GRK did a nice TR covering the front side. But WT opened both Bold Decision and Far Side this last weekend. Both have a ton of snow on them. On Saturday, Bold opened and bumped right up nicely with the snow staying soft through the day and no rocks showing through. On Sunday, Bold had been regroomed, but was starting to bump up again by mid afternoon. Far Side also opened on Sunday with great coverage across the width of the trail and some nice top dressing of fresh snow. Exhibition (our normal bump run) is open with snow coverage extending to the lift, but not under it and is being groomed daily.

Thanks for the heads-up, Rusty!

I skied WT on January 5 and enjoyed being able to ski the mountain's full extent. Coverage was very good and the corn snow was just fine.

Woody

I skied both WT Saturday early and Sunday late, and agree the conditions were great. Of interesting note is that I arrived at 2:30pm on Sunday and the place seemed deserted. I skated on to the HS quad with no one in front of me. I was expecting at least some line. Perhaps with the Xmas break everyone had already completed their holiday ski trips.

Sunday was special. My theory is that the rain in the forecast plus the end of the holidays created a perfect crowd clearing storm.

it seems WT put more effort this season into opening the blacks. wasn't exhibition open before limelight? i definitely have no problem with it; its just interesting to have a resort put more emphasis on opening blacks than blues (timberline might be an exception; snowshoe is not though!). Correct me if i'm wrong though. my memory is fuzzy this late in the night.

Skied at Whitetail on Friday, and conditions were very good (especially since they clearly had received freezing rain earlier in the week.) I was surprised that all the blacks were open, with good cover. Whitetail usually tries to get Exhibition open pretty quickly, but Far Side is often one of the last slopes to open at the resort. So I was pleasantly surprised to see it open. The only trails that hadn't opened were the two far left intermediates, but they were blowing snow like crazy on them, and they look like they could open in the next couple days. (No snowmaking in the halfpipe, but at this point I think Whitetail might as well remove it from the trailmap since there seems to be no effort to open it any more. When is the last time it was open? Maybe it has been removed from the trailmap and I just didn't realize it.)

If I have a chance, I'll write up a formal Firsthand Report tomorrow. Too tired tonight.

Scott,

The snowmaking on Far Side got upgraded to tower guns last season, with that and the pump upgrades we're able to blow more snow over there than what you're used to. Snow Dancer opens tomorrow (Sunday) and Fanciful is scheduled to open next Wednesday. We started blowing the half pipe today. It usually takes a week at best to get the pipe open. We should have enough weather to get it open this year. It was open 3 seasons ago, but only for a couple weeks. We've had plans to move the pipe over next to the new terrain park. Keep your fingers crossed for next season. The new location is planned for between the Jib Junction chair and lower angel drop. That presents a much better "sun angle" which will help us greatly improve the quality of the pipe experience.

Just posted my trip report from Whitetail:

http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=1170

I include a video showing a run down the new Sidewinder trail, and lots of photos from across the resort.

Absolutely fabulous coverage, guys!

Truly impressive.

great report. Whitetail is my favorite close to DC resort.