Timberline webcam looked like some folks were having fun today. Any reports? Snow flurries here in F'Burg got me in the mood. Think I might pull out the wax, iron, and some tunes tonight.....

Yeah, curious how many people made it skiing today. I had thought of swinging by Whitetail to try out their new slope, but ended up being too exhausted after a long week at work. Hope lots of DCSki readers were out making turns this weekend.

skied Hidden Valley it was better condition wise last weekend but the crowds and lift line werent as bad today.

Hopefully tonight snow has some weight to it so it actually does something. sadly the very cold temps outsdie lead me to believe its will fluff with no substance.

Arrived at Whitetail shortly after the opening and ribbon-cutting on Sidewinder. All chairs were running exc. Expert's Choice. Snowmaking on Exhibition, Limelight and Snow Park (= the runs on the 3 longest chairs), and on most open trails. (Bring goggles and a wipe-rag.) Temperature was a brisk 18 degrees at 8:40 a.m., but no wind.

I spent 4 hours there, dividing my time b/w Angel Drop and the new trail, Sidewinder. There were a few scattered icy "oops patches" plus some chunks near the edges but mostly very good conditions on the open runs.

Sidewinder is a pleasant run. As videos posted by WT over the summer showed, the upper section required major earth-moving. It's a less direct-down-the-fall-line run than many others at Whitetail, providing some pleasant variety. (I wish Sidewinder "wound" even more.) An instructor, "Big Mike," told me that the ski school staff are glad to have a longer run with less pitch than Snow Park for instruction for novices.

No liftlines to speak of, even at noon. Great to be on the snow!

Woody

Been at Snowshoe since Thursday. Arrived early evening Thursday and settled in. Temperature was dropping like a rock. Some snow after Judy Gap.

Friday: Cold but awesome. Temperature was 12 degrees and with wind. No lines until the afternoon. They had about 10 effective runs open. Grabhammer was a dream.

Today Saturday: Had a condo board meeting so I didn't make it until after lunch. Conditions were hard packed powder with some ice on most slopes. It started snowing at around 1400 and continued until now. Still snowing. The best runs were Skipjack (blue) and Knot Bumper from the Balhooter run cutoff. This last one was incredible corn and it was almost totally unskied. Didn't get to Cupp Run :-(

Headed for Philly tomorrow Sunday but will be back next Thursday. If the projected warmup is still cold enough to dump snow instead of rain, it will be awesome.

Was at Wintergreen today...great time.

It was very cold...high was 22 with light snow most of the day, but no crowds. Did not wait for a lift all day. They opened Eagles Swoop about 11am and HolyMac and I were among the first ones down. Snow was good, an ice patch here and there but very avoidable.

Nice pitch on the right side of Eagles Swoop about 1/4 way down kept things interesting.

HolyMac was enjoying skiing backward on her new twin tips and following a trail some boarders had started in the woods.

They were blowing snow in the highlands and on more terrain on Big Acorn.

Whitetail was not running the new Jib Junction double chair lift yesterday. The snow coverage was excellent. There was no need for rock skis unless you insisted on going past the marked edges. The snow conditions were a mix of fresh fluffy man made interspersed with firmer groomed while still wet base. The groomers did a fantastic job to get the trails skiable, but there were a few spots that needed a "do over" last night.

BTW - the new Jib Junction chair will allow a cutover to the Expert terrain. The trail has been cut. We just need the snow to make it doable.

It's a pity Wintergreen is not open during the week -- I would love to squeeze in a weekday out there. I should have planned to ski there today.

Rusty, I stand corrected about Whitetail.

The new Jib Junction chairlift isn't on my radar screen yet, so I didn't mention it but I think it's a great way to reduce traffic on upper Angel Drop.

And by "chunks," I meant chunks of packed snow. There were no bare spots that I noticed!

Woody

Timberline was pretty good yesterday (was there, didn't ski) and was very cold.

The Valley got about 5 inches or so overnight. Lots of new and blowing snow last night at Jack Frost. Did I mention it was freezing??

Timberline skied pretty good today. It was kind of funny because although there was a few inches of snow on my car this morning, there was NO new snow on the slopes. The 20-30 mph wind took care of that. Again, it was very cold and the wind didn't help. Everyone here can rest asurded that Tline has been making snow like crazy. Their base is gonna be killer and plenty should be open here real soon.

I'm tired....

Whitegrass on Saturday afternoon was...icy. Going up was pretty good, but coming down, unless you had skis with edges and either tele or heavy touring bindings, was treacherous. Nice late day snowshowers, though.

Sunday at Wisp was...cold. Winds were strong and constant. Edges of most open trails were very good, especially for early December, but the wind tended to blow off anything from the centers. Most trails to the skiers left of The Face was open. Everything to the skiers right of Squirel Cage was closed. Next weekends $7 deal is looking to be amazing, though, as they will likely have nearly the entire area open. Next week would be a great time to do a "tour" of mid atlantic areas from Snowshoe all the way north through 7 springs.

whitegrass sunday was sublime conditions! the new snow on a decent base made the trail and glade skiing absolutely superb. upper springer is the only area that was crusty from being windblown i think. (But its pretty easy to escape the wind at WG with all the differing terrain and aspects and being cold is never really an issue there since you are earning your turns) seriously.. like peak winter conditions almost, and 100% natural snow! are we dreaming?

Hey Crunchy..heard you discovered the fountain of health up at WG....CHAGA!..Looked like Bear dung in the pic of you holding the stuff!...Guess you are going to ski forever now...how much is a gram of that stuff going for?


PS..The stuff he found was some sort of Fungi/mushroom type of stuff with all kinds of antioxidents & other health benifits that likes to grow on the yellow Birch up there..

I heard he had a big Bob Marley party and smoked it all.

I was up at the 'Shoe this weekend. Got there late Friday night and it was super cold. On top of the mountain my car was telling me it was about 12 degrees. The next morning we headed out at around 10:00AM and headed up to the Soaring Eagle (I think it has the best parking). First run I hit was Camp 99 - it was totally frozen. That slope is pretty steep in the beginning and it being frozen over was not fun, so I stayed off that slope for the rest of the day.

The rest of the mountain was pretty good. Lift lines at Ball Hooter was bearable, but just barely. Decent snow cover with hardpack/ice underneath. I hit Cupp Run at the end of the day for a few runs and I should have done it earlier. It was beautiful. Plenty of snow, and great carving to be had.

Sunday was the best day I've had at the 'Shoe in a couple seasons. Officially, the report said 8" of snow. I think it was closer to a foot. In the morning it was incredibly windy. Some friends who stayed at Summit said they couldn't sleep because it was so windy. Regardless, there was a ton of fresh powder to be had if you stayed on the advanced terrain. Lift lines were no where to be found. All in all it was a great weekend - I think I'll be going up again for the 19th when they open up Silver Creek.


-Paul

I just checked the Snowshoe snow report and they claim to have gotten 16" of snow yesterday! They are also claiming it won't get above freezing this week... hmmm, it seems like somebody might be a little optimistic over there.

Does anyone know if (or how badly) Snowshoe tends to exaggerate their snow totals? I'm sure all ski resorts are subject to a little bias but didn't know where Snowshoe falls on this spectrum.

Was at tussey for the weekend for instructor training. They only had one wain slope and the bunny hill open so it was fairly crowded by mid day but overall conditins were good for openig day. Sundaywas supper cold and windy so a friend and I took 2 runs just to say we did. Turned out to be very icy at the top but great snow on the lower half close to the snowmaking. However, sniwmakif was so intense that by the bottom I could only we 40 feet or so through my gogles. Overall, good for early December. Just hope the coming rain does not kill al re snow they have made

Snowshoe is an official NOAA weather station and does not tend to exaggerate their snow total since the amount year to date is the same as what NOAA shows on their site.
Now where they measure for the unofficial daily snow report might have a bit of "spin" since they could measure at a point that catches a lot of blowing snow. But all in all, I have found the Snowshoe reports to be very accurate, although sometimes a tad late. Especially true with changing a multi-day weather forecast changing to call for some "underdeveloped" snow, vice snoe.
The Colonel

I'd love to know where the measure the snow, as there often appears to be less on the slopes and in the trees than suggested. It could be a matter of how the snow settles and packs down due to wind though.

But if they're the official NOAA weather station and they exaggerated their snow totals wouldn't they still match?!?

Friday 12/5 Timberline

Get out of the backseat!!

jimmy, Thanks for the pictures. I am jealous. I had planned a couple of days at the Shoe late next week, but I fear it is not to be.
The Colonel

...When doing movement assesment isn't it best to give feedback in [censored] sandwich form??? positive, critical, positive...how bout a hey Jimmy good job squaring your shoulders with your equipment. Man you alpine guys cut through the fluffy field good stuff...remember not to use your ski polls to strike the students who don't listen...man sometimes I wish I had ski polls...

Very cool pic! Thanks for the updates. It Looks like many has gotten off to a fast start for the always coveted "most days skied" annual award. I am so jealous. I need a 12 step program to convert me from workaholic to skiaholic so I can compete. Of course, I will be spending Xmas in VT this year, so I will get a few turns in before Jan. Maybe I can work hard and get an honorable mention this year.

Great pic Jimmy, thanks. How did you manage that? My pics always come out looking flat. Your looks steeper than it really is.

Actually i had a little help . That picture and this are in the Tline website gallery. The guy that took them had a camera with a lens that you'd be able to prolly see to Pluto with. All we had to do was smile and ski.

Is that you Jimmi on the cover of this years Timberline brochure?...