Hi Everyone,
My name is Dawn Suiter... I've been poking around reading for a while, and now that I'm an official snow junkie (amongst other things) I figured it was time to make myself official.

I live on the NC/TN state line.. my yard backs up to the Cherokee Nat'l Forest & Great Smoky Mountain Nat'l Park. I live about 1 hour from Wolf Ridge, Ober Gatlinburg & Cataloochee Ski Areas (not really resorts) and this year the Wolf is my favorite local spot. Winterplace is 3.25 hours away and I've been 3 times this year on overnight trips, so far each time was great. Can't wait to head out to Alta for some skiier only snow in my distant future. The ONLY disadvantage to where I live is I'm surrounded by 4 regional airports and flights to Utah take 10hrs w/connections. So, no quick trips over there anytime soon.

My husband is an ex Pro Patroller, and I'm just a level 3 (or so) skiier. I've skiied a few times over the last few years, but only briefly and never really got a chance to put things together. This year, I'm making great progress, and I've already conquered two of Winterplace's black runs.

Anyway, I'm please to meet everyone here.

Oh yeah, we're headed to Snowshoe on Thursday night for Fri/Sat skiing...looking forward to the new terrain. Any tips? I know all the bad already, but I've got to hit snowshoe at least once in my lifetime! We're not the "apres ski" types.. we prefer to cook in the condo (shamrock) & relax in front of the fire or TV if we're not skiing (we're non drinkers)!! The forecast is good so far, fingers crossed it'll stay that way.

The number one tip for skiing Snowshoe on the weekends is to head to Silver Creek when it gets crowded. It's a great place for an intermediate skiier too since the runs get incrementally more challenging as you move from the skier's right to left on the mountain.

Friday ought to be medium crowds at Snowshoe, and not too bad. On Saturday, I'd say get out early in the morning at Snowshoe for a few solid hours, then head to Silver Creek after lunch. There, you can ski most of the trails into the evening, so you don't have to worry about fighting the afternoon crowds at Snowshoe to get runs in before the 4:30 slope closing there. We normally ski at Silver Creek until about 6pm or so, and call it a day.

When planning trips in the future, you might want to overlap into Monday instead of skiing Friday. The weekend crowd vanishes on Sunday afternoon, and Mondays are wonderful -- the place is practically empty.

You picked a good weekend. I think the conditions will be great. Smart move spending the evening eating/relaxing in the condo; sometimes that is as good as the skiing!

BTW, there is a trail through the woods from the Shamrock development to the PowderRidge ski slope. It's about 4 feet wide. If there is enough natural snow, you can ski right onto the slopes. Just make sure you can make a lot of turns -- I wouldn't want to do that trail in a snow plow! The trail starts from the corner of the Shamrock development nearest PowderRidge. Some people also walk back up the trail to the condos, but I have not tried that myself. Usually it's easiest to ski midway down Whistlepunk and then walk to Shamrock when you see the sign.

Have fun!

skier219, THAT is the tip I was hoping for. I was dreading the walk to the slope, and was already ready to scout for a shortcut. I've been staring at all the maps wondering how much brush/trees seperated the complex from powderridge. Thanks a TON.

Our daughter's school schedule is the biggest factor on our multi-day trips, and this week was another short week, so they are less likely to get any real work done. Monday however will be "nose to the grindstone" day again after all their recent time off.. so we just couldn't do it. I hate weekend skiing because of the crowds clearly and the increased lift tix prices, but the deal was no ski.. or fri/sat ski ... clear winner

We're arriving Thurs night, so we'll be ready to go before they open the slopes on Friday. We'll ski while the tourists are drinking & eating, and we'll probably just head over to silver creek or take a break in the condo when they all decide it's ski time.

Hey... is snowboarding big at Snowshoe? Here in my triangle of resorts the boarders totally out number the skiiers... like 3 boarders to 1 skier...

Lots of both boarders and skiers at Snowshoe. Snowshoe has several terrain parks including a really big one at Silver Creek.
Enjoy! You will have a blast. Remember all guests can use the Big Rock pools.
The Colonel