Ski Southeast Messageboard

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.

Looks like fun

are there any small cliffs without flat landings around there? or any decently steep clearings? I've always wanted to go up to Roan.

@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.

Nice pics! Looks like a lot of fun.