A few places managed to open in November, although mostly only for weekends. Sounds like most MidA ski areas will manage to open at least a few trails by mid-Dec. Hopefully snowmaking temps at night will return before this weekend.
SkiPA sent out a list of opening dates that are coming up in the next few weeks.
Big Boulder, 12/6
Blue Mountain, Currently Open
Camelback, 12/6
Elk Mountain, 12/5
Hidden Valley, 12/6
Montage Mountain, 12/7
Mystic Mountain, 12/21
Seven Springs, 12/6
Shawnee Mountain, 12/7
Ski Big Bear, 12/14
Ski Sawmill, 12/7
Just realized that Whitetail, Liberty, Roundtop, and Jack Frost/Big Bear weren't on the SkiPA list at all. But have no idea whether that was the case last season too before VR absorbed Peak.
Roundtop and Big Boulder are open. Jack Frost plans to open Dec. 13.
Any guesses for Whitetail or Liberty? How about Laurel?
marzNC wrote:
Just realized that Whitetail, Liberty, Roundtop, and Jack Frost/Big Bear weren't on the SkiPA list at all. But have no idea whether that was the case last season too before VR absorbed Peak.
Roundtop and Big Boulder are open. Jack Frost plans to open Dec. 13.
Any guesses for Whitetail or Liberty? How about Laurel?
I don't think Whitetail has blown any snow yet -- their Facebook post earlier today was "waiting for mother nature"
Canaan opens 12/13 with a discount lift deal. The boys pushed out the whales today...at least the piles of milk and honey visible from the cam. Whitegrass is already open and is kicking off the winter with the annual Jack Frost gathering this Saturday 12/7...see their website for details. Cold in the forecast after a skiff of cold rain...best opening in 5 years maybe? Time to send it home to the Valley.
I don't think Roundtop is open. I checked their website and they list zero lifts and trails. They were open a couple of weeks ago, though.
I'm pretty impressed that Massanutten is open this weekend. The base they built a few weeks ago was obviously really deep to survive the recent warm weather and rain. Tubing even stayed open some during the week.
Winterplace is setting up to open on Dec. 14.
Blue knob has 2 trails open.
Perfect North still is 35% open (down fom 50%), which might portend good things for Timberline down the road.
Looks like all the local resorts have started to blow snow finally with WT, Liberty, Wintergreen, etc. really going at it this morning with the others that have opened already or had blown snow like Bryce, MT, RT, etc. are all blowing heavily this morning with the cool temps. Supposed to be quite rainy and warmer Monday and Tuesday before more cold air on Weds so hopefully won't lose too much of what they've made.
Whitetail, Liberty and Roundtop are all selling
discounted lift tickets on their websites for this weekend.
Are they actually planning on opening this weekend? While it looks like
there will be some snowmaking opportunities the next two weeks, the opportunities
look to be brief based on current weather forecasts.
Spent the past weekend at Snowshoe, excellent conditions and coverage for this early
in the season.
Bryce has been open every weekend since 11/16.
squeakywheels wrote:
Bryce has been open every weekend since 11/16.
And until a brief cold window Saturday morning, they did all that on only 2 nights of snowmaking back on the week prior to 11/16.
Amazed at what that little hill does by trying, and not trying to be perfect
camp wrote:
squeakywheels wrote:
Bryce has been open every weekend since 11/16.
And until a brief cold window Saturday morning, they did all that on only 2 nights of snowmaking back on the week prior to 11/16.
Amazed at what that little hill does by trying, and not trying to be perfect
I just spent a couple mornings at Cataloochee. Similar dedication to getting open early on. One way top-to-bottom plus the beginner slope and two teaching areas, one for boarders and another for little kids and never-evers. Sunday was the annual Can-U-Ski Food & Coat drive for donations in exchange for a lift ticket. Great vibe!
Canaan Valley is opening on Dec. 13 with $13 lift tickets. That's a day earlier than expected. :-)
Wisp expects to open on Dec. 13.
Massanutten and Bryce aren't running lifts during the week. Plan to re-open on Sat, Dec. 14. Still no target date for Wintergreen.
Should be plenty of options for mid-week skiing the week before Christmas. Cold front should mean three solid nights of snowmaking before a bit more rain late in the week.
SugarFest Demo Days are Dec. 14-15.
Wintergreen finally announced Dec. 14 as opening day.
Massanutten got an inch of snow last night. :-)
Silvercreek opens this Friday, Western Territoy maybe Saturday.
Laurel Mountain opening on Dec. 21. :-)
Roundtop just announced they will open for the season on Friday,
they must be counting on a lot of snowmaking over the cold
spell predicted for the next few days. No word from Whitetail
or Liberty yet.
Whitetail and Liberty will surely open some terrain this weekend, if only a few trails. They are both blowing heavily this morning and the next few days/nights should be optimal weather for snowmaking. Just wish we could have had this cold spell a few weeks early so they'd open this week before the holiday week begins.
MitchSH wrote:
Roundtop just announced they will open for the season on Friday,
they must be counting on a lot of snowmaking over the cold
spell predicted for the next few days. No word from Whitetail
or Liberty yet.
Whitetail has announced on their Facebook page that they will be opening tomorrow.
"Let's get this season started! We're proud to announce that we'll be opening for the 2019/20 Season tomorrow (Dec. 20th) at 8:30 AM! We'll have 7 trails and 6 lifts in operation. Adventure Snowtubing will open for the season Saturday, Dec. 21st at 9:00 AM.Get the details at skiwhitetail.com"
Looks like WT will have Angel Drop, Jib Junction (4 features), Northern Lights, Velvet, Almost Home, Sidewinder, and Launching Pad open. Really one from the top of the quad, one on the beginner hill and the rest are the bunny hills. Always wonder why they don't really push to open Snowpark before Sidewinder (though I know it's a much wider trail requiring more coverage). Liberty will be opening Saturday with a number of beginner trails and at least a couple of the back side. Bryce has opened RedEye finally so has a blue and green from the top and looks like it isn't far from opening White Lightning, Locher's Bowl and Revenuer's Run as well. RT is opening up again tomorrow with a number of trail and Wintergreen is opening Eagle's Swoop tomorrow so all the resorts should have at least some blues and greens open for next week.
mwg wrote:
Whitetail has announced on their Facebook page that they will be opening tomorrow.
"Let's get this season started! We're proud to announce that we'll be opening for the 2019/20 Season tomorrow (Dec. 20th) at 8:30 AM! We'll have 7 trails and 6 lifts in operation. Adventure Snowtubing will open for the season Saturday, Dec. 21st at 9:00 AM.Get the details at skiwhitetail.com"
It has already has been reported in this thread that Laurel opens tomorrow but this afternoon it was announced that the region's steepest slope, Lower Wildcat, will also be open. This returns to Laurel's previous commitment to open their most difficult slope from day one opening for the season. Kudos to Laurel's management and especially to their snowmaking crew. Expert skiers in the Western PA need not travel 4 hours to Snowshoe to hit a truly challenging slope. DC area skier can shave 45 minutes off of their drive time and travel mostly Interstate Highways. A Highland Weekend ticket will also give you access to Seven Springs' North Face and Gunnar Slopes and The Alley Terrain Park.
Massanutten managed to get Geronimo and Lower Showtime open starting this weekend. So all the greens are open, plus Lift 5 from mid-station for Lower Showtime and Lift 6 for DJ (black). The cold weather the last week also meant expanding the tubing to 10 lanes.
Wintergreen is open but barely. Mainly green trails. Tubing opening on Dec. 22.
Warm temps this week will make for spring-like conditions. The snowmakers will probably get the week off.
marzNC wrote:
Massanutten managed to get Geronimo and Lower Showtime open starting this weekend. So all the greens are open, plus Lift 5 from mid-station for Lower Showtime and Lift 6 for DJ (black). The cold weather the last week also meant expanding the tubing to 10 lanes.
Wintergreen is open but barely. Mainly green trails. Tubing opening on Dec. 22.
Warm temps this week will make for spring-like conditions. The snowmakers will probably get the week off.
That doesn't bode well for all the Lift 6 trails being opened the week after New Year's, does it?
wfyurasko wrote:
marzNC wrote:
Massanutten managed to get Geronimo and Lower Showtime open starting this weekend. So all the greens are open, plus Lift 5 from mid-station for Lower Showtime and Lift 6 for DJ (black). The cold weather the last week also meant expanding the tubing to 10 lanes.
Wintergreen is open but barely. Mainly green trails. Tubing opening on Dec. 22.
Warm temps this week will make for spring-like conditions. The snowmakers will probably get the week off.
That doesn't bode well for all the Lift 6 trails being opened the week after New Year's, does it?
Do you mean the week starting with the Demo Weekend Jan. 4-5? It's common for Paradise to not open until MLK weekend. But I have hopes that Upper Showtime will be open after the next cold spell.
I'm getting to Massanutten by the afternoon of Jan. 4. So I can report then.
