Time for my first of the year polls about DCSkiers and the slopes they plan to hit!

This is one poll that might change a lot by Friday depending on snowfall from this storm and associated slope openings.

Snowshoe should be great this weekend especially on Sat 's morning when they open Cupp Run, Grab hammer and Camp 99! I was on the new trail Sawmill the other day and it was really fun.

Anyone want to meet up at snowshoe after skiing?

Five folks indicate they are going to Seven Springs this weekend, including me.
I'll be staying at the hotel, wear a red/black ski jacket (DCSki pin on front), black pants, black helmet, red boots and K2 skis.
Look for me, and I'll look for you if you identify yourself, either in the hotel or on the slopes.
The Colonel

I'll be at Snowshoe Saturday and Sunday, staying in Powder Ridge. If anyone wants to meet up for some runs, post here or PM me (I hope to have internet access but no guarantees). I plan to be hitting black trails in the mornings with my brother in law, and then do blues and greens with the rest of our gang in the afternoons. I imagine we'll be testing out Sawmill and Camp 99 first thing Saturday morning, then make our way over to Cupp and ski there until lunchtime. We would be glad to meet up with some DCskiers for some runs.

I'll be wearing a blue helmet with US ski team stickers (unless it gets real warm) and will most likely be skiing on my Head Monster 77s (black/orange/green) or maybe Fischer RX-9s (white/green). Blue/gray jacket. My brother in law will be on Salomon 1080s and will probably be tearing up the bumps and trees while I bring up the rear.

If I get over my cold today, I'm heading up to Whitetail tonight (friday). I'll be on old skool ski blades, as the skis still need tuned and binding check.

Here's my pro forecast for Snowshoe in case it helps anyone this weekend:

http://members.cox.net/hunter-associates/wx-pro3x.html

(this is for the basin side @ 4700 ft elevation)

I have my fingers crossed for Sunday, but am bringing my gore-tex gear just in case.

So far, 35 DCSkiers have indicated they were going to hit the slopes this weekend, with only 5 admitting they were staying home. Did the weather make anyone change their ming?
The Colonel

Conditions are the Show were great, especially after the opening of the new runs. Now, Sunday at 7:49, it appears that Darth Vader has taken control of the weather from the Naval Observatory. Raining dogs, cats, and other small animals. I even had a leak in my west-facing kitchen window... Ugh!

We had a great day at Snowshoe on Saturday, and skied the afternoon at Silver Creek straight to about 7pm. Clouds and a generally overcast sky kept temps down during the day, and the snow stayed quite nice. Then I had to listen to rain all night while trying to sleep, and it gave me some weird dreams (all of them trying to rationalize skiing and rain -- not good). I have to give my family kudos -- everybody wanted to ski Sunday, despite off and on showers. We skied from 10am - 2pm without a break, and had a decent time. Crowds were *very* light, pretty much non-existent in the morning. I hope Snowshoe can limp through the next 4 days of warm weather before snowmaking temps return over the weekend. The snow was outstanding on Saturday, and it was sad to see the rain come along and take its toll. Some of the trails were holding up well, others had puddles and some brown spots.

I have a funny story to tell about the new Camp 99 trail. We were doing laps of Sawmill and Sawmill Glades Saturday morning, and saw them getting ready to open Camp 99. There was a small crowd waiting at the rope on skier's right for a while -- a long while. We ended up doing 5-6 runs on Sawmill instead of waiting. After about the 5th or 6th run, I came booking down the top of Sawmill and saw ski patrol unhook the rope and start gathering it up, on the opposite side of the trail from where the crowd had gathered. Since I had a full head of steam, I skied right into the opening on skier's left and unintentionally became the first paying skier on Camp 99. And then I almost became the first skier to buy the farm on Camp 99. They had blown a bunch of whales on the trail, and I got serious air off one, landed *on* the next one, and proceeded to jump, land, bounce, and generally demolish myself on 4-5 whales before I regained composure and got my skis on the ground for the rest of the way down. I totally gaper-bombed that trail with some of my worst skiing in years, and it was spectacular. I am sure it was a good show for everyone behind me. And that's how I christened Camp 99 in total style (lack of, that is). My next run was much better...

I really like the new trails. They are narrow, have good character, and overall are blue-ish in skill level with a few black steep sections on each. Both trails were bumped up at the end of the day, and a lot of fun to ski (I prefer the mid-morning bumps before they get too nuts). Sawmill Glades was very nice, and ski-able on Saturday (more-so with rock skis) before the rains hit and wiped out the natural snow on Sunday. I did two runs in there first thing Saturday until I hit dirt with my new skis and decided two was enough.

Oh gosh, I wish I could have seen that one. I am sure it was fantastic. I am glad to hear that you didn't get hurt though. Also glad to hear that your weekend went well...