I'm hoping to ski a day at Wintergreen this weekend. Have they opened the new Sunrise Glades this season? Has anyone skied these glades? What are they like?

Thinking snow (or at least snowmaking weather),
Woody

I think I will be at Wintergreen on Friday, 29 Feb. Anybody else there that day?
As for "Sunrise Glades", I notice it appears on the trail map, but is not listed at all on the slope report.
The Colonel

The glades are natural snow coverage only, so as you might guess they have not opened this season. Actually, the last time I remember significant natural snow at WTG was back in 2005 or so, during a late winter storm in March that dropped 10" overnight.

To make the glades, they basically just cleared out the brush between upper sunrise, upper tyro, and tequila (many of the trees on the edges were already trashed from snowmaking). Would probably be a nice little area if it ever opens.

Colonel, I may head up there on Thursday or Friday depending on how much snowmaking happens between now and then (and also depending on what kind of snow falls in WV). The snow was great at WTG last Thursday, but it was horrible Sunday. They must have gotten a lot of rain on Friday and then the weekend traffic took a toll. Between the crowds and lousy snow, my wife and I only skied a few runs Sunday afternoon and then bailed out to go have dinner.

Craig

p.s. I talked my wife into an Alta trip March 9-13

You dog!! Congrats!!

I was up there Sunday as well...most of it was less than optimal. Eagles Swoop was okay I thought. They seemed to have lots of snow stockpiled on Eagles Swoop and Tyro...hope they do something with it this week.

I am going up Wed in case anyone else is. At any rate I will file a report Wed night with what I see so those of you going up Thursday or Friday can see it. I do not do black runs but I will ask around.

Well have to hook up for some turns if you're skiing and not traveling on the 9th. I'm skiing Utah Tues March 4 to Sunday March 9. (The bookend Mondays are my travel days.)

I also need to talk to you about The Church and Bear Claw.

Jimmy is also out in Utah the 9th until ?

Maybe a DCSki Utah meet and greet on the 9th?

I skied at Wintergreen both Saturday and Sunday - on Saturday we did the DoubleCross race, which is a ton of fun, I think. Our kids were excited to see Grete Eliassen.

I didn't think the conditions were so bad on Sunday. Upper Cliffhanger was not in great shape, but I had fun on Devils Elbow, Lower Wild Turkey, and Eagle Swoop. Considering what people have written about other resort conditions last weekend, I think Wintergreen fared reasonably well.

skier 219, I sent you a PM. Maybe I'll ask you to pick up pictures of our day at Snowbird, or my day at Alta on Jan. 26.
The Colonel

Yeah...I was surprised to hear that some of the other resorts had poor conditions. I had fun on Eagles Swoop as well at WTG.

Was upper wild turkey open when you were there? Does it look like they might be able to let some moguls form?

It's too bad that the weather has not cooperated in terms of getting Sunrise Glades open - I agree with skier219 that it would be a nice little area. I remember skiing those trees after that snowfall in March 2005 and it was a lot of fun (IIRC, there were a couple of good snowfalls that year that led to a couple of powder days at WTG). But you gotta give props to WTG, considering the weather they have done a great job of keeping terrain open.

Now I wish we tried Eagles Swoop, but we gave up before that point. Sunday was by far the worst skiing I have ever experienced at Wintergreen, in terms of snow and crowds. Keep in mind I normally ski there on empty weekdays when conditions are ideal, so weekends are already a big change for me. We had a couple nice Sunday afternoons there last March, but this Sunday was not good in my opinion. I'm not even going to count it in my ski day tally.

Did they have the full width of Tyro open? When I was there last Thursday, skier's right side of the trail (lower section) did not have good coverage and only the left side was open. A couple weeks ago the whole trail was skiable side to side.

I think they have given up on Outer Limits and lower Cliffhanger for the remainder of the season, which is too bad. I will miss lower Cliff for sure. I only got to ski those trails one day all season.

Re: Alta, we're flying there on Sunday March 9, skiing 10-11-12, and flying back on Thursday March 13. Staying at GMD.

Upper Turkey is open, but they don't have a real deep base on it. I don't think they will be growing moguls this year, though upper Cliff was bumped up pretty good on Sunday.

I was looking through some pictures of years past when there were 2-3 foot deep bases at the edges of the trails, and this year is very different. On most of the trails, the edge of the snow is at ground level or no more than a foot above ground level. It's been a tough winter for snowmaking; given the limited windows of opportunity, I think they focused on a light base over more trails rather than deep bases on a few trails. The exceptions are Dobie and Eagle's Swoop. As in past years, those two trails have a pretty good base. But some of the other trails have been day to day or week to week.

Poor year indeed - now worse than last year imo. Frustrating to see Winterplace at 100% open with a good base (last week), at the same elevation, but 100 miles west - what a difference that makes! (They are close to the same drive for me.)

This may be the first year in a few that I don't go to Wintergreen, glad I did not buy the pass. I am really hoping for a couple weeks of cold and fast, then I'll give Craig and Woody a call.

otoh, this has pushed me to a couple of other areas that I have not been to in a while so there is sort of a silver lining.

But the big news is that '219 makes a RETURN trip to Alta - you must feel like you have some unfinished business ! How do you think the wife will like the terrain - or will she be reading by the fire ?

I sort of knew on the first trip that I would need to ski Alta again soon, and the cyclical weather out east prodded me over the edge. Now that you mention it, there is definitely a feeling of unfinished business in the air! The question is, what business?!?

I think my wife will really enjoy the green trails in the Albion and Cecret areas at Alta -- they are some of the nicest greens I have ever seen. I would like to encourage her to hit at least one of the "easy way down" blues from the top at some point, but that's definitely going to be optional. The low-key vibe of the place will fit her well -- no hurry, no crowds, no snowboarders. Dining and spa are backups, as is the book by the fire. In my head this is planned out very well, which means something will surely backfire in my face!

And then there's the matter of what I do if there's a powder day with first tracks at stake...

skier219

Lower Tyro was open but I went down once and was sorry. Cover was thin, skiers right was grass and by the time you got down to the turn there was just a narrow strip of ice.

They had stockpiled a bunch of snow at the top but I am thinking that is to preserve the link to Tequilla. The very top was fun but I did not go back again to see how Tequilla and Sunrise were. Stuck to Eagles Swoop and Dobie after that.

That's funny, because I've definitely experienced worse, especially in terms of crowds! I was on the Highlands on Sunday afternoon with my 9-year-old, and we really didn't encounter any lines to speak of - we mostly skied right on the lift, with maybe one set of people in front of us. Saturday of President's Day weekend was WAY worse, in terms of crowds.

This has been a really tough season for Wintergreen, I think the worst in all the years I've been going there on a regular basis. I think that Wintergreen has done everything they can to provide a good snow base, but the weather has really been a challenge. We've had a fun season overall, at least in part because our kids are both on teams there, and they love that experience. But in terms of great snow, I'm now turning my hopes to the 2008-09 season...

Yeah, this has been a real tough season for Wintergreen. I have to give them credit, because I have had some excellent ski days there despite the limited snowmaking opportunities. Those good days have been hard to line up though -- often, there have only been 1-2 ideal days every 10-14 days, in terms of snow and weather. As a result, I am about 4-5 days behind my normal count heading into March.

So, overall, I think they have done an admirable job so far. I'd love to see what they can do in a good season. I can't remember one of those since I started buying season passes in the last 4 years or so. One year they had a great December with all the trails open by Christmas, but three weeks later they were down to only 3-4 trails when the January thaw hit. So even when it looks like a good season in the works, it goes downhill fast.

I did a few runs over on the Highlands Sunday, and there weren't any lift lines as you noted, but the snow was very wet/heavy in spots. Unfortunately, my wife only skis greens and blues, so she was stuck over on Dobie with long lines. I wish we gave Eagles Swoop a go before we left.

I think this coming Friday will be great at Wintergreen. Temps from tonight through Friday morning are supposed to be below freezing, snow guns will be firing full blast, should be a better base and a great surface, especially if they groom and don't try to save all the good stuff for the weekend.
The Colonel

Right now, the forecast is calling for rain showers on Friday at Wintergreen

I am wondering if Snowshoe will be a better bet for Friday (or maybe Thursday). Not sure if Wintergreen will be back in good shape by Thursday, which would be the last good day before rain hits. These types of deliberations pretty much characterize the whole season...

"dearest, i am just going to step outside for a minute to see what its like. maybe just a few minutes. you should stay in bed, you really wouldn't like it out there today..."

Thanks Craig, Dave and everybody else for your reports on conditions this year at Wintergreen. I have been watching their web reports and have to give them credit for doing as well as they have this year.

Looks like a warm weekend there this time around. My son and his buddies are pressing hard for a shot at Seven Springs instead this Saturday. We'll see.

Hope everybody has great skiing this weekend, wherever they go!

Woody