THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 17, 1995 TAG: 9511170175
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
The skiing is great.
That was the word Thursday from some unlikely places at an unlikely time after a winter storm dumped heavy snow - up to 2 1/2 feet in some areas - from North Carolina to western New York.
``It's good. Very good!'' said Lars Skylling, director of skiing at Seven Springs in Champion, Pa., where every inch of the resort's 30 trails and slopes were open on the first day of the season.
Normally, resorts in the West or northern New England have the best early-season skiing. And it's usually late November or early December before any resorts are able to open all of their terrain.
Not so this season. Resorts in Colorado and California that had been open were shuttered Thursday thanks to an intense warm spell with temperatures 15 degrees above normal.
The engineer of this unusual weather pattern is the jet stream - a river of air in the upper atmosphere that plays a major role in shaping weather conditions. With cold to its north and warmth to its south, the jet stream is steering into Canada out west and then dipping south in the east.
That set the stage for this week's northeaster that dumped 10 inches of snow on Mt. Mitchell, N.C., 24 inches in West Virginia and 32 inches in Pennsylvania.
Seven Springs has never had all its terrain open this soon in its 35-year history. ``It's the best opening we've ever had,'' Skylling said.
In Virginia, 10 inches of snow fell at the Massanutten resort near Harrisonburg. But it's not enough.
``It's real nice, but you can't ski on just 10 inches of natural,'' said Steve Showalter, the resort manager. ``You need a good base of manmade snow to make sure you'll have more than a couple days of skiing at a time.''
But some people were skiing there Thursday, Showalter confessed. ``Yeah, I saw a couple ski patrollers out there, and it looked like they might have skis on, but they are supposed to be working,'' he insisted.
``We made snow last night, we're making snow again tonight, and, weather permitting, we hope to open right after Thanksgiving,'' Showalter said.
As for the New England resorts, they didn't get much out of the last storm because it steered warmer air and rain into most of the area.
A message attached to a ski report issued Thursday by Maine's Sunday River Resort said it would resume snow-making after the wet stuff blows through.
``It's been funny,'' said Chris Brink, a Sunday River official, ``the temperature will go to 10 and then it will go to 60.'' Cold weather was back in force Thursday, and snow-making was under way at the resort, which has eight trails open.
``This weekend looks pretty good,'' Brink said. ``We've resumed snow-making, and we'll be making snow straight on through.'' MEMO: For ski reports, call INFOLINE at 640-5555 and enter category 7669. by CNB