At 2 Am this 2nd day of Dec it is 22 degrees at the Base of TL & about 33/34 at the top (Est)..are they blowing snow at the Bottom?..Over at the Big mountain..MPC..Its even colder at the Lower base (2800' vs 3300') than TL with a 19 degree reading & a 33 temp at the top.
Warm air rises & cold air sinks. An agressive Snowmaking Team can work the Top or bottom & not wait for the Big Chill to get it done...A necessity here on the east coast Mid Atl.

They made snow at t-line earlier this week, but didn't make much at all....certainly not enough to open, not even close. They are not going to make snow with conditions you are describing. Despite what Fred says on facebook, they won't open on the 8th. If the forecast that I am looking at holds true I doubt they will have anything open from the top until after xmas...but of course the forecast can change on a dime anytime.

Early Bird Tucker!!..I see a 28.5 degree temp at 4000' right now (620am) with a 18.8 degree temp at 2883'..Temps will only hit 40 today & then go back into the Low 20's tonite. U know SS will be blasting away!

No need to worry about Inversion next wed,thur fri....
http://images.quickblogcast.com/0/4/8/0/3/139967-130840/GFS2153.png?a=56

yeah I am on 5 am kick these days. I have 18 F at my place on the valley floor. I can also see tline out the window and they are unfortunately not blowin'....must be the inversion thing.

The guns were on last night building our base and prepping for some warmer temps this weekend. Our new projected opening day is Friday, December 9th...SS Snow report..

takes money to make money!

hahahahaha..."regardless of what Fred says on Facebook"...hahahaha...someone deleted his facebook but still lurks on Timberline's page...hmmm.

relax, I just clicked on a facebook link that David posted here, besides why don't you just mind your own business and work on pinin' it in the pow ...got myself a 62 rocker, camber, rocker, camber, rocker set up this year-should be fun little set up...maybe I will come out there and try her out on some mountains--I am getting suspicious of the surface quality for this season on the hills around here...take a guess who had to fill your old shoes at the slime-I'll try to do you justice...

...14F on valley floor this mornin'...

takes knowing your market, knowing your competition, planning and foresight as well...after being blessed w/early season super low temps and abundant natural snow fall the last 2 winters we might be in a little bit of a reality check the start of this one...I got a feelin' it is going to quickly remind us which Mid A resorts have been putting profits back into infrastructure and keeping there snowmaking up to date w/ current technology...afterall snow is the product and it seems to me that in the Mid A snowmaking, getting it down fast and openining up, should be the #1 priority, but thats just my thinking...

[quote=Tucker]...14F on valley floor this mornin'... [/quote

& about 32 up at 4800' Snowshoe..Inversion Diversion for now but you might be singing a Diff tune in a couple of weeks Tucker.
I think that The weather in Canaan has taken a turn for the better as far as long term (The next 10/20... years) & the threat of a bad winter after a good or multiple good years is not as bad as before. We are actually on a 10 year roll when you think about it!.....Allthough the last 2 were crazy good ...Keep your skiis crossed..or your fingers for folks like tucker/Girl boarder

Noticed the ground is starting to freeze up hard.

hmmm to be a fly on the wall this winter...

sounds like an interesting set up for pow...definitely bring it out! If we ever get any dang snow! It's pretty ridiculous right now...idk if Bridger's even going to open before I come home for break! It's cold, but they don't make much snow here.

Tucker. I am glad you said it, because I was thinking it and had no politically correct way to say it. I guess my strategy if I owned the resorts would be to use the good years money and spend it on advanced snow making systems on trails that do not have them. Instead money was spent on lodge reconstruction and golf courses. In my opinion I feel they plan to follow the Wisp financial advising committee.If you take a look at the snow being blown at Liberty, Whitetail, and Roundtop compared to Wisp and 7 Springs you can see the difference in the ground covering speed. More guns and better guns would serve us better in the Snowtime resorts region. Faster opening time would help the resort financially. I know the weather is completely different at Wisp and 7Springs. I only mean that if you take a look at the cams you can see a difference from the first day or two of snow making at Wisp and SS compared to now at Snowtime resorts you can see the difference immediately. Not a sermon. Just a thought.

Fully agree! ..and I just looked at Whitetail's cams after the first solid night the gods have provided and couldn't help but notice Fanciful was top to bottom white - all done with brand new fixed snow guns.

Whitetail does a lot with what nature gave them. If I have to ride lifts in the mid Atlantic, I'd just as soon ride them at Whitetail. Why drive 2x + further for similar terrain, with the exception of Blue Knob with good natural snow?

Well it appears that they are in full swing now. I just hope the cold temps stay for awhile, but it appears that we keep getting that high temp wind blowing our way. We have been pretty spoiled the past few years. I just wanna get spoiled again. My wife hates that I check all the cams about 20 times a day. lol

8 F on valley floor this morning...

tline has been crankin the guns all these cold nights. last night i saw the groomers lights flashing before i went to bed and when i awoke in the morn, so it looks like they are workin as hard as they can to open without the hi tech advanced snow making of the corporate resorts. apparently canaan ski area lost a snow making pond too.

Were they working above the mid-station chaga?

Tline webcam

...I guess the t-line web cam shows the opposite of "white" out snow conditions...

That doesn't sound good... any more info on what happened there?

..from what I heard the pond sprung a leak a week or so ago and is no longer in service...

Par for the course.

If I remember correctly, this happens to them every few years. Sad, really.

So what would you predict for someone heading up to Canaan this weekend?

Canaan's website says they are opening the 22nd. Timberline's website shows the 17th as their opening date, but no mention of what trails will be open.

Wisp and Snowshoe are in driving distance from Canaan and both will be open. 10 dollar lift tickets at Wisp Sunday.

I wonder if it is the same pond that thru a study by a group up in Vermont was to be removed to make room for a top to bottom run down to the Parking lot which would have been the site of a new lift??..

You lost the best opportunity to make the Most out of your Ski area Canaan when you leveled the old Lodge & put the new one IN THE SAME FRIGGIN SPOT!!!..U morons..

Did they level the old ski lodge, or just built a new addition behind it?

Or are you talking about the lodging lodge?

The old lodge just below cardiac Hill in the way of a great Runout down to the Parking lot ( which is the true base area) which was leveled..They might have used some of the Foundation of the old Lodge but it was pretty much replaced by the new Complex..Front & Back..

Phil, If you check out Vic's sight and look through the pics @ visitcanaan.com you can see about how much snow t-line has blown on the base area...Doesn't seem like Canaan has been makin' much snow so I doubt they will be open this weekend, if so it will just be the bunny area...t-line will be open probably from Mid, they could open from the top if they are motivated and then a couple turns could be made(but who knows)...I think there are a bunch of groups at t-line this weekend, so it might be a junk show especially with the limited terrain... I am not sure what goes at the Whitegrass...

From Canaan Valley Facebook fan page:

"Opening day will be Thursday, December 22."

"we had a delay in making snow due to a water line and a compressor that broke. Everything a go again but we missed some valuable snow making days."

With the current forecast, it seem like they will have some chance to make snow this weekend but after that it will go milder and wet again? I doubt if they will be able to open on 22nd.

Depends on how much rain we get tomorrow and Thursday. They had blown on Salamander, lightening, woods hole, and whiteout. If they wanted, they could open all the above, but wouldn't be the normal cover they desire. If it were up to me, I'd try to get as much open as possible. The snow making windows have been small and few so far and next week looks to be no better.

Sat looks to be a decent snowmaking day, maybe round the clock? If I had a guess, blow until Sat on WL/Sally, groom Sunday AM, then open them up on Sunday late AM.

Well my plans have already been set in stone for the 16th through the 23rd so I'm hoping for the best, board wise, and preparing for the worst, alcohol wise. I'm sure I'll be able to get some good runs in somewhere in that date range..

seems like another inversion goin on. temp on the dash kept dropping as i was headin down to parsons this morning. bah humbug

I guess I also never clarified where I'm going... T-line would be the place, I've never visited the "Canaan" ski area; however, this is only my 3rd season.

I got the word that it from mid-station on Saturday at t-line. Don't know if they are planning on getting more open later in the weekend or not. Phil, you picked the wrong year to hit the slopes early in the season. Although we've suffered through winters like this before, the past two seasons spoiled me. I mean we were almost 100% by the first in both years. I went and bought new skis just for the off piste experiences that we anticipated having.

Starting to remind me of 2004/05 season.

Ugh...hopefully things will turn out more like the 2008/2009 season, or whatever season it was recently when we had nothing until Mid Jan and then from Mid Jan til Mid March we had consistent snow and cold.

Hey guys, you know the law of averages had to catch up with us. Maybe Andy can throw some magic at the situation or at least give us some hope.

According to Chris Bailey, Chrismas weekend doesn't look too bad:

"The models are actually in much better agreement on the end of next week into Christmas Weekend. Believe it or not... most show a cold and possibly snowy pattern. The GFS Ensembles have been all over this for a while..."

http://kyweathercenter.com/2011/12/15/tracking-rain-and-whatever-else-comes-our-way.aspx

I wonder what do you weather geeks think? I am planning to head up to T-Line on Christmas weekend to take advantage of low lift ticket price. Do you think it will be worth it? I don't expect a lot of trails to be opened but would love to ride on decent snow (manmade or natural)

Magic would be nice, especially if Dwight Howard can shoot snow from his fingertips... Joking aside, the weather looks to be favorable for snowmaking Friday through sunday night don't you think? I'm going to be around the mountain until next Thursday (if I plan on getting anyone holiday gifts) or Friday (if I decide to only show them pictures of what they could have gotten..)

Nice start to your DCSKI blogging there Phil ..welcome to the Club.

I need about one or two more runs of the Models to see if I'm making the long Journey(WV Alpps)...After a nice cold weekend coming up with a little Snow action for the Ambience I was hoping that after a lull in the Action for Mon/Tue we would get back into the Action Early Wed(thats when I was thinking of coming up) continuing thru to & past X-mas but it might not set up that way...I need a storm to offset the Meager Run count & 8 hour ride..

Canaan ended up with 166 inches for that year (55 inches for march)...Lets get this party started..Right?

60 degrees here this morning was quite depressing.

Shorts & T-shirts down here in SE NC...might have to unretire the crab pots..

The NAO was Forecasted to go Neg at the beginning of Dec Which gave hope for a pattern change here on the East Coast...well..
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/pna/nao.sprd2.gif
...It didn't..untill we get the red line to dip negative we will only be teased with cold "Slices"...Stranger things have happened though & I don't want to bring back the Crab pots (been there done that got the butter/spice stained shirts)...I need some Strange!!..

PS..As I'm chomping on some fresh sauteed Redfish (time for some STEAK!).I search for hope...here is a tweet from...
BigJoeBastardiJoe Bastardi
Massive battleground between fierce cold and major warmth pushes slowly southeast through US in Jan. Lets see if others pick up on this

Stay out of your neighbors crab pots as well!

Oh yeah that's what i was insinuating; they had freshies on the ground when they closed that year.