I wish to thank Mother Nature for the windstorm we had last weekend. You blew most of the leaves from my yard and I want you to know how much I appreciate it. However, the weekend wasn’t much good for doing things outdoors. I managed to get out and play around with my new GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition camera and learned how to do time lapse photography. I picked up my skis from Buckeye Sports after getting them tuned up. Gee they look beautiful. Even my old K2 Axis look brand new on the bottom. I’m now officially ready for the snow.
This past weekend saw the first big dump out west. The Great Awesome Weather Computer (GAWC) under-predicted the snow fall expected. Solitude UT reported receiving 2-feet of snow over the weekend. The Summit County CO ski areas received between 7 and 15 inches over the weekend. Unfortunately, the Sierras and the Pacific Northwest haven’t received very much. Conditions at Mammoth CA are described as “spring-like.”
This past week we saw the opening of some more of our favorite areas. These included Aspen and Winter Park. Back east Okemo, Woodbury, and Loon mountain have opened. Whistler and Crystal Mountain have opened in the Pacific Northwest. Everybody is making snow.
We’re a week away from Thanksgiving and the question is will we be able to ski? The folks at Holiday Valley are stoked up. Their fingers are itching to pull the trigger on the snow guns. In fact they began making snow on Tuesday to fine tune their new snowmaking system. No word from Seven Springs on what they’re doing. This weekend they’re having a Ski Club Weekend (gee, I wish our ski areas had something like that) and a holiday weekend celebration over Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like they expect skiing to be a part of that.
Eastern Great Lakes – At this point it looks like a 50-50 chance for skiing next weekend. The GAWC told me to inform you that’s my prediction and not it’s. Consider this oh Great Awesomeness. I grant you they won’t be able to make snow today or tomorrow because the lows will only fall to about freezing. After that they’ll have snowmaking temperatures for the next week! Not only that, Mother Nature expects to help a bit too with snow expected over the weekend and into early next week. Look at your own map computer. You’re calling for moderate to heavy accumulations of snow this weekend and into next week to hit the entire Great Lakes region. At this point I think it’s quite possible Holiday Valley and Seven Springs could have a handful of runs open by next weekend.
Snowmaking at Holiday Valley began this week.
New England – Killington VT now has 23 runs or about 15% of their area open. Conditions reportedly are good, and that means a lot of hard packed snow on the trails. Gore Mountain up in the Adirondacks of New York is now open with 2 runs. It will be in the twenties and thirties this weekend with some snow squalls on Sunday.
Catskills – Making snow
Poconos – Making snow
Southern Appalachians – Making snow
Upper Midwest – Ski areas in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are starting up. Currently Ski Brule in Michigan is now open on the weekend with 6 runs. Of all the regions, this one has the best forecast. Lake effect snows are expected this weekend and into next week. Highs will only be in the 20’s and lows into the teens.
North Central Rockies – Ski areas around here have had up to 5 inches of new snow the past few days. The handful of open areas are only operating on the weekends including Sun Valley and Grand Targhee. Furthermore, they only have a few runs open. This weekend promises to be a mixture of sun and clouds. Highs will be just below freezing and lows in the teens.
Central Rockies – Areas in this region have had a few inches of new snow this week. This weekend will see highs around freezing with lows into the teens and single digits. It’s expected to be mostly sunny but with isolated snow showers towards the end of the weekend.
Southern Rockies – Sipapu NM is now open on the weekends. They only have two runs with “good” conditions. Things are looking good for this region this weekend. This is the region where the GAWC never predicts snow but somehow they get it. However, the GAWC has changed its usual forecast. Some snow is expected this weekend, but you might only see it in the upper elevations. The precipitation may come in the form of rain in the lower areas. This weekend will be in the low-to-mid 30’s.
Pacific Northwest – More areas are opening up including Whistler, which has had 12 inches of new snow this week. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like much snow there this weekend. Highs will be in the low 40’s at the base and at night the temperature will only get down to about freezing.
Sierras – Mammoth has 7 runs open and skiers are becoming impatient with the GAWC. They feel Mother Nature is being a tease. Unfortunately, that tease is going to continue. Some snow’s expected today, windy tomorrow, and partly cloudly/sunny over the weekend. Highs will be between the thirties and forties. Lows will be in the teens.
Southern California – Snow guns in place waiting for cold weather.
Except for the upper Midwest there’s not a lot of excitement for the weekend. The GAWC predicts things could be looking good for the eastern half of the U.S. next week. The good news is that everybody everywhere is gearing up. There should be a lot of choices across ski country Thanksgiving weekend.
Ski Bums 