Whitetail has turned the guns on!
December 15, 2004
Look!
White tail has their guns on again. Snow is now making at the base area near the lodge. I am sure they will turn on a few more shortly!
Who said you ahd to drive 3 hours to ski this coming weekend.
Roundtop also has their lights on, but I can't tell if the guns are on. Think snow!!!
Roud Top
roundtop is now making snow...
Every resort in the region has there guns blasting the powder!
Pray for cold and snow!!
in that last photo on the web cam page as of 830 this morning - doesnt look like they got much done under the high speed quad - i know - i know - im being a little impatient
Don't worry jimboc -- it always takes awhile to get that first layer of snow down, especially when the ground has been above freezing. Once there's a layer of snow, that gives additional snow something to cling to and the depth will start building fast. Resorts also tend to make snow in "clumps" and then spread the snow out with grooming. I'm impressed by how many trails Whitetail is making snow on at once -- from beginner terrain through expert terrain -- looks like a dozen trails or so, top to bottom. Resorts in the mid-Atlantic have some serious snowmaking capacity, that's for sure.
yes - i was surprised at how many trails they were trying to hit at once....
The best news is that Whitetail should be able to make snow nearly round the clock today and tomorrow.
It's great to ski them making snow on trails besides the beginner slopes. I don't know about the estimate of snowmaking on 12 trails, since I don't think Whitetail even has 12 trails. In the expert area, they are probably only making snow on Drop In. Can't tell if they are making snow on Limelight (trail under the quad.)
If Whitetail has two top-to-bottom routes down from the quad this weekend, I will be very happy. (And a bit surprised.)
that one camera on the backside cleared up a bit - they are definitely making snow on Bold Decision .....cant tell on the others back there
correction - it looks like the one under the chair....i forget the name of that one......either way its very aggresive for them....
They really need heaters on their cameras so that they will be self-cleaning (self-melting, actually).
Tom "never satisfied" / PM
Whoa! Color me surprised. Looks like they are making snow on Exhibition (under the expert chair), Limelight (under the high speed), and Snow Dancer to both the terrain park and Home Run. Plus a bunch of green terrain.
If they can have all that open by this weekend, I will buy beers at the base lodge for all who show up.
wow talk about a safe bet, how about ponying up for some Starbucks!!!
eeeeewwwww it looks like that warm wet ground is hurting whitetail a little bit.....
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The best news is that Whitetail should be able to make snow nearly round the clock today and tomorrow.
It's great to ski them making snow on trails besides the beginner slopes. I don't know about the estimate of snowmaking on 12 trails, since I don't think Whitetail even has 12 trails. In the expert area, they are probably only making snow on Drop In. Can't tell if they are making snow on Limelight (trail under the quad.)
If Whitetail has two top-to-bottom routes down from the quad this weekend, I will be very happy. (And a bit surprised.)
Whitetail has 19 trails. In recent years, they have made a strong effort to open with both beginner/bunny slope terrain as well as a top-to-bottom run off of the high-speed quad (usually Upper Angel Drop to Homerun).
It looks like they're blowing snow on:
- Almost Home, Northern Slopes, and (probably) First Tracks, the three bunny slopes
- Snow Park and Stalker, the two "tougher" beginner slopes
- Limelight, Upper and Lower Angel Drop (which is also the terrain park), and Homerun, some of the most popular intermediates off the high-speed quad
- Expedition (the black diamond adjoining the Expert's Choice lift). And, along with Expedition, they are most likely blowing snow on Ridge Runner, Drop In, and Fallmount.
So that's about 12 slopes. The last slopes to open are usually Bold Decision, Far Side, Snow Dancer and Fanciful.
If the cold weather sticks around for at least the next week, I think Whitetail will be over 50% open very soon. The new tower-mounted airless guns seem to let them cover the slopes much more quickly than in years past, and it looks like they're blowing snow simultaneously on over 60 acres of terrain. That'll put a dent in your electric bill.
- Scott
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If they can have all that open by this weekend, I will buy beers at the base lodge for all who show up.
John, I had been told oh about 2 years ago that whitetail was in a dry county. I would be happy to hear otherwise however.
Whitetail claiming 19 trails is some pretty generous trail division (and multiplication.) I will give them credit for blowing snow today on so many blues and on Exhibition. And I will be giving them some money this weekend.
As of 4 PM, they hadn't blown snow yet on Drop In - it was a day of constant webcam monitoring.
They'll have to open Drop In and Ridge Runner? (top of Expert's Choice lift to blues) before they open Exhibition. It would't surprise me if Exhibition is not open this weekend because of the required connector trails. But you never know at the rate they're blowing white stuff.
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John, I had been told oh about 2 years ago that whitetail was in a dry county.
It is. Kennedy was right, it was a pretty safe offer. 
But who knows, if we have enough DC Skiers, it may pay to bring a little something for a post-ski tailgate.
the picture as you look up at the highspeed quad......looks like they are still having some warm ground issues.....coverage is still spotty...with some melt coming through...they have some work to do if they want to open those trails
I was looking at that earlier. I'm expecting basically all the greens open and anything else as a bonus.
the coverage on the tubing hill looks excellent however
For having made snow less than 48 hours, the coverage looks pretty good for me. I'm not sure how much of the poor coverage in spots is due to melt from the warm ground or due to lack of coverage from the fixed snow guns.
They still have three more nights of snowmaking before Saturday, though the weather won't be as conducive to snowmaking as it's been the past two days.
