bawalker:

Go to SS trail maps ... http://snowshoemtn.com/trailmaps.html ... and click on Basin Area Stats link and Northern Tract Stats link to locate the runs. Right side of the Basin map and left side of the Northern tract map are where they are located. Spruce Glades is also listed to be open but SS has pretty much turned that whole area into a terrain park. So top to bottom would be Skidder north to Cross Cut (which isn't shown on the maps) to the new (last year) Powder Monkey. They generally expand the trails around that line first, then to the north and finally to the south. Usually last to be open on the basin side is Widow Maker.

It's not bad for a first run. Choke point is Cross Cut, but other than that, Powder Monkey is a broad, mild green, no challenge but, hey, it's a decent length for MidA.

Are you trying for the free season's pass?

[copy & paste from my email msg sent from snowshoe mtn]

The big news for this week is that Snowshoe Mountain opens for the 2004 / 2005 season this Friday, December 3. Cold temps late last week and over the weekend allowed our snowmakers to get out and lay down a bunch of the white stuff. Cold temperatures later this week will mean more snowmaking will take place Thursday and Friday. As it stands right now, when we open on Friday, we will have Skidder, Cross Cut, Spruce Glades (no terrain park features) and Powdermonkey. These trails form one continuous trail from top to bottom. With the snowmaking on Thursday and Friday, we anticipate more trails to open on Saturday - Heisler Way and Whistlepunk.

[copy & paste from Snowmaker Lounge section on website]

Snowmakers Lounge - Daily Comments...

We have been making snow for four straight days and the snowmakers have done a great job getting the slopes ready for opening day. The conditions are looking good for a Friday opening this week. We will have four trailss available that will make up one slope from top to bottom at the Snowshoe Basin area. The only beginner terrain open on Friday will be Skidder, additional beginner terrain should open on Saturday. Snowmaking will continue around the clock as long as temperatures permit. Keep checking here for all of the opending day details.

Their weather station at Snowshoe reported an inch of rain and still raining at 7am. Temperatures have dropped rapidly since. It's now 28 on the Dolly Sods station and 34 in Lewisburg. Hopefully they can get some snow to make up for whats washed away.

where might one find this weather station?

The latest from a friend at Snowshoe is that it started snowing at 7 am and they've been making snow ever since. Snowshoe should have no problem opening on Friday.

Anyone been up there on these early opening days. I've been twice (once at Thanksgiving) and its really hairy. Played dodge-em all day and don't even think of carving a wide turn. Had a friend get run over from behind - blew his ACL No Thanks, I'll wait awhile even though its killing me.

Just my .02
Doug

I get my Snowshoe and other more remote West Virginia weather data here: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/RLX/HYDRLX

Unfortunately, it only comes out once a day. It gives the 7am temperature and what's labeld as max and min temps. I assume that's for the previous 24 hours but I'm not sure. There's also some snow data but sadly most of it reads 0" so far this year.

The Dolly Sods data comes from here: http://www.fsvisimages.com/doso1/doso1
Several posters on this site have posted it before.

Snowshoe is generally very uncrowded early in the season. I've visited the place on opening day in the past and had a GRAND time.

For a rough temperature calculation for Snowshoe, call the Elkins AWOS (Automatic Weather Observation System used by pilots) at (304) 636-5603. using the Centigrade temperature reported, convert to Fahrenheit (temperature x 9, divided by 5, add 32), subtract 12 to get SS mountain top temperature in Fahrenheit. Doesn't work for temperature inversion.

Btw ... I called the AWOS at noon today and it reported light snow in Elkins.

This is another good source of information for high altitude weather conditions:

http://www.fsvisimages.com/doso1/doso1

BTW, the thermometer says that its 27 degree at CV. Why isn't Timberline making snow. What are they waiting for???

John,

For Timberline to meet their advertised opening date of Dec 9 (8 days from now), about how many days/nights of snowmaking do they need? Can they meet that opening date?

its probably too windy to make snow effectively. With snowshoe having eastern slopes the wind is broken by the mountain. With Timberline's north slopes its probably quite windy. If they made snow it might benefit Whitegrass though if they could catch it as it blows by

Did anyone notice that Canaan is now set for Dec 10th?

Did search for posts from last year about snowmaking at T-line and found this one. check it out. See the pics from 12.3.2003
http://www.timberlineresort.com/snowmaking.asp

Just saw wind advisory for the area of Davis, WV and Snowshoe WV. That may explain about the strong wind warning coming from weather.com.