Glad to let you guys know that you can find Timberline Snow Report HERE:
www.visitcanaan.com/timberline

They are officially open and will do the best they can to "keep opening" slopes every few days.

Next on the list:
From what I have heard (and seen) Salamander may be next on the list (a super long Green Trail) followed closely by White Lighting (Black straight down 1000' vertical).

It might just be a Christmas gift, but right now, it's snowing with definite accumulation (1-3 inches since this morning, depending on the top or bottom of the resort)

That's about it for now... but I'll do my best to keep you posted.

Snow Report:
Depends on when I get on the snow, but usually before 7h30am, though more often than not by 6h45am.

Ludovic

Nice to know. I checked the site around 9 am and it still showed them closed. They really need to work on this.

Planning on getting down there xmas week if the weather cooperates.

Taylormatt: sorry about that... I am not sure why you had it say closed.
The snow report was out this morning at 6h11am.
Try emptying your cache files.

Things are looking better this morning; even in the dark, EVERYTHING looks white. Mother nature's given us a nice thin blanket of snow on the entire mountain area.
Compare with 2 days ago: the mountain looks very inviting.
Timberline is still blowing snow like crazy... AND so is Canaan Valley ski area (with their lights on).

As far as getting info about local ski conditions in the valley the www.visitcanaan.com site is really the place to go. T-line's web site really is worthless...all it seems to do is promote the cheesy theme weekends they do(willie nelson weekend that consist of the local house guitar player wearing a willie nelson wig)...I do not know why they do not hire Vic to run that web site, it blows my mind...seems as though one of the ladies in the businees office is sometimes updating Fred's "official" timberline facebook page w/ more relative skiing info then the t-line web site, like wether or not they are opening, snow conditions, etc....but the visitcanaan web site is really the place to go for up to date conditions, events and actuall pictures so you can see conditions...

To tag team on what Tucker wrote, www.visitcanaan.com hosts T-Line's snow report. If you go to T-Line's "official" web site, http://www.timberlineresort.com/winter/ and select "Snow Report", you get redirected to http://www.visitcanaan.com/timberline

Anyone hike above mid-station yesterday? How's the base doing up there?

I didn't get a good look today but was able to look up from whiteout/midstation yesterday and the amount of snow blown was minimal...not enough really to even push out and groom. It was cold last night and they cranked the guns all night and were blowing today...so they could have made a good amount last night, I don't know. If I were to guess and the temps hold for this week as predicted...last blowin' decent weather window is tonight, looks like no substantial snowmaking all week long, so they are going to have to push out what they got on lighting and salamander for the christmas week while keeping all the guns on those 2 trails still to keep building base and even then coverage x mas week is going to be minimum and probably not slope wide on lightnin'.

Salamander is getting close - the Gov's turn is still a little thin (though the base is "solid")

Top of the mountain: White Lightning has several thin spots atop, but looking better by the minute.

They normally need 5-7 days of good snowmaking to get thise two trails open to their liking. We had from Friday thru this morning so three days equate to thinner cover. A lot of ski areas open with minimal cover. I've skied WG, Bryce, Sugar, the shoe and Wisp on "white grass and dirt." T-line is experiencing a very uncooperative weather pattern. Things did get crowded on Saturday with only white-out open from mid and 400+- skiers.

Skied on Sat with a buddy and his daughter(her Bday), got some exercise and that was it.

Had I known it was only midstation for $32 half day I would prefer to just drink. Its pathetic.

It could have been worse; Snowshoe was $79.

no hiking up, we just skied up man-made snow has an interesting consistency when deep and ungroomed, but was fun none the less

Chaga spoted.. Chaga spoted on a mountain! Must be winter, because he looked pretty happy up there.

Saw people working on pushing the 2-mile long Salamander trail!
More trails to open soon...

Has anyone else had trouble viewing the T-line snow report? I haven't been able to get it to pull up for a few days now.

Blast from the past!!

Fwiw, I am having problems reading the Tline report that they send out in the email. Works fine on my computer, but cuts off the side on my iPhone.

Hi John, No luck with snow report but here's the link to their webcam .

You gave me Snow much hope when you 1st reported on MPC.."Almost Heaven" JohnF...Look where we still are...

21 Million for Canaan reported a couple of years ago..They have reported a busted Seal on the Snowmaking system which has set them back to a Tent in the friggin desert somewhere..Where are you Joe manchin..or whoever is running WV???

PS.. stacked & packed cold over in North asia...It will find a way down to us before long..Has too/Law of Nature..
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/map/images/fnl/sfctmp_01.fnl.gif

the t-line web site is WORTHLESS...does more harm than good...they should hire Vic to build a new web site and then hire him to run/maintain/update it daily, its a no brainer!

I found what my problem was. The Site doesn't work in chrome. Got it to open with fire fox, but it's still a really bad snow report. Tline really needs to change their website. It's just flat out bad. Great place to ski, but horrible website.

Here's something NEW:
Timberline's new webcam was installed on Tue, and fully operational by last night.
We've put it on couple of websites - just to make sure that you could find it:
www.t4sr.com/webcams/timberline.html

It's also on www.timberlineresort.com (on the menu).

As soon as I have couple of minutes, I'll put a wedge (yeah, I know... I know) but the wedge will angle it a little better for you. Once that's done, I'll make it pane some 210 degrees for our viewing pleasure.

VOILA!!..

hey, that's not bad at all !! And it looks like snow! I still miss the old tiled images, but this is good. thanks.

Tried the webcam link above and it times out, could be on my end as it is a work PC.

I called T-line and they only have trails open from midstation. They have no idea when they will be able to open anything from the top--much depends on the weather.

I also mentioned the website issue and they were not able to say when this issue will be fixed.

Snowcam is also not working, at least not when I checked at 1030 am.

Looking forward to making some tracks but probably not this weekend. Sigh.

Right now, NYE weekend not looking stellar either. Looks like marginal snowmaking conditions next week.

The webcam is working - and getting an amazing amount of traffic.
www.t4sr.com/webcams/timberline.html

The snow report is Interactive: you can see what is open, where snowmaking is in progress / setup, where natural snow is and even where night skiing is.
www.visitcanaan.com/timberline

For those who do NOT want Flash animation:
www.visitcanaan.com/timberline/conditions.jpg

For those who prefer the good old fashion spreadsheet:
www.visitcanaan.com/timberline/snow-report.jpg

So... bookmark away.


Now... if you like Timberline, here's what you should know:
Timberline has many exchange students. They do not ski much, and they certainly do not climb the mountain at 5:45 am - every day of the week - for a first hand snow report.

You'll be delighted to know that while couple of resorts have had to close down for couple of weeks (due to bad weather) Timberline is about to open another 2+ miles of trails. Okay, that's not too surprising, because they are after all in Canaan Valley. What is surprising (even to me) is the amount of snow you are about to find on Salamander trail. I just skied it, and let me tell you: It has got an amazing cover AND it will OPEN very VERY soon. They were just prepping couple of last minute additional safety.

Dec 26: that's the goal for Salamander to open. Before then if the weather looks promising.

Other news... yes... because I did say 2+ miles...

It looks as though Timberline may be opening White Lightning as well on the 26th. I warn you though: it will be a little thin, but it looks as though Timberline will be able to bring you .... HAPPINESS !

JOHN F:
Not sure why the snowcap didn't work for you, however: I did couple of maintenance on it this morning and early in the afternoon. Try again please.

Vic, just wanted to let you know I really appreciate the info. I think your updates will be more important this year due to the temp issues as the "lowland resorts" (Tucker's phrase) I fear will struggle to open and stay open, and the valley may be the only option.

ive been skiing white lightning from the top the past few days after work and it for sure has enough cover and whales to open

Amusing 14 people or so with White Lighting for 3 days doesn't make the money that Timberline (like all resorts) NEED to make during a major holiday week.
Their plan of opening it on the 26th just makes a whole lot of sense (keeping with whales to preserve snow) - it's merely a tactic.
I'll vouch for that - no matter HOW MUCH I want to see it open yesterday.

With rain changing to snow early fri morn & temps cold enough to make Snow later on Fri into sat & based on chaga's report, why would they not open WL on Sat the 24th for the X-mass weekend crowd?.....There would be a whole lot more than 14 folks up there to ski it. Would have been a thousand if it could have been open T-Giving..Why the wait?...There will be snow & snowmaking chances for the next few days..I don't understand the hold up!

I am trying to understand them and merely giving my prospective.
The real facts will speak for themselves: today, Salamander was almost ready.
Today, White Lightning was 48 hours from ready.
I will report my findings tomorrow morning for a NEW day, but it's my best guess that they will not open the top until the 26th.

Projecting:
Timberline will open two new slopes tomorrow from the top of the mountain.
Salamander - planned opening, morning of 12/24 - Sat
White Lightning - planned opening, afternoon of 12/24 - Sat

Remember: this is "Projecting"

Thanks Voila for the updates. I still cannot read the snow report from my work machine and did not have a chance to check on it at home. Perhaps in the future an alternative report can be posted in a simple HTML.

With regards to Christmas weekend, it's never been a big weekend at Timberline. Limited terrain offerings (such as what we have this year) are part of the problem. Another issue is Timberline's decision to open only a half day on the 25th (which unfortunately falls on a Sunday this year), and a third issue is the preference of people to stay home for Christmas.

New Year's is the first big one and in my opinion it is wise of T-line to hold off on opening WL or Sally until the trails are properly covered.

JohnF:
Quoted from a previous post... this is what you are looking for: (second link below)

The snow report is Interactive: you can see what is open, where snowmaking is in progress / setup, where natural snow is and even where night skiing is.
www.visitcanaan.com/timberline

For those who do NOT want Flash animation:
www.visitcanaan.com/timberline/conditions.jpg

For those who prefer the good old fashion spreadsheet:
www.visitcanaan.com/timberline/snow-report.jpg

*****

Salamander NOW open

*****

Thanks, but those jpegs still won't load on my work machine. A simple HTML table might work best. This is the message I received:

"Network Error


The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time.

A communication error occurred."

Good to hear about Sally. Hopefully more soon.

I also cannot get into your main page.

www.visitcanaan.com

Same message. Maybe the problem is too much traffic on your server.

John,

I agree with the point that you've made several times but that Vic is stubbornly refusing to listen to.

HTML is the lowest common denominator that all websites should produce. Especially when it comes to data content. And in this day and age of multiple OS's, computers, tablets and smart phones.

I do this for a living.

Also,

JPEGs are a laughable means of presenting data. Non-accessible for the visually impaired who may use screen readers and can't be parsed by automated means.

Edit: and consume excessive bandwidth.

It's not feasible right now to turn www.VisitCanaan.com into a basic static HTML, perhaps next year, because we're a little too busy right now to take care of our own stuff.

My goal is to provide you accurate info - so you can enjoy skiing as much as I do.
For those who do not want to look at Flash, I've created a basic JPG file so that you do not feel left out. Bandwidth??? Come on, please... 200KB and you get a snow report!

The alternative might just be a static HTML produced by someone who doesn't ski, released online at about 11am - while I am skiing powder.

Seriously, though, for those looking at it: I just hope you enjoy it.

JohnF: my servers will get over 400k hits for the month of Jan - yeah, a little busy... so we appreciate your patience.

From Timberline's trail report email update today:

"Greetings Everyone,

This email is to let you know that Timberline Four Seasons Resort is opening Salamander and White Lightening tomorrow!

Happy Holidays,
Sandra"

David... David... don't worry.
Salamander was open earlier today at around 10am - see snow report.
White Lightning (mind the spelling) is "expected" to open tomorrow 12/24. It may open in the morning, but the real plan is to open it sometime during the middle of the day.

Ref.: I climbed the mountain, and observed the "open" signs.
(there was one closed sign next to Salamander... now that I think about it... but it said something like 4:30pm next to it)

All jokes aside: it's OPEN. Enjoy 1000 vertical feet, enjoy the reasonably priced lift tickets.

Canaan is blowing snow BTW... and so is Timberline.

JohnL:

I think the problem is flash--my work machine doesn't like it for whatever reason. Anyway, I checked a few other resorts and many use plain vanilla HTML/HTM:

http://www.7springs.com/page/category.detail/nav/5022/Snow-Report.html

http://www.snowshoemtn.com/mountain/win-mountain/snowreport.htm

http://www.snowbasin.com/mountain/mountain-report/

http://www.stowe.com/ski-ride/conditions/

Flash reports do not seem to be the norm, but maybe I am missing something b/c I am not that knoweledgeable when it comes to tech.

The flash report does work pretty well, using my wife's droid phone, and that's a big plus.

PS It's very nice that Voila is trying as hard as he is to improve Timberline's connectivity with the world. Also, his posts on the forum are great!!! Very informative.

Keep up the good work Vic, you are doing great things for the valley!...ps. hope t-line is fairly compensating you for your dedicated work on advertising and PR, because you are providing a great service for them...

Thanks!
I get a few bucks for the snow report - pays for the immense food intake needed - but who's complaining? I am out the door again today, ROUND 2.

Oups... almost forgot the "plug" for the day:
Check out www.T4SR.com for your lodging needs - pays for our snow at Timberline.
("wow, that was close")

<cheers>