Twister and salamander take the most time to open since they are longer but with the west mtn expansion, twister will be a priority as is salamander.

I'm in sorta the same situation - will be there with family from Dec 22 - Dec 26. In the event of very limited terrain and a forced WL-a-thon, plan B is to head to Wisp for a day trip or two. It will be interesting to compare the coverage at the 2 resorts - might be a good yardstick for measuring how far Tline has come with their snowmaking capability.

Plan A, of course, is getting a ton of snow the week before we get there

A lot depends on how much gets done this week because snowmaking windows will decrease next week. I don't know about the week after that because I simply have no confidence in long-range weather reports--even Herb's.

Hopefully, T-line will have the big three opened: WL, Sally, and Twister. Maybe OTW and Drop. If they can get 5 trails top to bottom, that would be very impressive indeed and demonstrate that T-line is competitive with Wisp, 7 Springs, and Shoe for early season skiing. If not, it's still a nice mountain and a beautiful area even with limited offerings. Think of it this way: if it's early in the season and you have WL pretty much to yourself, what more could a Mid-Atlantic skier ask for? I've driven to Vermont and Maine in December and quite frankly wished I'd stayed home because the skiing was so comparable to T-line (just more of it).

The easiest day-trip is Wisp and it's even easier if you make it part of the drive (there or home). With that being said, I've never made it. I've always favored 7 Springs or Snowshoe because they always seem to have the best "black" terrain early in the season. Snowshoe is a nice, easy drive in good weather conditions, but it still takes me two hours (I'm a slow driver) and the Springs take a bit longer from Timberline.