marzNC wrote:

Did there used to be cheap day tickets during early season under Snow Time?

Maybe opening weekend would be weekday prices… but generally I think they were close to full price. The discounts were really on the advantage card and learn to ski programs.

Even under peak resorts I think at least Big Boulder and roundtop would have tried for a thanksgiving (or already been open) opening with current weather. 

I saw a post earlier they started blowing snow at JFBB. Hasn't seen anything on the ST resorts.

Vail's blowing hard in NE though.

rbrtlav wrote:

marzNC wrote:

Did there used to be cheap day tickets during early season under Snow Time?

Maybe opening weekend would be weekday prices… but generally I think they were close to full price. The discounts were really on the advantage card and learn to ski programs.

Even under peak resorts I think at least Big Boulder and roundtop would have tried for a thanksgiving (or already been open) opening with current weather. 

Wasn't Big Boulder first to open in the Poconos many years?

Vail Resorts is currently planning to open its Pennsylvania resorts on the following dates:

Given these projected opening dates, I don't think we'll see substantial snowmaking at Whitetail/Liberty/Roundtop until early December.  These are the dates Vail Resorts is shooting for in terms of ramping up staffing, etc.

7S is shooting for Dec 11 supposedly, according to someone who works there that pushed in the Seven Springs Friends group.

Heard that they may try to open this weekend, though I see that as ambitious.

Dec 11 seems reasonable though.

Just because there isn't a VR corporate press release, does that really mean nothing happens at a given resort?  The press releases are aimed as much as stockholders as people who are interested in an Epic Pass.  Most Epic pass holders may not even know what state Whitetail or Liberty are in.

Lately, the best place to see news about a resort seems to be Facebook.  What VR resorts don't do well is make use of their websites to post info about upgrades to lifts or snowmaking infrastructure.

rbrtlav wrote:

Big boulder used to open as early as possible, sometimes quite early in November and then try to build up snow for a “May Day” park event. Roundtop if at all possible used to always have a park if not a few trails open for thanksgiving or earlier, and liberty and whitetail would usually open asap after roundtop. 

All of these resorts used to take advantage of whatever snowmaking windows they had starting in mid November because they know, especially early season they may not be every night. I’m not sure whitetail has had any nights worth firing up the system, but roundtop and the resorts in the poconos sure have. It’s disappointing to see the changes that have been made to these resorts since vail took them over. It also seemed like snow time used to make a purchase of snowmaking equipment every offseason, and the 3 snow time resorts haven’t shown up at all on any of the vail press releases for improvements. 

Way too warm around Massanutten for snowmaking this week.  What was on Geronimo is almost all melted.

Mnut plans to open snow tubing Dec. 3-4.  So the trails with a deeper base must be holding up okay.

 Good point.  It could be a communications issue.  One thing I have always loved about whitetail and liberty is their snowmaking teams.  They are top notch.  If it is cold they can have almost the whole place open in a week.  Made me love them for some early season pre big trip conditioning.  And they could always stretch out the season longer than it should go.  

marzNC wrote:

Just because there isn't a VR corporate press release, does that really mean nothing happens at a given resort?  The press releases are aimed as much as stockholders as people who are interested in an Epic Pass.  Most Epic pass holders may not even know what state Whitetail or Liberty are in.

Lately, the best place to see news about a resort seems to be Facebook.  What VR resorts don't do well is make use of their websites to post info about upgrades to lifts or snowmaking infrastructure.

rbrtlav wrote:

Big boulder used to open as early as possible, sometimes quite early in November and then try to build up snow for a “May Day” park event. Roundtop if at all possible used to always have a park if not a few trails open for thanksgiving or earlier, and liberty and whitetail would usually open asap after roundtop. 

All of these resorts used to take advantage of whatever snowmaking windows they had starting in mid November because they know, especially early season they may not be every night. I’m not sure whitetail has had any nights worth firing up the system, but roundtop and the resorts in the poconos sure have. It’s disappointing to see the changes that have been made to these resorts since vail took them over. It also seemed like snow time used to make a purchase of snowmaking equipment every offseason, and the 3 snow time resorts haven’t shown up at all on any of the vail press releases for improvements. 

 

Funny how people don't understand that 100% snowmaking is what makes skiing possible in the southeast.  From SkiSE on Dec. 4.  It's been in the 60s in the NC mountains that last few days. :-)

Half of the 16 ski areas/resorts covered by SkiSE are open this weekend, mostly in NC and WV.

They used to be way more active on Facebook, we are trying to figure out if they have New Year’s Eve events this year, and their website, Facebook, and even messaging them on Facebook get nowhere. Hopefully as staffing ramps up things will improve, but I miss the days where roundtop would “accidentally” make too much snow during a test and open for a few days. 

amorFati wrote:

 Good point.  It could be a communications issue.  One thing I have always loved about whitetail and liberty is their snowmaking teams.  They are top notch.  If it is cold they can have almost the whole place open in a week.  Made me love them for some early season pre big trip conditioning.  And they could always stretch out the season longer than it should go.  

marzNC wrote:

Just because there isn't a VR corporate press release, does that really mean nothing happens at a given resort?  The press releases are aimed as much as stockholders as people who are interested in an Epic Pass.  Most Epic pass holders may not even know what state Whitetail or Liberty are in.

Lately, the best place to see news about a resort seems to be Facebook.  What VR resorts don't do well is make use of their websites to post info about upgrades to lifts or snowmaking infrastructure.

rbrtlav wrote:

Big boulder used to open as early as possible, sometimes quite early in November and then try to build up snow for a “May Day” park event. Roundtop if at all possible used to always have a park if not a few trails open for thanksgiving or earlier, and liberty and whitetail would usually open asap after roundtop. 

All of these resorts used to take advantage of whatever snowmaking windows they had starting in mid November because they know, especially early season they may not be every night. I’m not sure whitetail has had any nights worth firing up the system, but roundtop and the resorts in the poconos sure have. It’s disappointing to see the changes that have been made to these resorts since vail took them over. It also seemed like snow time used to make a purchase of snowmaking equipment every offseason, and the 3 snow time resorts haven’t shown up at all on any of the vail press releases for improvements. 

 

I look at weather models as far as 32 days out. I have yet to see enough cold air penetration to make snowmaking worthwhile till Dec 17. That will change models always do.  The Cold does sit better in the 7springs, Bryce, Timberline, Poconos, but not on blue ridge yet.  

at Dec 12 Snow on ground satellite  - It shows exactly the warm/cold line. The zonal flow we call it.

ZARDOG

 While local Snowtime resorts continue to sit idle, Bryce had another productive snow making last night.

mdr227 wrote:

Looking at the current two week forecast it's going to take a minor miracle for Whitetail and I assume Liberty (as the webcam is down there so can't see if they've made any snow) to open for the holidays and if they do will just be a few trails.   Bryce continues to beat them with opening earlier yet again and will likely stay open later this year.    The years of being able to get some get pre-holiday skiing in locally (Whitetail or Liberty) seem to be long gone.