Anybody notice that Canaan has more terrain open than Timberline on opening weekend........truely strange

...this is not true if you count the number of boy scouts laying on the snow as an increased snow depth or "base"....

...no but in some amount of seriousness-I can see both resorts from my house clearly and T-line is blowin' snow at the base and up white lighting & maybe even a little on lower sally...while it doesn't appear that Canaan is makin' snow at all;however I can't really see the triangle over at Canaan...

Indeed - Canaan Valley did a great job at snowmaking this time around. Lot's of photos on www.visitcanaan.com with blue skies to top it all. Either way, both resorts were a blast.
Canaan even opened their very first "terrain park" with a box; first freestyle of the season.

Great shots! Your web-site is fantastic. Man, Canaan and Timberline should be hirin' you to do something with their Web-sites.

When I told someone in timbers pub that I saw skiers from the top when I drove past CV, they couldn't believe it. T-line could have been open from the top too but we would've had to ski whales (which I would've loved). I think we ought to do a new slope/snow report for t-line which would have gone something like this on Saturday: 4 trails open with 15 to 30" of packed BS (boy scouts) with a variable surface.

sweet cover photo of the karhu guides! killer waxless ski for appalachian powdah stashes and can even do resorts if necessary

CV was only open from mid-station on Saturday.

It was an amazing day!
Opening day was spent at Timberline & Canaan, and here's what I conclude. Nothing was perfect, and far from it, HOWEVER, there was so much fun to be had.
After all, blue skies, lots of smiles, and seeing the "old-timers" again.
It was really good to get the feel for the camera on the snow too - all and all: a day to get "ajusted" - but a lot of ski-smiles.
Here are a few photos: www.akaflash.com/coverage

Thanks for all the good feedback on Visit Canaan.

Hmmmm.... I could have swore I saw folks skiing down to mid around 3:30 P.M. Could've been patrol or some folks who hiked to get a few extra turns .
I agree that both areas did well to get what they had open. Should be real good at t-line this weekend with the predicted temps and possibly lake effects Tues through Thurs.

Hey Vic, loved the shots. Especially the one with the deer. It had to have been pretty cool to scratch him on the chin like that!

Two days prior, I was in the backcountry - approaching hunters. Getting up close to this deer was indeed a nice experience.
Note: no food, no tricks (seemed to like the camera though).

I was there until around 3:30 on Sat. and there were signs telling everyone to get off at midstation. Though there looked to be decent coverage higher up.

Overall there wasn't much terrain open. The website listed 4 "trails" but really there was only 1 route from midstation to the lift, ditto for the beginner lift. So it was more like two trails.

5+ patrol staff may have been a little bored. They were spoted having a blast coming down the whales on White Lightning.

UPDATE:
We've had nothing but a light drizzle ALL day.
The fog (yes, very heavy and thick) has moved in... temperatures are dropping really fast... snow is making its way on Canaan Heights.

It's light, really light still, but there's plenty of cold weather ahead for snowmaking.

We'll see you there on Friday - or you'll just have to watch photos.

I would certainly think that these resorts will be open from the top this weekend...

Tline has the guns back on. I'm so happy to see Canaan Valley pushing, err leading actually, Tline in the snowmaking department this year. I drove up to the CV ski area Friday night, they had the lights on, groomers out and were running the main and beginners lifts; it looked to me like they could've been open from the top. Must've been a really smooth opening on Saturday, ya?

Timberline will start opening its doors every day, starting this Friday at 9am. From the looks of it, it will have the following trails:
Woods Hole (certain)
Whiteout (certain)
Whitelightning from the top (likely)
A few days after this weekend, Salamander might just be open with 2+ miles.
Either way, it's a good start for Timberline this year, and yes: An Excellent Come Back from Canaan Ski Resort.
Thanks to both, we have choices', so don't bother me: I am going skiing. <smile>

Hey Vic, like you, I thought t-line would open back up Friday w/ lighting from the top, but I just saw on their web-site that they would still just have mid-station down open on Friday and Saturday and maybe open Lightnin' and Sally on Sunday or Monday...might have to go over to Canaan to ski something from the top this weekend...at least T-line is updating their web site in real time...

This is straight from t-line web site:

Trails anticipated to be open when skiing resumes Friday Dec. 18

Woods Hole
Cross Roads
White Out
Timberline


Trails anticipated to be opening by the weekend, December 19-21

Winterset
Lower Almost Heaven

According to current weather predictions trails opening Dec.20 or 21.

Salamander
Upper White Lightning


Trails anticipated to be open Christmas week 26th or 27th

Upper Dew Drop
Winterset
Lower Almost Heaven
Ceiling
Flag Spruce
Woods Hole
Cross Roads
White Out
Timberline
Salamander
Upper White Lightning
Top of the Wall

Top of the Wall???
That must be one of the new trails on the western expansion and under the new sixpack.

HA... high speed sixpack for sure...

No, it really is "Off The Wall", only you have to walk down after skiing the top!
The Colonel

Ok...just when you think you seen it all..I just checked out the t-line web site to see if they are going to have anything open from the top,,,there was plenty of snow on lightning yesterday and it did snow about 1 foot last night and the snow is still dumping...anyway turns out t-line is taking an "innovative" approach to reporting snow conditions/trail openings---they are reporting them the day after...

From the t-line snow report page this morning:

Timberline Resort

12/18/2009
Report is usually update at 5pm each day
for the day before. Report is accurate.

...what a joke...

..."report is accurate"...according to today's report lower salamander was open yesterday???c'mon t-line a daily snow report is one of the most basic services provide...

At least Canaan Valley recognizes that it snowed yesterday. They've opened more than 75% of their terrain including Weiss Meadows and Dark Side of the Moon.

Seems that only the runs where they can make snow (e.g., Gravity) remain closed today (Sunday).

Woody

They are so slow Tucker..they're backward

Let the season begin then!
We took a different approach these last few days and skied what ever was open on Timberline & Canaan ski areas. The result?

Check out the PHOTO COVERAGE from Canaan & Timberline:
www.visitcanaan.com
Photos do not lie - "just add blue skies..." someone said.

Merry Christmas - from our family to your's.

A quick update:
Timberline opens at 8am all week - and closes with night skiing at 9pm. The best news is that White Lightning will be open for night skiing, YES --- starting tomorrow, Saturday Dec 26th.
I will be up there skiing my heart out - this is the news I have been looking for since (well) a few years.
It's memorable!