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TR Wintergreen Jan 31 - Raleigh road trip

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marzski
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Thanks to superorb's willingness to drive, a road trip to WTG was on for Jan. 31 after the Triangle got 4-6 inches of snow, with sleet afterwards. Left a bit later than usual so that he could drive in daylight. Took 4.5 hours from my house, instead of the usual 3.5 with a breakfast stop. We were on the snow by noon. Talked our way to the tubing parking lot. Had plenty of runs by 5pm, although it was relatively crowded. Turns out a lot of VA schools had Fri and Mon off from school for end-of-semester teacher workdays. We used Costco 3-pack vouchers, so only about $50 for the 8-hr lift tickets, a little less than the regular 4-hr weekend rate.



Highlands Express was busy, 5-10 min waits. Checkerberry was worse, even for a late lunch. But the slopes were in good condition, just a few slick spots. A few guns were blowing up to cover merging areas.



Other than being sore from a hard face plant, I had a great time. Was nice that NCSUsKING was around to retrieve stuff. Having my first set of good skis is making me go a lot faster than I used to. :)



US29 Bypass at 10:30am, near Liberty Univ in Lynchburg





View from Highlands Express







Pretty day, NCSUsKING at top of Upper Cliffhanger





Perfect ending at Five Guys in Lynchburg: superorb, sb's GF, NCSUsKING





Done
2023-24: Wolf Creek in Dec, Massanutten in Jan, Feb; GT, Big Sky; Crested Butte; Alta/Snowbird in April.
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skipink
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Glad you had fun but we missed you at Beech.
"Nothing changes if nothing changes."
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marzski
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@skipink 206173 wrote:Glad you had fun but we missed you at Beech.



Yeah, it was hard to choose where to go. But I wanted to take the chance to ski the Highlands in good conditions, especially since Marz Jr. wasn't along. Was tempting to go to Beech today since school is out, but Marz Jr. has a school project to work on. Plus need to recover because we are headed back to Mnut next weekend. Assuming there isn't another snow dump covering the roads.
2023-24: Wolf Creek in Dec, Massanutten in Jan, Feb; GT, Big Sky; Crested Butte; Alta/Snowbird in April.
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BaZinGa
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Sorry we didn't join the party pink, but WTG turned out to be a pretty good call. Definitely got in enough runs to make it worth the trip. My legs got tired pretty fast keeping up with Marzski on the Highlands... perhaps I'll be getting some new skis next season :D



Here's a pic of Marzski on Upper Cliffhanger:





Looking up the Highlands from the lift line:





Proof that the Blue Ridge Express is not the line to be in after lunch on weekends or holidays:







Devil's Elbow looking good:





Some leftover carnage from the night before:







Great trip!
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Superorb
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Yup, lots of fun. Almost identical conditions on green runs as last time they got 30" of snow, but Dobie was pretty choppy so we had to avoid the moving targets. First time I didn't fall when getting off any lifts and maybe 3 times during the runs.



Also for the Blue Ridge Express, it was much quicker to NOT do the singles lines since the line coordinator had 8-10 lines of 2+ groups to pool from.
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BaZinGa
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@Superorb 206246 wrote:Also for the Blue Ridge Express, it was much quicker to NOT do the singles lines since the line coordinator had 8-10 lines of 2+ groups to pool from.



Yeah, you guys beat us by at least 10 chairs... would have been more if they hadn't been pulling 5 or 6 from the singles line every so often...



Wish I had taken a picture of that guy with the mattress on top of his car... i.e.) 10" of snow that really looked like a mattress strapped to the roof...
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Ski Bunny
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Enjoyed the pics. Looks like you had a great time with awesome conditions.
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Superorb
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@NCSUsKING 206353 wrote:

Wish I had taken a picture of that guy with the mattress on top of his car... i.e.) 10" of snow that really looked like a mattress strapped to the roof...



That was "Snow Relocation" at its finest :D
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jamsandwich
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gotta love passing the parking attendant and finding a good spot, can't beat that for a noon arrival. i did the same thing at sugar on monday and low and behold a pair of spots in the tubing lot. i really want to try wintergreen, those pics look great
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Superorb
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@jamsandwich 206483 wrote:gotta love passing the parking attendant and finding a good spot, can't beat that for a noon arrival. i did the same thing at sugar on monday and low and behold a pair of spots in the tubing lot. i really want to try wintergreen, those pics look great

When the parking attendant tells you to park at the top and you want to park by the tubing, make sure to tell him that you're tubing first and then drive past him. That's what we did :D
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