Looks like we have some snow on tap (knock on wood). Thinking of heading out this Thursday or Friday. Friday is probably the day to go...anyone going to be out there?
I'm headed to Snowshoe Thursday afternoon (will get there after the lifts close, but hopefully in time for the Duke-UNC game), and plan to ski Friday-Sunday if my knee holds up.
Will be very curious to see how conditions are. We have friends there this week, so I am checking with them. I suspect there will be some serious ice with the warm up and then the re-freeze, but hoping the groomers can work their magic, plus some new man-made and natural snow could make for good conditions.
Pulled the trigger. CVR is the ticket for tomorrow and Friday. Get on it before the weekend rain. Nuff said.
Who wants to guess what the final total will be from this current system? Depending on the amount Friday could be (packed) powder conditions or a few inches on crust.
Friday at CVR was good. Several runs left ungroomed, so there were powder turns available well into the afternoon. Most of the powder was of the blue run variety. Only real disappointment was that Gravity was closed, despite being listed as open on CVR's online report.
Next up:Saturday at Wintergreen in 60+ degree weather with the scouts.
Friday at Snowshoe was very good as well. 7 inches of new snow had the place looking like winter again. Temps were very cold, in the single digits to start the day, and maybe into the high teens or low 20's by the afternoon. The light was great, with full sun in the morning, and mostly sun in the afternoon. Needless to say, the slopes skied very well. The only downside was that they were, of course, blowing on many runs (including Shays). But half a foot of natural snow and cold temps was certainly enjoyable.
This was my first ski day in 4 weeks, and more importantly, since I had sprained my knee in Colorado. I definitely had some discomfort early on, and it was weird to see how much of an injury is mental. It took probably a full day of skiing to get comfortable and trust my knee again with full weight, aggressive carving, etc.
Saturday was much warmer, probably starting around 35 and quickly moving into the low-mid 40's. Again, good sun in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon. Everything was melting rapidly, and the trails started skiing really slow. That's not the end of the world on Western Territory, where you could go full out, but kind of stunk near the bottom of the basin. By mid-day Saturday, I was skiing at 90% of full strength, and my knee felt great.
A couple of other observations:
- I was thinking of the Colonel's story, and, man, things have gotten really bad at snowshoe. Out of control boarders everywhere, with a couple of out of control skiers mixed in. Western Territory on Saturday was particularly bad, and I saw a few near-collisions that would have easily broken 6 ribs. I don't understand why Snowshoe isn't doing more about that...
- Snowshoe needs to do a better job with singles lines; Western Territory had a 10-15 minute wait at times on Saturday, and there was no singles line. Chair after chair going up with just 3 people. A lot of people were irritated about it.
-Snowshoe needs to do a better job appealing to new skiers. Specifically, I brought a big group (14) of my wife's family members, including a couple of never-evers, and a couple of people who had skied once or twice 20 years ago. Basically, a third of us were experts, a third intermediates, and a third true beginners. I feel like the Snowtime resorts do a good job of packaging lift tickets, rentals, and lessons for true beginners. We couldn't find anything like this. My brother-in-law was shocked to pay $600 for just two days of skiing for him and his wife (both true beginners), on top of what we were paying for lodging. That's a great way to get people not to come back.
Reisen wrote:
Friday at Snowshoe was very good as well. 7 inches of new snow had the place looking like winter again. Temps were very cold, in the single digits to start the day, and maybe into the high teens or low 20's by the afternoon. The light was great, with full sun in the morning, and mostly sun in the afternoon. Needless to say, the slopes skied very well. The only downside was that they were, of course, blowing on many runs (including Shays). But half a foot of natural snow and cold temps was certainly enjoyable.
This was my first ski day in 4 weeks, and more importantly, since I had sprained my knee in Colorado. I definitely had some discomfort early on, and it was weird to see how much of an injury is mental. It took probably a full day of skiing to get comfortable and trust my knee again with full weight, aggressive carving, etc.
Saturday was much warmer, probably starting around 35 and quickly moving into the low-mid 40's. Again, good sun in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon. Everything was melting rapidly, and the trails started skiing really slow. That's not the end of the world on Western Territory, where you could go full out, but kind of stunk near the bottom of the basin. By mid-day Saturday, I was skiing at 90% of full strength, and my knee felt great.
A couple of other observations:
- I was thinking of the Colonel's story, and, man, things have gotten really bad at snowshoe. Out of control boarders everywhere, with a couple of out of control skiers mixed in. Western Territory on Saturday was particularly bad, and I saw a few near-collisions that would have easily broken 6 ribs. I don't understand why Snowshoe isn't doing more about that...
- Snowshoe needs to do a better job with singles lines; Western Territory had a 10-15 minute wait at times on Saturday, and there was no singles line. Chair after chair going up with just 3 people. A lot of people were irritated about it.
-Snowshoe needs to do a better job appealing to new skiers. Specifically, I brought a big group (14) of my wife's family members, including a couple of never-evers, and a couple of people who had skied once or twice 20 years ago. Basically, a third of us were experts, a third intermediates, and a third true beginners. I feel like the Snowtime resorts do a good job of packaging lift tickets, rentals, and lessons for true beginners. We couldn't find anything like this. My brother-in-law was shocked to pay $600 for just two days of skiing for him and his wife (both true beginners), on top of what we were paying for lodging. That's a great way to get people not to come back.
I agree 100% with your Snowshoe observations and raise you one more. The price for beginners, plus the location of the beginner's area at Snowshoe really makes it difficult for people to enjoy their first time out. The 'bunny' hill Skidder is right at the top of the mountain, which is beautiful, but it is also freezing cold, extremely windy, has a strange double-fall-line and has non-beginners tearing through it to get to other trails. I always recommend beginners go to Silver Creek for their wider, less crowded, less windy trails.
eggraid wrote:
Reisen wrote:
Friday at Snowshoe was very good as well. 7 inches of new snow had the place looking like winter again. Temps were very cold, in the single digits to start the day, and maybe into the high teens or low 20's by the afternoon. The light was great, with full sun in the morning, and mostly sun in the afternoon. Needless to say, the slopes skied very well. The only downside was that they were, of course, blowing on many runs (including Shays). But half a foot of natural snow and cold temps was certainly enjoyable.
This was my first ski day in 4 weeks, and more importantly, since I had sprained my knee in Colorado. I definitely had some discomfort early on, and it was weird to see how much of an injury is mental. It took probably a full day of skiing to get comfortable and trust my knee again with full weight, aggressive carving, etc.
Saturday was much warmer, probably starting around 35 and quickly moving into the low-mid 40's. Again, good sun in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon. Everything was melting rapidly, and the trails started skiing really slow. That's not the end of the world on Western Territory, where you could go full out, but kind of stunk near the bottom of the basin. By mid-day Saturday, I was skiing at 90% of full strength, and my knee felt great.
A couple of other observations:
- I was thinking of the Colonel's story, and, man, things have gotten really bad at snowshoe. Out of control boarders everywhere, with a couple of out of control skiers mixed in. Western Territory on Saturday was particularly bad, and I saw a few near-collisions that would have easily broken 6 ribs. I don't understand why Snowshoe isn't doing more about that...
- Snowshoe needs to do a better job with singles lines; Western Territory had a 10-15 minute wait at times on Saturday, and there was no singles line. Chair after chair going up with just 3 people. A lot of people were irritated about it.
-Snowshoe needs to do a better job appealing to new skiers. Specifically, I brought a big group (14) of my wife's family members, including a couple of never-evers, and a couple of people who had skied once or twice 20 years ago. Basically, a third of us were experts, a third intermediates, and a third true beginners. I feel like the Snowtime resorts do a good job of packaging lift tickets, rentals, and lessons for true beginners. We couldn't find anything like this. My brother-in-law was shocked to pay $600 for just two days of skiing for him and his wife (both true beginners), on top of what we were paying for lodging. That's a great way to get people not to come back.
I agree 100% with your Snowshoe observations and raise you one more. The price for beginners, plus the location of the beginner's area at Snowshoe really makes it difficult for people to enjoy their first time out. The 'bunny' hill Skidder is right at the top of the mountain, which is beautiful, but it is also freezing cold, extremely windy, has a strange double-fall-line and has non-beginners tearing through it to get to other trails. I always recommend beginners go to Silver Creek for their wider, less crowded, less windy trails.
Yeah, in hindsight, I really should have pushed the beginners to Silver Creek, but, of course, as many of the group wanted to ski together as possible.
I've posted other complaints about Snowshoe in the past, including the absolute mess that is Ballhooter. Specifically, it both acts as a chokepoint (between Top of the World and the Village), and serves some of the best terrain on that side of the mountain (including slopes that retain the best snow while others are melting). I really wish snowshoe would upgrade that to a 6-pack.
I also think they need to run Grabhammer on Fridays. If the slopes are crowded enough to justify charging weekend prices, then they should open up the additional uphill capacity that adds.
Lastly, the mountain was 100% open, with the exception of the cutthrough from the Grabhammer lift to the Grabhammer run. Wish they would blow on that, because it would both allow you to ski Grabhammer from the Grabhammer lift without sidestepping / hiking, as well as allow you to access Soaring Eagle without waiting in line for 20 minutes at Ballhooter.
I was there super bowl weekend and lodging/village was full to capactiy (conditions were fantastic and a few observations that were different that those above.
- Friday: After noon ballhooter was shockingly crowded. I agree running grabhammer would be nice, however we pretty much spent all our time on western and soaring eagle. We were out 10-4:30 with ~hour lunch break at hoots and got in 28 runs (we hit the hot tub and decided night skiing wasnt needed) At somepoint we did a few runs off Powder Ridge, which only loads on one side and had a pretty short line.
- Saturday: We never touched Ballhooter, again we missed rope drop and checked the webcam before we left and saw the line... walked through the village put on skis by the MAC and went to Soaring Eagle for a while, then western for a few hours and then back to Soaring Eagle to close out the day around 3:45, before taking a break and hitting Silver Creek after dinner. Again we clocked 30 runs. We discovered that if you are willing to make a short skate uphill Grabhammer -> Skidder lift allows you to bypass Ballhooter and get to Soaring Eagle and the Village. Neither of those lifts had more than a 2-3 min wait. Only line over 5 mins I think we had was Powder Monkey to get to western, which was probably about 25 mins. When we were there Western Express DID have a single line and all chairs were going up full, but the wait was less than 5 mins most times. This was the first time I'd been there when it was crowded... and I agree on the Cupp runout being bad, seems like part of the issue could be resolved by rearanging the way the resturaunt down there is set up, I think simply moving the steps further downhill might help some, and then some SLOW signage wouldnt hurt.
- Sunday... Lapped camp 99 and Sawmil and watched the races from the lift until 1 and called it a weekend. Again Soaring Eagle had less than 5 min wait.
In all honesty, when I heard lodging was sold out I was a bit worried about stuff I'd heard here. But our group was there ready to have a good time and we did... and I know the trail map there very well so we kept moving for the most part.
In regards to a Ballhooter 6 pack.... I have very mixed feelings, right now I think for the most part the downhill capacity=uphill capactity except on the switchbacks which are already over crowded. Increasing the uphill capacity of Ballhooter by 50% without more terrain seems silly. I honeslty think a HSQ at Powder Ridge (yes... not powder Monkey) would increase uphill capacity and actually help spread people out. Cascade at Silver Creek would be an interesting upgrade as well... but I honestly dont this that they need detachables over there.
rbrtlav wrote:
We discovered that if you are willing to make a short skate uphill Grabhammer -> Skidder lift allows you to bypass Ballhooter and get to Soaring Eagle and the Village.
Huh?
I think simply moving the steps further downhill might help some, and then some SLOW signage wouldnt hurt.
Agree
In all honesty, when I heard lodging was sold out I was a bit worried about stuff I'd heard here. But our group was there ready to have a good time and we did... and I know the trail map there very well so we kept moving for the most part.
Way to make the most of it!
In regards to a Ballhooter 6 pack.... I have very mixed feelings, right now I think for the most part the downhill capacity=uphill capactity except on the switchbacks which are already over crowded. Increasing the uphill capacity of Ballhooter by 50% without more terrain seems silly. I honeslty think a HSQ at Powder Ridge (yes... not powder Monkey) would increase uphill capacity and actually help spread people out. Cascade at Silver Creek would be an interesting upgrade as well... but I honestly dont this that they need detachables over there.
Agree, except I think a HSQ would bring more people to SC. That and a lift from the village to SC! The #1 reason people avoid SC is slow lifts. Personally I don't mind, but it seems most do. The shuttle slog is a close #2.
Bonzski wrote:
rbrtlav wrote:
We discovered that if you are willing to make a short skate uphill Grabhammer -> Skidder lift allows you to bypass Ballhooter and get to Soaring Eagle and the Village.Huh?
I think simply moving the steps further downhill might help some, and then some SLOW signage wouldnt hurt.Agree
In all honesty, when I heard lodging was sold out I was a bit worried about stuff I'd heard here. But our group was there ready to have a good time and we did... and I know the trail map there very well so we kept moving for the most part.
Way to make the most of it!
In regards to a Ballhooter 6 pack.... I have very mixed feelings, right now I think for the most part the downhill capacity=uphill capactity except on the switchbacks which are already over crowded. Increasing the uphill capacity of Ballhooter by 50% without more terrain seems silly. I honeslty think a HSQ at Powder Ridge (yes... not powder Monkey) would increase uphill capacity and actually help spread people out. Cascade at Silver Creek would be an interesting upgrade as well... but I honestly dont this that they need detachables over there.
Agree, except I think a HSQ would bring more people to SC. That and a lift from the village to SC! The #1 reason people avoid SC is slow lifts. Personally I don't mind, but it seems most do. The shuttle slog is a close #2.
I think RBRTLAV was pointing out if you take the Skidder lift, you can skate uphill to the top of Ballhooter, and then ski to Soaring Eagle, thus bypassing the chokepoint Ballhooter creates. In hindsight, this is correct, and I used to do it (just forgot about it last weekend). A little annoying, but certainly preferable to wasting 20+ minutes in line.
Maybe I'm not paying close enough attention, but the majority of the runs served by Ballhooter never seem to be that crowded, specifically Grabhammer (practically empty last weekend even with a massive line at Ballhooter lift), Grab Hook, Knot Bumpber, and Ballhooter. I think Knot Bumper Glades was closed on Sunday. All those skiers seem to mostly be taking Hootenany, or Cross Cut.
One suggestion would be to clear cut Knot Bumper Glades and add grooming and snow making. It's closed so often in-season anyway. I'm definitely sold on the idea of moving to a 6-pack for Ballhooter.
Reisen wrote:
Bonzski wrote:
rbrtlav wrote:
We discovered that if you are willing to make a short skate uphill Grabhammer -> Skidder lift allows you to bypass Ballhooter and get to Soaring Eagle and the Village.Huh?
I think simply moving the steps further downhill might help some, and then some SLOW signage wouldnt hurt.Agree
In all honesty, when I heard lodging was sold out I was a bit worried about stuff I'd heard here. But our group was there ready to have a good time and we did... and I know the trail map there very well so we kept moving for the most part.
Way to make the most of it!
In regards to a Ballhooter 6 pack.... I have very mixed feelings, right now I think for the most part the downhill capacity=uphill capactity except on the switchbacks which are already over crowded. Increasing the uphill capacity of Ballhooter by 50% without more terrain seems silly. I honeslty think a HSQ at Powder Ridge (yes... not powder Monkey) would increase uphill capacity and actually help spread people out. Cascade at Silver Creek would be an interesting upgrade as well... but I honestly dont this that they need detachables over there.
Agree, except I think a HSQ would bring more people to SC. That and a lift from the village to SC! The #1 reason people avoid SC is slow lifts. Personally I don't mind, but it seems most do. The shuttle slog is a close #2.
I think RBRTLAV was pointing out if you take the Skidder lift, you can skate uphill to the top of Ballhooter, and then ski to Soaring Eagle, thus bypassing the chokepoint Ballhooter creates. In hindsight, this is correct, and I used to do it (just forgot about it last weekend). A little annoying, but certainly preferable to wasting 20+ minutes in line.
Maybe I'm not paying close enough attention, but the majority of the runs served by Ballhooter never seem to be that crowded, specifically Grabhammer (practically empty last weekend even with a massive line at Ballhooter lift), Grab Hook, Knot Bumpber, and Ballhooter. I think Knot Bumper Glades was closed on Sunday. All those skiers seem to mostly be taking Hootenany, or Cross Cut.
One suggestion would be to clear cut Knot Bumper Glades and add grooming and snow making. It's closed so often in-season anyway. I'm definitely sold on the idea of moving to a 6-pack for Ballhooter.
Oh okay, so if you're starting from the lower part of village or Shaver Cntr.
Knotbumper Glades needs a lot of natural snow because of its steep pitch (upper section). A trail to cut in from lower Knotbumper would be nice to access the less steep glades.
I'm with RRBTLAV re 6pck for Ballhooter. They can run Grabhammer lift to achieve same affect (increase uphill capacity). A 6pck would just pull even more people to Ballhooter to get their 6pk gold star sticker. The HSQ for Powderigde is an interesting concept, probably not viable for 2 trails....but if they expanded terrain on that side it becomes realistic and would help distribute traffic. Then run a lift from top of Powderridge to SC!
