Ski Southeast Messageboard

With such an epic weekend, I couldn't let nasty family obligations stand in the way of getting a few turns. While I couldn't make it to NC or Va, the local hill still reported 10" of freshies, so first thing Saturday morning I hit the road and drove up to Ober for some powder slaying goodness.



Roads were fine, with weather hovering in the low to mid 30s on the way up. Got to the top lot, got rockstar parking, enjoyed watching the backhoe fill in for a snowplow.



All photos taken with my camcorder, so kinda cruddy quality, but it beat lugging a DSLR around all day.



Entrance:





A little snow piled up behind my ride:





The weather actually kept the crowds away for most of the morning. Bad news was due to the power going out Fri night he black lift wasn't working early on Sat.



Seeing Mogul Ridge sit there covered in powder was too much to resist, so I started setting the bootpack... just because the lift is closed doesn't mean the slope is, right? Well, ski patrol had a vastly different point of view about that, so I had to reverse course after just a short climb. Booooo.



When they did finally open up (it didn't take too long, I suppose), MR got tracked out pretty darn quick, thanks to Ski Patrol, myself, and several other locals.



Looking at the top bit of MR:





Looking down at the base from MR:





As you can see, there was no sun whatsoever all day, and the clouds & snow moved in around noon. I bolted around 4, as it was getting increasingly crowded after ski school started letting out (I absolutely detest dodging flailing newbs and their runaway rental equipment on MR. Call me a jaded local, see if I care.).



A couple of videos:

Later in afternoon, the crowd is starting to pick up:

Untitled from Patrick Lamb on Vimeo.



Early on, the lift ride up the Black lift:

Obergatlinburg 12.19.09 from Patrick Lamb on Vimeo.



A nice day; probably the best December day I can remember at the 'burg, well, ever.

Rad.

@jbc28 198685 wrote:Rad.



Werd. Every time I see a picture or video of the waterslide at the base area it flips me out. I feel like it needs to be poached.

have they even attempted to set up any of the new boxes or rails?

Nope. Still sitting over behind the water slide.



Heard a nasty rumor that they were going to put them on Grizzly. I'm guessing that can't be the case due to the slope opening sequence, and the fact that they would be inaccessible at night.

Wow if they put them on Grizz they would be majorly stupid. Lower bear or alpine is the best place for them. But till then they should put them on the far slope right of Castle and rope it off so people from Cub can't slide into it.

@EastCoaster 198689 wrote:Werd. Every time I see a picture or video of the waterslide at the base area it flips me out. I feel like it needs to be poached.





Woahwoahwoah. Slow down there Turbo- this here is Tennessee and not the great winter snowsports mecca of DC! We would need a helluva lot more snow to make a fall from the pinnacle of the slide a lot less, erm, lethal.

Zeus, have you ever seen Ober better looking than it did this weekend? The shot of Mogul Ridge is incredible. I have been up there when at the most 8 inches fell. But the 13" that they have reported is awesome for them. What do you think Ober will look like after Christmas. I know it will be crowed with tourists, but conditions wise, what do you think?

I need to ski there 1 time. Never been

You know whats funny? When you realize that you dont even notice the water slide anymore.