Not a promising ski forecast for the first half of December. Just looking at NoVA, the temps are average to slightly above average for the 10 day. Unfortunately, the upcoming precipitation is all rain during periods of above average temps. Consistent with the wxrisk link provided by Snowcone.

Oh, we could be 3-4 cold nights away from opening. Unfortunately it does not appear that those 3-4 nights are going to occur in the next ten days. Where's the below-average temp, above-average snowfall winter gone? This is why I don't trust forecasts, whine whine whine...

Even with the forecasted rain Snowshoe just announced today (monday) that Friday as opening day with 1 top to bottom run with more opening by Saturday or Sunday. I figure that they studied the forecast and are pretty sure they can open Friday or they wouldn't have bothered to officially announce a date...or at least I hope. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Wunderground calls for that Wednesday rain to change over to snow at some point in Elkins. Calling for more snow on Friday with high temperatures below freezing. It'll be interesting to see what they have open by Saturday.

Tromano,

Even with this early snowmaking by Blue Knob, I don't think we'll see an early opening for Extrovert. (I always wait until Extrovert is open before making the trip out there.) At the ski expo earlier this month, the Blue Knob rep said that he expected Extrovert to be open in January. Apparently, the owners want some cash flow coming in during the early part of the season; more people ski the intermediate terrain than the expert terrain.

Also, Blue Knob's terrain park will be expanded this year - perhaps also to increase traffic to the mountain and income. The rep said they'll have two large jumps and a school bus (!) buried in the snow.

Plans change, so we'll see what happens.

Just for Fun ..

For those of you that frequent Snowshoe, Timberline, Canaan you might have fun with these calculations. Might make for a more positive attitude! (Look who's talking!)

Calculate a more accurate local temperature using the Adiabatic Lapse Rate .. or the difference in temperature for every 1000 feet:
Dry rate = 3 degrees C. or 4.4 degrees F. (dryer than average extrapolate from dewpoint)
Wet rate = 2 degrees C. or 3.1 degrees F. (wetter than average, extrap ditto)
Dewpoint : closer to temperature = wetter, farther away = drier.

Elkins, WV altitude is 2000 feet. The Elkins AWOS (Automatic Weather Observation System used by pilots) is (304) 636-5603. Use temperature and dewpoint for calculations.

So Snowshoe might be calculated:
Elkins: Tem perature 26 F, Dewpoint 15 F, Snowshoe differential 3k ft. = 26 - (4.4*3) ... or appx 13 Fahrenheit ... WAY COLD enuf to BLOW!!!

I also heard that Blue Knob will be expanding their terrian park. I read in a newspaper that it will be moved to upper high hopes. I also heard about the school bus in the snow. I am wondering what they will do to it. It sounds like an interesting feature to have in the park

Hmmm, Upper High Hopes is very flat, I wonder if sliders will carry enough speed to go over the features?

Placing a terrain park in Upper High Hopes makes sense in that you get more use out of the upper mountain, it is a more visible location right under the chairs, and Upper Route 66 parallels Upper High Hopes, so you aren't losing any important terrain. From the BK trail map, there are a couple bisecting intermediate and beginner trails in that section of the mountain; so the placement of the terrain park could get a little tricky unless they close part of a trail.

I *thought* I recall from my conversation with the BK rep that the bus will be partially buried, with the top serving as a combo table-top / sliding surface. I'll keep my ski bases off any metal, thank you very much.

This is why we have West Coast skiing. I love Timberline and Snowshoe but I rarely make it out there until Late Dec or January when they start opening the Blacks. Until then I'll setlle on Colorado and Utah.

Well, that bus does sound like just about the most interesting terrain park feature i've heard about in a while. A bus is, if you think about it, quite a tall object to cover and would create a pretty huge ramp and a pretty huge potential falling distance. I'm not sure what i'd think about a rail/metal/grinding possibility on top of a school bus if I saw it, but I might stray away from a bus-grind feature. I think upper high hopes is suited for a terrain park pretty well because of it's slope and un-unique terrain (like what was mentioned with route 66). However, yes, consideration will need to be given to layout if I remember how mambo alley and beginner terrain curves around and adjacent to that trail. While I'm not sure if this is as worthy of discussing as the ever-popular rock-gladed terrain at BK, it could give more incentive for the average boarder or skiier to pay a visit to their friendly neighborhood BK.

Yes, generally Snowshoe has temps colder than elkins because of the altitude difference. But sometimes the opposite effect is present, especially when there is a templ inversion and the warm air is aloft while the cold air is trpaped in the valleys like at Elkins.
The colonel

Tromano,

Blue Trail and Blue Point Directions

Haven't skied it myself, but I'll have to check it out this year.

Also,
Seven Springs Unmarked Runs

Thanks John,

I will see if I can't find those secret areas next ime at the knob.

If they bury a bus I'll try it just to say I did, better bring the beater board though.

The idea of....yet another terrain park at Blue Knob is ridiculous when one considers that BK's two previous attempts at creating a terrain park have both failed. BK's first attempt was when they dug-out (with a bulldozer during the Summer) a large half-pipe on upper Mambo Alley. When BK management realized that they didn't have enough snowmaking capacity to adequately cover the half-pipe, they gave up on the idea and the half-pipe area was filled-in a couple of years later. Then, BK tried to create a terrain park where the original beginners slope was located; again, BK failed at creating a terrain park. Since the trees (that created a natural wind block) had been previously removed by the current owners of BK, they found that they couldn't keep enough snow surface down on the terrain park. And, like before, they realized that they didn't have enough excess snowmaking capacity to maintain a terrain park. Needless to say, I believe that this latest attempt by BK management to create a terrain park will, once again, result in failure; plus, the junked school bus will be a real eyesore on a mountain that has already been heavily damaged by a massive for-profit logging operation, which did not employ a timber/resource management plan.

And, as far as the Blue Trail goes, the entire area (located along the left side (facing down-hill) of the Jack Rabbit slope) was completely destroyed by a logging operation that finished-up about 2 1/2 years ago. This was particularly tragic because the Blue Trail was a gladed area that contained some of the largest trees in Central PA. Also, it held snow really well. The logging company that did the logging for the owners of BK, bought the land and removed all of the valuable timber in what's called a "HEAVY select-cut" operation. Then, this area was sold by the timber contractor to the owners of BK ski area. While I realize that, last ski season, a couple of posters on this forum maintained that there is still some excellent tree skiing on the Blue Trail, I beg to differ with their assessment. First of all, you can't even find the Blue Trail anymore because it doesn't exist. All that remains is a mangled mess of large stumps, dislodged boulders, piles of logging waste and skid trails. Now, the entire area is even difficult to walk through, much less ski or snowboard through.