We had our second snow this week and I took my skis into the shop for a tune-up. Stokes the snow cat felt overjoyed to see the snow again as he pranced around in it. Daisy the powder hound didn’t get too excited. She wants the really deep stuff. Ski areas east and west continue to open earlier than expected. Solitude and Brighton in Utah opened up last weekend. Killington is no longer the only ski area in the east open. This past weekend it was joined by Loon Mountain and Bretton in New Hampshire, and Sunday River in Maine. Summit County Colorado continues as skiing’s epicenter with nearly all of their areas open. Only Vail and Beaver Creek has to open. I heard a rumor Grand Targhee WY had opened but when I check their website it said they won’t be open until November 22nd. They’ve got plenty of snow. I think the maintenance crews and ski patrollers are keeping it for themselves if you ask me.
Grand Targhee WY on 11-5-13. Looks skiable to me. And are those first tracks in the snow?
Meanwhile in our region there are only three words for western New York earlier this week – WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY! Oh, I like the sound of that. On Veterans’ Day on Monday Holiday Valley hosted the teachers and students from the elementary school down the road to come and pay tribute to our veterans. They were joined by the HV staff and veterans from around western New York. They took a picture.
Aerial photo of the HV Veteran’s Christmas Tree. Hey look, there’s snow on the ground!
Eastern Great Lakes – In spite of the snowfall we had earlier this week, this weekend isn’t too exciting for us in Northeast Ohio. There will be periods of sun on Saturday and mostly cloudy with spots of rain on Sunday. Highs will be in the 50’s and lows in the 40’s. YAWN. It will be the same story for Western New York this weekend but then things start to become interesting the Great Awesome Weather Computer (GAWC) reports. It says Holiday Valley will start to receive snowmaking temperature lows beginning around the 19th. At this point it looks like they will be having 8 days of lows in the 20’s. That means snowmaking ski bums. The prospect of skiing Thanksgiving weekend is looking better and better. Not only that, Seven Springs PA has a similar forecast. Who knows we might be able to take our pick of ski areas this Thanksgiving.
New England – In addition to Killington a few other areas are opening up for weekends only. Killington has 16 runs open with “very good” conditions. They’ve had 3 inches of snow the past few days. This weekend should be sunny, breezy on Sunday, highs in the mid-40’s, and lows in the 30’s. Shouldn’t be too bad. In addition, Sunday River ME is now open on the weekends.
North Central Rockies – CANADA IS OPEN! In particular Banff is open. Lake Louise is open full time and Mt. Norquay is open on the weekends. Other weekend areas include Nakiska and Canada Olympic Park. Lake Louise has 4 runs open with “good” conditions. In that neck of the woods “good” means icy and hardpack conditions. However, that’s going to change. Banff will be getting some snow Thursday, Friday, and a little bit on Saturday. It’s going to be really chilly with highs plunging into the teens and single digits over the weekend. Lows will get into the minus teens!
Central Rockies – There are now a half dozen areas open centered in Summit County Colorado and another two open in Summit County Utah. Meanwhile, there are no ski areas open in Summit County Ohio. While most areas only have a handful of runs open Wolf Creek CO is 50% open with 39 runs! If you want variety, you’ve got it there. There’s 3-6 inches of snow coming to Summit County Colorado this weekend. Highs at the base will be in the low 40’s and figure about 10 degrees colder at the summit. Lows will be in the lower 20’s. Things are looking even better if you head west on Interstate 80. Park City UT expects 4-8 inches this weekend. Too bad they aren’t open, but maybe this storm might cause them to change their minds. Luckily, Solitude and Brighton are open the next canyon over. Even though both areas have only a few runs open, you might be skiing powder there this weekend.
Pacific Northwest – So far the only area to open is Timberline Lodge OR. They only have two runs open with “good” conditions. That means conditions stink. Things aren’t likely to improve much this weekend for the Mt. Hood area. Temperatures will be around 50 and lows in the mid-30’s. It’ll be cloudy on Saturday but devoid of snow. Sun and clouds on Sunday.
Sierras – MAMMOTH IS OPEN! They have 6 runs open with “good” (i.e., lousy) conditions. Over at Boreal, the only one of the Lake Tahoe areas open, there is only one run open with “good” conditions. Unfortunately, things aren’t likely to improve anytime soon around Mammoth. This weekend it will be generally sunny with highs around 45 and lows around the high teens. At this point the GAWC predicts sun for the rest of the month! Yeah, there might be skiing this Thanksgiving in the Sierras but who’d want to go. It’s too soon to tell though. Anything could happen by the end of the month.
The place to ski this weekend are the central Rockies. Utah, as usual, will hog up most of the snow, but there isn’t much variety yet. For that we’d have to go to Wolf Creek CO, which sound like a good idea. My GoPro Hero 3+ just arrived and I’m eager to give it a try. I want to get some action shots of Jon Jon going down the hill. Jon Jon said he’s going to sneak out when his wife isn’t looking and hop on the ski jet with me just for a long day-trip Saturday. We’re fly out early, ski the day, and fly back Saturday night. She won’t even miss him. That should get our legs warmed up.
Ski Bums 