Thoughts on Today's Skiing
December 14, 2006
22 posts
19 users
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How was the skiing today? Looking at all the webcams at the various local resorts (1:15pm) showed absolutely no lift lines except for a gaggle at the bottom of the Seven Springs 6 pack. Myabe the lack of skiers is the reason that resorts like Timberline concentrated on snowmaking today vice openning marginally ready terrain. Obviously DCSkiers are upset about this, but we have to remember that we are skiers/boarders and not the average patron the resorts count on for most of their revenue for the long haul.
Your thoughts and experiences today. I, personally, am jealous on anyone who made turns while I sit at home.
THE COLONEL
I made it up to 7 Springs, but didn't have time to actually do any skiing, as I had to be back home shortly thereafter. It looked really nice and the 6-Pack line was moving very nicely.
Im posting from the lodge at CV. My friends and I spent the day at Timberline....which was somewhat disappointing, though the conditions were decent and there werent too many people. I think we're gonna drive up to Wisp tomorrow for the $7 lift tickets and just to explore since Ive never been to that area during the winter....Snowshoe on Monday.
I made it up to Whitetail for the morning. It was my first time at Whitetail and I was impressed. The conditions were man-made packed powder, except for sections of Angel Drop, which were covered with death cookies. Whitetail does really have a nice consistent fall line, so I look forward to skiing there when more is open. Homerun looked like it should be open Sunday; they were blowing on Limelight and Exhibition, but theres no chance they'll open anytime soon (granted, if it warms up like some are predicting). kind of a waste of snow i thought. i really liked the ski check-in; never seen any other southeast ski area with that amenity. It was a nice first day of the season, and look forward to getting back out to WT often this winter.
peter
My daughter and I skied 7 Springs from 9:00 am to 1:00 PM today. I was pleasantly surprised by conditions - I saw no bare spots on any open terrain, and everything was very well groomed. We skied mostly Wagner and Stowe - I could not talk my 10-year-old into tackling Tyrol. I was a little surprised that Alpine Meadows was not open - it looked like it was in good enough shape to have it open. They were blowing snow on Alpine and NF up until about noon.
It did get mildly crowded after lunch - the wait for the 6-pack was maybe 3 minutes.
I was skiing at Whitetail from 10:30 to 2:30pm on Sat (today).
To my surprise it was not overcrowded. I only skied
Angel Drop blue slop, and the conditions were really nice!
I started with my rock skis, but because there
were not rocks on the slope I decided
to try my new Volkl Allstar. They are awesome skis !
I met a guy on a lift who said that he had just
returned from Liberty and snow conditions were worse there.
--
Alexey
Went to Wisp today for their Birthday celebration and it was terrific! Temps were in high 40's or low 50's under a blue, blue sky. Lift tickets were $7.00! And the conditions were excellent. The entire front of the hill was opened (Squirel Cage, Face, DD through the trees, Boulder, Deer Run, Wisp trail, etc... Over on northcamp, there were greens (Backbone Pass, Ridge run, Big Dipper and Happy Camper,) and they opened the long blue Aces Run about mid-day. Lift lines were about 3-5 minutes, but with the lack of true beginners, the lifts almost never stopped. All in all a GREAT day of skiing!
Just got back from WT (sunday) and the conditions were pretty good. Coverage on the open trails was solid, no bare patches. The snow was soft and springlike, the lift lines non existant and the weather was beautiful. I was surprised with the park. I wasn't expecting athem to have jumps built but lo and behold they had a decent one open on lower angel and a small one on stalker.
Overall awesome day. Great to shake off the rust and get out there again.
I just got back from T-Line. I must say when I heard yesterday morning (Friday night) that they only had "four" trails open (it was really two) I was bummed. But it turned out to be a great weekend. The snow was good, and yeah, it got a bit repetitive - but I was able to make the first turns I have ever made with other DCSkiers - and I really appreciate kwillig6 and jimmy waiting for me at the end of each loop!
Clay
Snowshoe Saturday was good. They had 15 trails which by my count was 4 top to bottom runs. Coverage was good but by mid-day there were several icy spots. Crowds about normal for a demo day. They were blowing all day on other non open trails trying to get more trails open. Overall good day out.
Was up skiing at 7springs with Tim. Skied Saturday and Sunday. Conditions were nice both days. They opened Avalanche on Sunday, which was nice. For a weekend with warm temps, and little natural snow, 7 springs did a phenomenal job.
Hit up the 'Shoe this weekend. Saturday morning's conditions were excellent. Managed to find a trail to make fresh tracks...by the afternoon conditions became icy in the shaded spots. Didn't see any bare spots so hopefully in a couple weeks they'll have more trails open.
-Paul
Quote:
Was up skiing at 7springs with Tim. Skied Saturday and Sunday. Conditions were nice both days. They opened Avalanche on Sunday, which was nice. For a weekend with warm temps, and little natural snow, 7 springs did a phenomenal job.
We also got to meet Springsregular and taylormatt who are both very cool guys and great skiers. Springsregular showed us some of his secret staches on the frontside of 7S. I look forward to skiing with you both more later this winter.
I did the 35th anniversary thing at CV. The 3 trails/1 lift thing was a major disappointment, but hey, I was allready there, the ticket was under 20 bucks, and a bad day sking is better than a good day at work. Had planned on going to the gathering over at TL, but I had to put in some make up time taking the wife around to see the sites, since she is a non skiier and sat in the big dining lodge all day. She was mumbling something about the DJ and the sign on the way in about no uncased guns or bows.
No new slopes open on sunday made us decide to pack it in and take the scenic route home.
Wait till the backside opens, then I will hook you up with some really good stuff. Looks like it will be a while tho....
Quote:
Looks like it will be a while tho....
According to today's snow report North Face slope is open. That's at least a start on the backside, but the forecast is grim for the next week or so.
Uhm, yeah. Doesn't look like the guns can be fired again until Dec 23rd. It might be mid January before we get to play in the good stuff on the back side. I just hope we can hold on to what we have until Xmas.
The bumps in the trees between Avy and Tyrol ROCKED for 3rd day open. Funky for sure, but hey, it wasn't a groomer, which is all I can ask for this early in the season
Tomorrow's plan is to hit the park heavily.
The down side of skiing with the family,(
7 Springs Report) I never got over there. Is that Yak-yak you guys were skiing? I know there's a steepish face at the top of one of those front side pocket glades, I wish it were longer but as Matt said, it's not a groomer.
Nope, Yak-Yak is between Stowe and Tyrol (and is still nearly bare). These trees are between Tyrol and Avy, skier's right of the old NASTAR course. They have always held the best snow on the front face IMO.
Matt, you need to be more optimistic. My guess is that we get some cold by the 21st and everything will shape up nicely by Jan 1. That said those bumps looked fun as I was zipping by them. Frankie seemed to be having fun in them though.
I was going to post this earlier, but I had to go through the unfortunate experience of getting all for my wisdom teeth pulled just this past monday, and I just did not feel like doing anything other than veg on the couch and watch TV since. Anyway....
I was at Massanutten both Saturday and Sunday. They had Geronimo, Southern Comfort, the cross-trail (from the top of Geronimo to the base of lift 5/Rebel Yell) and Rebel-Yell top-to-bottom opened on Saturday. On Sunday they also got both terrain parks opened as well. They were blowing snow as much as they can along all these runs, and the conditions where excellent, especially once the Sun got on it and loosened the snow up a bit. The weather was beautiful, although a bit windy on Saturday (between the blowing snow and the wind, it felt like friggan middle of February instead of the beginning of December). It was hoped to get one of the diamonds opened (probably Diamond Jim), by Christmas, but unfortunatly, with this warm-up, who knows now.
Anyway, it felt so good to finally get to lay down some fresh turns again after nearly 8 months since the last time I've been on a pair of skis! I was thinking of going up again this weekend, but with my mouth still hurting after getting my wisdom teeth pulled as well as the warm up, I'll probably decide to skip it. If there is still snow, I do plan on being up there over the Christmas weekend, though.
I was at Massanutten for a half day on Monday. I'll say one thing about having limited terrain open, it really forces you to ski a given run a little differently each time, just to keep things interesting. I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun Rebel Yell was - in the past I had always skipped it in favor of the Diamond Jim, Paradise, and Dixie Dare - but there was enough of a headwall at the top, and by midstation, to keep things moving.
I'll probably wait until more terrain opens up to head back out there, but all in all it was a decent first day.
