Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 17, 1991                   TAG: 9102180244
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

COLD WELCOMED BY SKI RESORTS

Plunging temperatures, low humidity and even snow have helped create excellent skiing for the long President's Day weekend. Most resorts were reporting all slopes open and all lifts operating.

What's more, it was exactly the kind of weather needed to help resorts prepare for the final weeks of the season.

Prior to the blast of cold air, some Virginia resorts were heading into the weekend with a snow base that measured little more than a foot. Even West Virginia resorts were reporting a wet granular surface.

With the temperatures dropping to the single digits and the humidity low, most resorts began making snow around the clock on Thursday. Wintergreen, near Waynesboro, called it the best snow-making conditions of the season.

Help from Mother Nature came in the form of natural snow in the mountains of West Virginia and North Carolina where a foot of snow fell on resorts like Snowshoe, Silver Creek, Sugar Mountain and Ski Beech.

While the weather was good for resorts, it could be tough on skiers. High winds and temperatures below zero at places like West Virginia's Snowshoe had resort operators warning skiers about the dangers of frostbite. When skiers arrived on the slopes at Snowshoe Saturday morning the temperature was 12-below zero with a forecast for a high of 3 degrees.