Not exactly a powder day but it beats the hell out of 80 and humid.
I wondered if there would be any wraparound snow in the WV highlands as michael went up the coast. I remember how great the skiing was after Sandy, which dumped 3-4 feet in Canaan Valley. You had to climb it of course and stay in motels with no power or heat. Backcountry fanatics came from all over the east to get it.
All respect to those who suffer tragedy in these storms. I have donated to Red Cross.
Sure doesn't look like mid-October! A little video on SkiSE.
http://www.skisoutheast.com/first-snowfall-season-caught-snowshoe-mountain-morning/
Snowshoe moved some portable fan guns out on to skidder and other places today and it’s snowing there now. Looks like tomorrow is supposed to be below freezing all day too...wonder if they will fire up the system or if they will wait until after Halloween?
Snowing hard at SnowshoeMtn.com right now! Anybody know if the 90+/- new stick guns that arrived just recently have been installed?
MorganB
aka The Colonel
The Colonel wrote:
Anybody know if the 90+/- new stick guns that arrived just recently have been installed?
Last weekend I noticed many of the stick guns on upper Cupp had been removed.
Bonzski wrote:
The Colonel wrote:
Anybody know if the 90+/- new stick guns that arrived just recently have been installed?
Last weekend I noticed many of the stick guns on upper Cupp had been removed.
Are you referring to the new stick guns installed last year, or a pile of the new this year stick guns awaiting installation?
The Colonel wrote:
Bonzski wrote:
The Colonel wrote:
Anybody know if the 90+/- new stick guns that arrived just recently have been installed?
Last weekend I noticed many of the stick guns on upper Cupp had been removed.
Are you referring to the new stick guns installed last year, or a pile of the new this year stick guns awaiting installation?
Standing on Westridge rd, looking up & down Cupp there were only 2 or 3 stick guns remaining, all others had been taken down. I assume the newest guns are going in.
Bonzski wrote:
The Colonel wrote:
Bonzski wrote:
The Colonel wrote:
Anybody know if the 90+/- new stick guns that arrived just recently have been installed?
Last weekend I noticed many of the stick guns on upper Cupp had been removed.
Are you referring to the new stick guns installed last year, or a pile of the new this year stick guns awaiting installation?
Standing on Westridge rd, looking up & down Cupp there were only 2 or 3 stick guns remaining, all others had been taken down. I assume the newest guns are going in.
That doesn't make much sense. No reason to take out the recent Million + dollar investment
Anybody know what is going on? Were any of the new fan guns installed on Cupp?
Snowshoe appears to be playing with their snow guns near Ballhooter this afternoon.
Ken probably loaded the snowlogic app on his phone so he can play games from home.
Most resorts fire-up their snowmaking system at the end of Oct beginning Nov to pressure test and/or adjusting automation. (drum up their season passes..;-) Not sure about SS but I believe they will further automate its snowmaking and install even more powerful tower mounted fan guns. To automate its snowmaking system many guns need to be replaced to be able to do automation. Only one explanation for removing last year’s stick guns. They will go somewhere else on the mountain. New guns/automation can reduce power by almost 80% and optimize its snowmaking.
SwissMountain wrote:
“Most resorts fire-up their snowmaking system at the end of Oct beginning Nov to pressure test and/or adjusting automation. (drum up their season passes..;-) Not sure about SS but I believe they will further automate its snowmaking and install even more powerful tower mounted fan guns. To automate its snowmaking system many guns need to be replaced to be able to do automation. Only one explanation for removing last year’s stick guns. They will go somewhere else on the mountain. New guns/automation can reduce power by almost 80% and optimize its snowmaking.”
Too bad COO Frank DeBerry left, one of his strengths was keeping his customers in the know!
i wonder if the new stick guns arrived too late to be installed??
MorganB
aka The Colonel
There was a Facebook post last Friday saying that all the new stick guns were installed.
As for the location of the new ones and why they removed some from upper cupp, they had the below post as a response.
“In several places, but largely on Shay's Revenge as well as "The X" (Hootenanny and Flume). We moved some of the slightly older ones from Upper Cupp down to the botom of Shay's and replaced them with the new ones, which are better suited to combat the wind up there.”
rbrtlav wrote:
There was a Facebook post last Friday saying that all the new stick guns were installed.
As for the location of the new ones and why they removed some from upper cupp, they had the below post as a response.
“In several places, but largely on Shay's Revenge as well as "The X" (Hootenanny and Flume). We moved some of the slightly older ones from Upper Cupp down to the botom of Shay's and replaced them with the new ones,
which are better suited to combat the wind up there.”
Where are they posting on Facebook?
The Colonel wrote:
Where are they posting on Facebook?
They are very active on social media. below are links to their offical social media accounts
Active on social medial, and very responsive to questions. I have asked for estimated dates for trail openings, etc, on twitter several times over the past couple seasons and they have always been willing to respond (and have usually been right).
But that was under the refreshing leadership of “customer comes first” Frank DeBerry, now COO at another AltriaWest Coast ski resort. Hopefully the yet announced future Snowshoe COO will follow in DeBerry’s mold and not the mold of some previous Snowshoe COOs who, in my opinion, seemed to put maximizing profit ahead of customer concerns” . DeBerry ran the Shoe as an entity with multiple related cohesive parts, all for the common good; versus the apparent style of some previous COOs that each part was a profit making entity to themselves.
The Colonel
wgo wrote:
Active on social medial, and very responsive to questions. I have asked for estimated dates for trail openings, etc, on twitter several times over the past couple seasons and they have always been willing to respond (and have usually been right).
Social media has become way more important in the time frank has been there. I have been to 4 of the 6 ex-intrawest resorts and all of them are very active on Facebook and winter park even has a daily blog they use for lift status. I’m pretty optimistic the social media communication is here to stay. Time will tell how much of the master plan frank and his team put together will get funded by Alterra, but I see no reason to worry about change at this point.
Frank did a great job at Snowshoe, but he earned the opportunity to lead Crystal and it sounds like the move is not only a promotion for him, but also a bettter fit for his family.
An inch fell Friday eve and they were testing new fan guns all over the mountain including on Shays.
Where did they put the new stick guns? Have they tested them l?
Per the Boathouse Cam as of 4 pm, they appear to be doing some work on water/air lines to the right of Ballhooter Lift base. Testing likely revealed a leak. Testing is paying off.
Guns are blasting full bore at Snowshoe tight now, 4:07 pm, 10 November.
Looks like a winter wonderland on the cams this morning!
That does look good. Nominal opening is 10 days away (nov. 21). It would be a nice change to have a strong on time start. Kudos to them.
It looks like there is a bit of a warm up this afternoon into monday, but the forecast from Tuesday until the scheduled opening looks pretty good.
I'm wondering if 7 Springs will try and open next weekend. I know they usually aim for around thanksgiving, but depending on staffing they could probably open earlier.
Massanutten started up their snowguns last night. Don't remember ever having a reason to check the Mnut Snow Conditions webpage this early.
The opening date for Snowshoe is being featured on the weekly update to All Access members of OpenSnow. Feels like the power of Alterra marketing. The link goes directly to the online calendar for buying discounted lift tickets in advance for particular dates. For the first non-holiday week of January prices for Mon-Thu $47-55 and $71-76 for Sat-Sun. As of mid-Nov, prices for Fri & Sat of MLK weekend are $94, meaning $11 off the window price.
Wow, that $4MM Snowshoe pumped into snow making is paying off big time. They can really crank out the snow when the temps are cold. Looks like snow making temps every night for the wext week.
Here's a little time lapse of some Man Made Cheat Mountain Magic going on today.
Sucks when even Massanutten gets the temps that far south, but ST resorts are still too warm.
Oh well, at least there will be 7S.
Any guesstimates on how many runs will be open by the 21st? (at Snowshoe)
OrangePeels wrote:
Any guesstimates on how many runs will be open by the 21st? (at Snowshoe)
I thought I read a reply to that question on their instagram acct that said at least 10. That was several days ago.
Blue Don 1982 wrote:
OrangePeels wrote:
Any guesstimates on how many runs will be open by the 21st? (at Snowshoe)
I thought I read a reply to that question on their instagram acct that said at least 10. That was several days ago.
Hmmm... thanks, Don. Now I've got to decide whether or not that's worth the 4+ hour drive...
I think I saw spruce, gandy dancer, a park, skidder and whatever combination of greens they run from heisler to get you to both ballhooter and powder monkey lifts. I suspect that puts you decently close to 10 trails.
It looks like they have already started working the soaring eagle X trails, So I suspect that lift won’t be much after opening. And then next up will hopefully be western
Anybody else notice that Snowshoe has also aggressively been making snow at the Silver Creek area. I think that is something new this early in the snowmaking season. Kudos!!
MorganB
The Colonel wrote:
Anybody else notice that Snowshoe has also aggressively been making snow at the Silver Creek area. I think that is something new this early in the snowmaking season. Kudos!!
MorganB
Yes. I also think they are making snow on Widomaker...tough to say for sure from the Shavers lake camera view. Snowmaking investments paying off early!
Bonzski wrote:
The Colonel wrote:
Anybody else notice that Snowshoe has also aggressively been making snow at the Silver Creek area. I think that is something new this early in the snowmaking season. Kudos!!
MorganB
Yes. I also think they are making snow on Widomaker...tough to say for sure from the Shavers lake camera view. Snowmaking investments paying off early!
Awesome to see them making snow at Silver Creek and I'm hoping they will have Soaring Eagle open, too
Bonzski wrote:
Yes. I also think they are making snow on Widomaker...
Well I'm sure that will be very nice ... IF YOUR A RACER
Maybe it's time for me to buy some spandex, do they make expandex?
Blue Don 1982 wrote:
Wow, that $4MM Snowshoe pumped into snow making is paying off big time. They can really crank out the snow when the temps are cold. Looks like snow making temps every night for the wext week.
Here's a little time lapse of some Man Made Cheat Mountain Magic going on today.
Great resource, bookmarked. Best opening ever I'm guessin, there must be a lot of excitement up there. I see snowflakes right now.
Grooming has begun!
7 Springs opens for the year this Friday. Likely Trails include Fawn Lane, Phillips, Cortina Trail, Wagner, Stowe, Santas Beard, and Arctic Blast.
Snowshoe is advertising a 60” base...and based on what I can see here I’d believe it. The output of the new equipment seems noticeably higher, and the snows quality looks pretty good
rbrtlav wrote:
Snowshoe is advertising a 60” base...and based on what I can see here I’d believe it. The output of the new equipment seems noticeably higher, and the snows quality looks pretty good
It looks like you had a great opening day rope drop. Super Jealous right now.
http://go2snowshoe.com/opening-day-11-21-18/
Blue Don, I wanted to let you know that my computer's Avast program keeps alerting me that your site is a potenial threat and will not let it open. Just wanted to give you a heads up.
Looks like they have made snow on Widowmaker. Can anyone confirm this? I'm hoping they may open more terrian this weekend. I'm debating on going Friday for the rain on Saturday or waiting for next weekend.
jimw wrote:
Blue Don, I wanted to let you know that my computer's Avast program keeps alerting me that your site is a potenial threat and will not let it open.
Odd, I wonder why. I'm not one of the bad guys. I use Wordfence Premium to scan and clean the site of malicious files daily.
I have a message into a buddy who owns at Leatherbark to see what's up with Widowmaker. The weather forecast spooked me for Saturday.
Blue Don 1982 wrote:
jimw wrote:
Blue Don, I wanted to let you know that my computer's Avast program keeps alerting me that your site is a potenial threat and will not let it open.
Odd, I wonder why. I'm not one of the bad guys. I use Wordfence Premium to scan and clean the site of malicious files daily.
I have a message into a buddy who owns at Leatherbark to see what's up with Widowmaker. The weather forecast spooked me for Saturday.
I can't get through from my work computer, not even a "do you trust this dude" prompt Tried turning ad-blocker off....most likely company firewall setting. Works great from my phone!
Bonzski wrote:
Blue Don 1982 wrote:
jimw wrote:
Blue Don, I wanted to let you know that my computer's Avast program keeps alerting me that your site is a potenial threat and will not let it open.
Odd, I wonder why. I'm not one of the bad guys. I use Wordfence Premium to scan and clean the site of malicious files daily.
I have a message into a buddy who owns at Leatherbark to see what's up with Widowmaker. The weather forecast spooked me for Saturday.
I can't get through from my work computer, not even a "do you trust this dude" prompt Tried turning ad-blocker off....most likely company firewall setting. Works great from my phone!
It may be the encryption used on the site, if HTTPS is required. I can't login to DC ski from work computers because the site uses an older encryption scheme than they'll allow. It'll simply say that it couldn't negotiate an encrypted connection.
Blue Don, The site was blocked form work with a VPN and home without on two different laptops with Avast. Debating on going tomorrow after Tday and leaving Saturday when the rain hits.
I see widowmaker being at least 2 weeks out. Upper hootenanny and lower flume were being worked today, but not yet skiable. I’ll drive by soaring eagle on the way out tomorrow and take a look though. On another note gandy dancer might be the new spruce... gandy has the new snowmaking and seemed to have a significantly deeper base than spruce. Spruce was marked as ungrooomed and as “advanced” today. I thought it was fun to ski...but definitely had bumps and variable conditions that I’m not used to seeing on spruce. Gandy on the other hand was a typical snowshoe blue cruiser.
and snowmaking continued (mostly on closed terrain) all day and resumed on skidder,gandy, heisler, and other open trails around 5
OK thanks so much for the update..
It is fun when they first open a slope wihtout being groomed out.
Well maybe I didn’t give them enough credit. Significant progress was made on upper hootenanny and lower flume overnight, they also moved some equipment to those trails, so I suspect they are really trying to open those before the rain Saturday. Interestingly enough they were using the snow logic stick guns on flume yesterday, and switched to the ones that just sit on the trail overnight...not sure if the snow logic stick guns were being impacted by wind or just not as effective as they hoped.
Also, spruce was groomed this morning
Drove by soaring eagle. Upper flume looks like there is enough snow and needs to be groomed. Widowmaker now has the snow logic pole guns, but from what I could tell they had not started snowmaking on it at all.
SS started making snow on Cupp yesterday. They posted a video on social media and stated they hope to open it this weekend!
Widowmaker had some whales on it this past weekend. Camp99 was open and the snow was great. The rain forecasted for Saturday was a bust really...30 min in the morning then held off until 2pm. Thick fog at times on top, but overall good. Sunday was blue-bird spring skiing.
Per Instagram they have also started upper shays...which has some of the blue fan guns on it. It looks like on the webcam that shows grab hammer and powder monkey/ powder ridge they had some an guns on in the small gap between powder monkey and powder ridge lifts. Would be really cool if they had all the lifts in the basin except grab hammer running this weekend.
camp 99 was a blast Sunday morning, small yet soft and forgiving bumps on it. Snow report makes it sound like they groomed it out after that.
Was hoping to finally get out this weekend, but may not be able to do so until the weekend after that.
Snowshoe is "quietly" under a winter weather advisory. today.
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 1 to 2 inches across the lowlands with amounts to 3 inches across the higher hilltops. 3 to 5 inches across portions of the higher terrain and mountains, with the higher amounts above 3000 feet in elevation.
Snowshoe did not disappoint this weekend. As others have stated, the new snow making system is incredible. The base on Spruce and Gandy Dancer is measured in feet and goes from side to side. Cupp and Upper Shays opened on Sunday with side to side coverage as well. As RB stated in another post, it snowed all day Sunday. We had to leave around noon to pick up the dog at the kennel. Roads were snow covered from the shoe and on 219 up to about the Brazenhead Inn. Then it dried out for an easy drive home. I saw a dude in a camaro spinning out coming up teh first set of moountains in Randolph County. There's no way he made it. The further south one got, the roads were more covered.
Upper Shays
Gandy Dancer
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