Went up to Timberline yesterday and had an awesome day on the snow. Uncrowded and, believe it or not, NOT windy. Once we got into the valley the wind almost totally died down, except at the top of the lift and on the more SW exposures (Twister in particular).

The tree skiing & riding was exceptional with very few exposed rocks and limbs. On note, on the mountain bike trails between white lightning & the drop, there were a few rocks poking through the snow... man that's a horrible sound and feeling when you go over one... very hard to avoid on a board, my son on skis was able to just lift a foot to avoid them though.

I drove in from Winchester, Va in less than 2 hrs going out rt 55 to corridor H then went R and took first l through the gap. The road was completely bare and only about 3 miles long BUT once on mount Storm, the roads got messy. VERY wind blows and hard to see, but with good tires, no problem. Last night, however, there was a jack-knifed coal truck that closed the road for 2-3 hrs, so we reversed course and went back the old way to the south. Roads clear up as you approach Senneca Rocks.

Forgot to mention, are dinner at Hellbender Burritos in Davis. AWESOME food! Great service as well.

Timberline's terrain park is open (old news now) - but starting today Dec 26th, your skiing regulation is as follows:
8am to 9pm - so obviously, night skiing is in motion.

Hope you all had great Holidays... but wait... there's more to come!

Same road conditions this afternoon ... Greenland Gap was clear and more or less dry, but Bismarck to Davis was snowy and windy.

Timberline Road was better maintained than ever - all day long - with plenty of gravels. Of course, with the heavy snow and winds pooring right now, tomorrow is just another day. Heck, it's okay... I'll walk if I have to - for a powder day.
(not feet of the good stuff, but 5-9 inches on top of the rest isn't bad)

You can read about this road research paper other people. This information can be useful.

My cuzin frum Hollerville drives hiz 4weeler on the hiway all the time cruzin for roadkill. Duz yer reserch git me more roadkill? Iza gittin hungry!!!

Hollerville: took me 14 years in the states to figure out "holler-som'thing-rather"
Okay - enough about research papers: roads conditions from Oakland to Tline were VERY good last night - and bound to get better with today's sun.

Vic,
I just can't resist spamming spammers. Spam, spam, spam!!! Good ole Backbone Mtn...love the off-camber road, the views off to the North-west, and the ever expanding windmills into MD. Oh, did I forget the umpteenth speed limit sign? (:^O)>>>

"umpteenth" - now there's a word I have not heard in a while - in the midst of 'good ole backbone mtn'
Speaking of good though... I heard Canaan Valley had NO ONE today - any feedback from anyone?
TLine had quite a few people - lift lines were very manageable though.
Skiing was great - charged up my batteries for sure!

No idea on skiers at CVR but we went over to the resort for ice skating yesterday late afternoon and it looked like the lodge has pretty decent occupancy for this time of year.

On the other hand, I was surprised that the crowds weren't bigger at Tline. Is this week usually as packed as MLK or President's?

It was really cool in so many ways: Tline really had a lot of people, but here and again, there were more little kids and parents just playing with snowballs than I ever saw before.
Perhaps the reason for shorter lift lines... I don't know, but it was cool on so many levels.

One of whom was me, getting my three year old daughter on skis for the first time! It was a great day indeed.

What are you doing reading this?
Get out and ski - an epic Spring Day coming up (complete with sun) in the Canaan Valley area.
Ski or XC Timberline
Ski or XC Canaan Valley
XC White Grass
XC Blackwater State park
Today is: Last day of the year, sun wants to come out, temps are warm... need we say more?

Happy new year - Happy Rainy Day!
The weather may not include perfect blue skies, but the snow was incredibly fun - with few (very few) people.
Best part of the day?
Seeing a 60+ year-old couple hike up with skins and telemark gear - an hour before a 35+ year old made it up to the top.
Excellent way to start the year - gongrats to all 3 of you for making it Tline before me.

My daughter and I drove to the valley Sunday with the thought of skiing whichever resort had more open. We saw temps drop overnight Saturday so we got up early Sunday and went for it. We checked conditions at CVR first and it was at most 50% open. So we drove over to TL and it was in much better shape and relatively empty so we spent the afternoon skiing there. The snow was hard but manageable on the groomers especially since they had not seen much traffic.

By 2pm, Off The Wall was really not a good idea...but I have been anxious to practice moguls as I thought I was getting the hang of it, so down I went. I made it halfway down in good order and then had to bail after I nearly tore something in my leg...to be honest I got a little spooked by that, the ice and lack of light. A patroller by the name of Mickey hung out with me as I walked down and tried to salvage my ego and told me it was darned near impassable. I stuck to the groomers after that for the balance of the day. The bumps will come but not on this day.

All in all though, it was a good time. My daughter really liked the little terrain park. She had it mostly to herself and she could lap through it quickly without a long lift line.

OTW on Sunday had about as tough conditions as you'll find anywhere. It had serious Vermont loud powder and challenge. If you could string more than three turns together on the headwall, you are a real good skier. I had to use the back of the bumps on the right to help scrub speed; going directly over the headwall whales would have been suicidal. The surface was harder than it looked; I lost an edge and fell into the slope when I barely had any speed. My hip is still very, very sore today.

You missed good bump skiing by one day. OTW on Saturday (and Friday) was fantastic; nice soft spring conditions. The bump line on the right was very nicely (and I rarely say that about Mid Atlantic bumps.)

For practicing bumps, in general I'd recommend The Drop and Upper Thunderstruck (though it is under the lift) over OTW.