Slopes hope for cold snap
By Scott Nicholson

Area ski slopes took advantage of a cold snap to fire up the snow makers and opened for the weekend.  Sugar Mountain Ski Resort opened on Friday for skiing and snowboarding, after crews began making artificial snow Wednesday afternoon.

Nighttime temperatures dipped below 20 degrees, creating ideal conditions for snow-making. Gunther Jochl, Sugar Mountain Resort president, called it “incredible slope conditions for opening day.”

Sugar Mountain reported a 10- to 24-inch packed-powder surface on opening day, with two slopes operating for a combined run of one mile and a 1,000-foot vertical drop.

Appalachian Ski Mountain's general manager Brad Moretz anticipates opening for business on Wednesday. Crews made snow over the weekend, and Moretz said with the positive forecast for snow-making, the slopes will definitely open sometime this week. Moretz expects to open with a base of 18 inches or more. Crews also made ice for the skating rink, and ice skating will begin with regular hours at noon on Thursday.

Ski Beech on Beech Mountain began making snow Wednesday night and opened on Saturday. The ski resort’s marketing director, Gil Adams, said it had been five or six years since the slopes have opened this early.

He hopes the resort will continue to operate right on through the winter, unlike last year when an early cold spell was followed by an extended warm spell that shut down much of the local ski industry.

“The forecast for next week is for a little warmer, but then they are predicting a cold front and maybe even some snow,” Adams said.

Adams said a late cold spell at the end of last winter helped rally what could have been a poor ski season. “I wouldn’t say it was a great season, but it could have been a disaster,” Adams said.

Ski Hawksnest in Seven Devils is targeting the first week in December as an opening date.

The National Weather Service predicted daytime highs in the 50s and overnight lows in the upper 20s over the weekend. Highs are expected to hover around 40 degrees during the week of Thanksgiving.

• Scott Nicholson may be contacted at nicholson@wataugademocrat.com.