Lost At SKI

Day 78 – February 6, 2012 – Beech Mountain, NC – Website   |   Facebook Page   |   Twitter 

Mickey and I had some friends join us on the hill and we all posed for our “map shot”. You can see some ground, it has been a rough winter EVERYWHERE.

Beech Mountain was my nemesis for a number of years. The first time I ever went skiing back in high school I tore my knee early in the day. I had never skied before and took an epic high speed crash that ruined my  experience. It would be ten years before I skied again.

Back at Beech Mountain with more than a hundred thousand feet of skiing under my belt I took to the hill feeling like a pro.

Some of the mountain was closed but we made the best of what we had.

We skied all day and night with just a short break for dinner.

I had made a stop earlier in the day at Appalachian Mountain, but we decided to postpone Sugar Mountain in hopes that our mountains would see a big snow later in the season. We would love to officially end our trip with a powder day.

35 states, 41 resorts. Not too shabby for a winter trip.

I’ll have a complete recap of our trip later and much more on our plans over the next few weeks. Check in every once in a while.

Matt – It has only just begun 

Day 77 – February 3, 2012 – Gatlinburg, TN – Website   |   Facebook Page   |   Twitter 

Mickey wasn’t feeling up to skiing in Tennessee but LostAtSki had to make an appearance so I headed out to Gatlinburg. Of all the resorts we had visited across the country Ober was on its last leg and close to being closed. The slopes were in really bad shape, no fault to the resort but the weather for the past month had given them no natural snow and very few snow making opportunities.

I skied the 2 slopes that were available and spent some time in the really cool mall area right next to the slopes. They have a giant indoor ice skating rink and numerous touristy shops.

Only one more state to go. My home state of North Carolina.

Matt – Iv’e had enough mud for my entire skiing life 

Day 70 – January 29, 2012 – Wintergreen, VA – Website   |   Facebook Page   |   Twitter 

Looking at the forecasts the previous week we knew our southern jaunt would be typical of late season sunny skiing. No natural snow, warm temps, man-made powder if we were lucky. Wintergreen had some snow machines blowing (it was 31 degrees) but lack many of our recent stops, very few runs open and thin spots everywhere.

We spent a couple hours at Wintergreen because we were eager to make a pit stop back home after nearly 3 months on the road.

We also learned in Virginia that one of our stops (Cloudmont in Alabama) was closed and had no plans to open this season unless they had a 3 day stretch of sub freezing temps. The forecast didn’t have a temp below 45 for the next 10 days. We made the decision to head back to Greensboro for a few days and finish up our trips by skiing in Tennessee and North Carolina later in the week.

Matt – The snowman looks happy to see us 

Day 69 – January 28, 2012 – Showshoe, WV – Website   |   Facebook Page   |   Twitter 

We spent the night before Snowshoe in a rather scary looking B&B. We booked it late in the evening and didn’t realize until after we handed over the money that our room lacked cable, a shower, and central heat. It was an interesting experience but we both agreed to avoid discount B&B’s in the future.

Snowshoe had some interesting weather. We experienced rain, sleet, snow, clouds, fog, sunshine and blue skies, all in one day. Actually riding the lift in the western territory we experienced rain, sleet, and snow in order from bottom to top of the mountain.

After a full day of skiing the clouds finally parted and we experienced some beautiful weather, on the drive to Virginia.

Matt – I’m not real good at picking nice Bed & Breakfast establishments 

Day 68 – January 27, 2012 – Wisp, MD – Website   |   Facebook Page   |   Twitter 

Wisp in Maryland:

Enough Said.

We liked the name of this run:

We didn’t like the weather too much:

But then it snowed and our camera failed.

LostAtSKI

Matt – Ouch

Day 67 – January 26, 2012 – Mountain Creek, NJ – Website   |   Facebook Page   |  Twitter

After a short drive from Mohawk Mt in CT we arrived at a rainy Mountain Creek. Unfortunately it wasn’t even close to snow weather. About 45 degrees, overcast, rainy. We were quite impressed with mountain creek as they had recently built a new lodge and the facilities were all cutting edge. But weather wasn’t cooperating and we were pretty bummed about the conditions.

We made our way to Mountain Creek’s terrain park and had some fun in the rain. It was difficult to take many pictures because of the weather fogging up the lenses and our batteries dying after a long day of skiing and driving. Such is the life for Lost at SKI.

Matt – Rain rain please go away

Day 67 – January 26, 2012 – Mohawk Mountain, CT – Website   |   Facebook Page   |  Twitter

Mohawk Mountain known famously for its efforts creating artificial snow and the first snow gun. We made a half day stop here because the weather was incredibly warm (50 degrees). We took a bunch of pictures. The coolest feature was the covered bridge over a creek to the lodge. People in the south drive all over the place to see these things.

Matt – The snow guns needed Instagram treatment

Day 66 – January 25, 2012 – Berkshire East, MA – Website   |   Facebook Page   |  Twitter

Berkshire East was hidden away in a corner of Massachusetts. Driving on a dirt pot ridden road next to a meandering stream we questioned the wisdom of trusting the GPS. But at the next intersection we saw a tiny sign over our shoulder.

Berkshires coolest feature was an enormous windmill overlooking the slopes. There is a lot of information on their website about how they use the windmill to power the resort. It makes for interesting pictures.

The slopes weren’t in the best condition, because of the weather, but we managed to have some fun anyway.

As the day progressed more and more buses arrived with children decked out in ski racing gear. The lifts started to get crowded and the slopes that were open filled up with little kids.

We realized that evening a children’s ski race was scheduled. Pretty cool for them.

After some exploring and riding of every open run we headed away from the slopes. A fun little mountain hidden in a corner of The Bay State.

Matt – This place uses really cool fonts.

Day 64 – January 23, 2012 – Yawgoo, RI – Website   |   Facebook Page   |   Twitter 

Rhode Island was another state I had never been to and skiing seemed the last thing you would do in the Ocean State. Yawgoo is a small simple resort down a bumpy neighborhood road. The first sight of the resort was a waterslide along the road. It had snowed in Boston and the surrounding areas a few days ago and Yawgoo still had the remnants of a quick 3-6″ of heavy wet snow.

We took our usual pictures of the map, the hillside and a lift.

I ventured up the hill for a quick run with the fat skis. We saw maybe 3 people the entire time we were there. It was definitely the least crowded “mountain” we had seen in awhile.

This was the second smallest ski area of our trip and we made it a quick stop and headed towards Berkshire East.

Check it off the list, a ski run down the only ski area in Rhode Island.

Matt – Skiing alone on the hill