Sugar review Nov 17th

Kasey Baker offers a Trail Report from Sugar, Sunday Morning11.27.06 07:34 AMThis Sunday morning, November 26, 2006, I was rather excited to ski at Sugar. I have been a long time fan of Sugar and Cataloochee and have been skiing there for several years. Early this morning I checked the conditions on the internet and decent snow with some bare spots was reported. But they were making snow last night (as seen on their webcam). Little did I know it would turn out FAR worse than I could imagine. The first sign of trouble was when I was driving up to the slope. There was no sign of people on the slopes and very little snow anyway. As I walked up to the ticket office, they informed me they were open and that there were people on the slopes. I asked the nice ticket lady how the conditions were on the slopes and she said something like, from the road it looks bad and I hear it is not great up there. I’ll tell you what, if you walk up there and you don’t like what you see, bring the ticket back and we’ll give you a refund. I am a true diehard skier, I have seen some of the worse slope conditions imaginable, I have skied in 75° weather; I’ve skied on April 1st and I’ve skied on a complete ice sheets. Unfortunately, just by eyeballing the slope at 9:30 am, I knew that this day was going to be one those bad days. As I stood in line for the ski lift, I began to talk to a friendly man who worked there. I asked him about the conditions? He said that they were making snow most of last night, but by the time he had arrived that morning it had almost completely melted. He went on to say that since they were slammed over the holiday weekend the snow was already suffering. But they groomed the little they had. I would agree with him, they did some of the best grooming I have seen in a LONG while considering the lack of snow they had. The snow conditions where spotty at best. It was difficult to navigate many spots from the top to the bottom. Grass was abundant and seriously hindered skiing even in the morning. Some parts where even dangerous, such as the blind corner connecting Switchback and Northridge. As a mater of fact, later in the day, I witnessed 2 children collide and almost hit the tree line flying off the trail in the attempt to avoid the grass. Also in the entrance to Upper Flying Mile, there was only about 1 ft wide patch of snow to be able to enter the run. (Between the two patches of grass, center of the picture) By 1pm the slopes were becoming really dangerous: Rocks started cutting peoples skies (including mine), melting snow in the 65° heat became a factor leaving runs cut off by grass patches, snow was slushy at best and a “Snow Tan” was in full effect. Therefore, I decided to cut my losses and get out with minor scratches on my skies. On a more positive note, construction/cleaning within the terrain park today were in full effect for the coming (hopefully colder) weeks ahead. In addition, jumps were easy to spot in the slope and giving many opportunities for great air. It was skiing--not great skiing--but skiing all the same. Sugar did their very best to keep the runs in working order for as long as they could. So no one can blame them for that. A wonderful busy skiing holiday weekend combined with the unseasonable heat leaves the best resorts in trouble. A Sugar employee said they expect the coming weekend to be colder and will be making snow, weather permitting! However, if I would say, in the coming work week, unless it gets much colder, conditions will be about the same as today. Have a great, hopefully colder, day and be well. Kasey BakerEditor's Note: Sugar DID close after Sunday's session and will reopen as soon as snowmaking weather returns later in the week.

My Snow Reports On Skisoutheast.com

Kasey Baker offers a Trail Report from Cataloochee December 16th12.21.06 11:57 AMMy Exciting But Dangerous Day at Cataloochee Having finished my last final exam on Thursday, I was able to go skiing Friday at Cataloochee Ski Resort. And I am glad I did. Although all the snow was manmade, with these unseasonably warm temperatures, any snow is good snow. One small problem that I encountered was that the snow was extra compact at the beginning of the day, which made it hard to move on, as weird as that sounds. Fortunately, this problem abated after a few skiers/boarders ripped up the heavily compacted snow. The temperature was brisk, but not so cold you couldn’t wear a couple of layers of long sleeve tee shirts. The wind was generally mild, but could and did, rip an unsuspecting rider’s lift ticket out of his hand sending him scurrying halfway across the parking lot trying to catch it! For the more “extreme” riders, the lower terrain park (not Alley Cat, but by the snack bar) was well built. The half circle box was set at least 3 feet off the ground and personally, I thought it was a fun ride. In addition, many hills/bumps in the runs made 5ft+ jumps possible (if you are one who likes such air, like me!), all but one of the six spots were safe to jump. Now, about that one spot that gave me some trouble. It was at the end of the “Rock Island Run”, right under the ski left. Later in the day, this part of the run was icy, with thin coverage, lumpy snow and a medium sized jump! I had remembered to avoid that spot on two previous jumps, but I was so busy impressing giggling girls on my third run that I threw caution to the wind! Coming around the corner, I was doing at least 20mph or more when I aimed myself up for the jump. On the approach, I hit an unexpected patch of ice, sending me at a skewed angle toward the jump. Now, every rider knows this feeling: You hit a jump badly, with to much speed and you are in the air thinking...“Uh-oh that is not good, I sure hope this does not hurt too muc...BAM!” As I hit the ground (on another icy patch), my right ski flew off. As I was trying not to do a front flip, I hit the ground on my side, heard a quick *Snap* and spun around to a stop 25 feet from the jump. As I opened my eyes, I heard the faint sound of many Owwwwhhhs from the passengers on the chair lift above me. Then it hit me how far I had traveled. Fortunately, as I stood up, I concluded that I had not injured ANYTHING, but I did create a “Yard Sale.” My backpack, hat, goggles, poles, ski, glove, and water bottle were strewn across the run. The only things I did not lose were my pants...well; they were still on my body but only held up by my knees. As I collected my belongings, I checked my backpack and found that my camera was the cause of the *Snap* sound. The front-slide cover snapped off, which will warrant a trip to the camera shop. This fall was unusual for me because I hardly ever fall, but I got lucky this time and managed not hit the snow blower 6ft to my left. So all in all, it was a good day, a little scary at times. But that was made up by the fact that almost no one was there. As shown in this picture at about 1:30 pm. There where a few more skiers later on; at their busiest, they probably had only a few hundred at max. So I hope to see you all out there in the next week or two (or maybe not with the Christmas crowd that will be there). I would like to thank Cataloochee and their staff for another wonderful ski session, and the ski patrol for helping me collect my belongings across the run, (hehe). Have a happy holiday everyone, Kasey Baker