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Came up to Massanutten for our annual trip before Christmas. Obviously, way better than last year when there was no snow at all. All lifts were running, even had Paradice open as of Dec. 14. The big terrain park with the separate J-bar 's open but pretty basic. No features on the little park on the side of Geronimo yet.



Mnut added a few snow guns, in particular in the ski school training area. Probably automated a few more too. Coverage was side to side, plus a few inches of natural snow as a bonus.



On the icy side on Sunday because the temps on the mountain never got above 34 and the wind was blowing pretty hard all day. Mnut groomed everything soon after closing on Sat night, then everything froze overnight. Met up with friends from eastern VA so Marz Jr. had a friend to ski with all day. I did my first Silver Clinic (over 50) of the season. Great deal at $35 for 2 hours with a very experienced instructor (Thu or Sun afternoons). There was an intermediate man with old habits from straight skis. Always interesting to see what Walter (PSIA Level III) does to get someone to try to do something different. Showtime has good terrain for a variety of drills for fundamentals related to advanced skiing, including pivot slips. Pretty much all ice by late afternoon on Showtime and elsewhere once the frozen granular was skied off.



Monday was much nicer. About 38 by 10:00am, and things stayed soft enough all day, plus no cold wind. Enough snow added overnight to cover almost all the ice patches from Sun evening. Since there was almost no one around because school is still going on for most kids, easy to do wide GS turns on Showtime from top to bottom. DJ was a dream in the morning. Snowmaking started right after closing on DJ and Paradice Sun night. DJ and ParaDice got a little icy in the afternoon but still much better than Sunday. Showtime stayed nice all day. Marz Jr. got a private doing a 90-min clinic at 1:30pm. A deal at $35 given the quality of the instructors at Mnut. Few intermediates take advantage of it. Marz Jr. is an advanced skier at this point (Level 8 in Alta ski school) but Mnut instructors know more than enough to get her to focus on fundamental skills.



Sunday, Dec. 15, cold, high about 34

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Paradice opened on Dec. 14





Monday, Dec. 16: Geronimo (green)





Lower Showtime, just a little ice left on the right

CMB Terrain Park



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I really enjoy your reports.

Conditions look awesome for early-mid december !

Nice TR! The snow looks good, and no crowd.

that park looks fun

@jamsandwich 294885 wrote:that park looks fun



There was a bunch of stuff sitting in the woods that I assume will be set up soon. Have never seen the big terrain park that busy. Mostly locals. Rental equipment is not allowed in the CMB park.



View #2 of the rotating Mnut webcam shows the CMB park.

I had a ball on the bonus morning, Dec. 17. No one around except instructors. More than enough new manmade snow. DJ and Paradice were . . . fun! It was like having my own personal ski hill. Had to drive back to NC in the afternoon.



I don't usually think about total vertical. But from 9:10-10:40 I got in about 5000 vertical after I got to the base of Lift 6.



Mnut had snow guns going all morning today. Still on in the afternoon at the top of mountain even those it was 35 degrees at the base. I don't think the warm spell predicted for the weekend is going to be much of a problem for Christmas week.