I drove up to Carver's Gap with my buddy Skot and his wife, Jamie. I met Skot at the ETSU climbing wall, then realized his wife is a first year pharmacy student (if y'all didn't know I'm a 2nd year pharmacy student).
So we met up a bit before noon and drove up into the mountains as the snowfall was just beginning to accumulate in Johnson City. Fun times were had by all! We took an inflatable raft and got a few rafting runs down Round Bald.
I wasn't super impressed with the snowfall...probably about 4in. There wasn't much wind. So unlike the last time I was at Roan in the snow, there were no drifts, which made hiking much easier.
On the way to Roan, Hwy 19
Hwy 143 Entering Cherokee National Forest
The Raft
Yosie looks giant jumping on Jamie
Regular size Yosie
First Attempt
Not so good.
Better spot.
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The messageboard is now in read-only mode and no new posts or topics can be created. We will leave the messageboard up for historical purposes, but you will not be able to make new posts or comment on existing ones.
We have started a Discord server and hope that you all will join us on there. Technology has changed over the years and maintaining the messageboard has become somewhat of a pain in the butt and Discord offers many features for users, the main one being a very polished mobile app.
We really hope you all will join us on Discord and think you will like the platform. Use the invite link below to join.
https://discord.gg/skisoutheast
Roan Mountain Dec 5, 2009 - Snowfall
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skiatlanta
- Advanced
- Posts: 1916
- Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2003 5:15 pm
are there any small cliffs without flat landings around there? or any decently steep clearings? I've always wanted to go up to Roan.
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Joshua8200
- Intermediate
- Posts: 933
- Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2005 4:15 pm
@skiatlanta 195729 wrote:are there any small cliffs without flat landings around there? or any decently steep clearings? I've always wanted to go up to Roan.
Yes...there's quite a bit of both! However, it would take a heck of a deep snow to ski Round Bald. I don't know what species of grass grows on those balds, but it basically grows in big clumps (see picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... north1.jpg ). Unless those clumps filled in...you're going to face plant, often.
Some guy was up there this past Saturday from Gastonia, NC with skis. I told him to look up this website and post some pics. He said he was going to ski on the AT...if he valued the skis he had (which looked too nice to be rock skis) he probably axed that plan.
So my thoughts are...maybe you could ski the trails or roads. The balds would need at least a foot and probably closer to 2 foot of snow to really be able to be reasonable. Also take into account the the wind really sweeps snow across the open areas of the bald. This could be a good or a bad thing I suppose! Good in that maybe a smaller snowfall, if wind driven would load the edges of the balds! Bad, in that it doesn't leave much snow at all on the balds if the wind is high.
Yes...there's quite a bit of both! However, it would take a heck of a deep snow to ski Round Bald. I don't know what species of grass grows on those balds, but it basically grows in big clumps (see picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... north1.jpg ). Unless those clumps filled in...you're going to face plant, often.
Some guy was up there this past Saturday from Gastonia, NC with skis. I told him to look up this website and post some pics. He said he was going to ski on the AT...if he valued the skis he had (which looked too nice to be rock skis) he probably axed that plan.
So my thoughts are...maybe you could ski the trails or roads. The balds would need at least a foot and probably closer to 2 foot of snow to really be able to be reasonable. Also take into account the the wind really sweeps snow across the open areas of the bald. This could be a good or a bad thing I suppose! Good in that maybe a smaller snowfall, if wind driven would load the edges of the balds! Bad, in that it doesn't leave much snow at all on the balds if the wind is high.