WTF - That Perfect Ski Day

Many consider themselves “snow chasers” spending the winter season in search of the “perfect snow day.” Living in the High Country of North Carolina, I can guarantee that every day here is a perfect ski day.

There are still many that live in our great state that doesn’t realize you can ski in North Carolina, that there are seven ski resorts in the state. That’s not including the tubing resort of Hawksnest that was once a ski resort.

So what constitutes the perfect ski day? Any day on the snow!

You can’t wait for the perfect ski day, you get out there and ski. I have friends that tell me, “I only ski out West.” My answer to them is, “Oh yeah, how many days did you ski this year?”

“4,” they reply.

“I skied 118,” I state. Are the days perfect? Yes! Because I am out on the snow!

“But you can’t ski out West,” they counter.

“Really? I skied another 10 in Utah and Colorado, and guess what, I kept up with the locals just fine. In fact, there were a few days that I was better. You know why? Because my perfect Southern Ski Days sometimes include powder, snow, granular snow, ice, mud, dirt, grass, rocks, and I made it through every single day. A 65-year ski patroller once told me that if you can ski in the South, then you can ski anywhere. I believe that statement!”

But some days can be better than others, truthfully. In Randy Johnson’s new book Southern Snow, he puts together those days that us snow chasers love, the best-kept secret of the Southern Skiing. A storm rolls through the High Country, which starts with rain. Everyone else sees rain, but we watch closely at the temperature after the storm moves through the High Country. If there is a drop in temperature, then the storm will likely end with snow. So while it’s raining, we’re waving and tuning and hit the slopes while everyone else stays home and complains. The perfect ski day!

My perfect day is as close to the first chair as possible. We have an ongoing battle for first chair amongst my friends. The rush to the lift resembles a Who Concert! First thing in the morning means you get the best snow. Freshly groomed, untouched and super fast. We find that weekends are great from 9-11 or so when it gets a little crowded. We then retire to our favorite Mountain Momma’s slope-side house to watch the “flying squirrels” dive down the mountain. What’s a flying squirrel? Usually, someone from Florida, on rental skis, with their jacket unzipped, flying straight down the slope. The unzipped jacket makes them look like a flying squirrel! Most of the crashes at the bottom are harmless but fun to watch!

So get out your board, or your planks, and plan a trip to some Southern Snow. Pad in those perfect days, and include that trip out west, get the best of both worlds!

A side note to those visiting, how to get your perfect snow day. Plan ahead!

If you are driving, rent your equipment ahead of time. There are local ski/board shops that rent equipment, along with several along the way. If you are renting at the resort, arrive early!!  AND I MEAN EARLY!

Ticket windows open at 830am for 9 am lift start. Get to the resort at 8 am and save yourself waiting forever like the people that get here at 9 am. If you are renting equipment, you have to have a lift ticket before rentals. Put one person in the rental line and one person in the lift line. 

How do adults have fun on the snow with little children? All-day Ski/Board School. Snow School is one of the best deals of the High Country. For one set price, you get all-day lessons 830a-400p lunch, helmet, slope pass, instruction, skills assessment, and rentals included. Children are in age-appropriate groups and spent time on the snow in small doses along with playing with friends in the Snow School. Snow School makes the first experience FUN! 

Beech Mountain Resort :

SnowCamp 3-6 years $135/weekday and $150/Weekend

SnowTraxx 6-14 years $100/weekend and $120/Weekends

Burton Learn to Ride 6-18 years $135/weekdays $150/weekends

Or course there is Snowflakes Childcare in the village.

The best part of these packages is the children let out at 4 pm. They can then show you their skills from 4-430p on the slopes!

They do sell these packages online, but they sell out very quickly. 

WTF - Polar Coaster?

As most of you know, the High Country of North Carolina has two main seasons - summer and ski season. Residents have an old wives tale that every morning fog is August means a winter snow event. Many will say that is hogwash, but there are quite a few of us that take this seriously. Those the most seriously are involved with snow sports.

Sitting here on this cold foggy morning, I couldn't help but rejoice. There are still a few days left in August, but my count right now is at 15! My little jar sits on the window sill with white and black beans in it. The white beans are very foggy mornings, which mean a more significant snow event. The black beans are just your average snow. My first year collecting beans, my husband threw them into the pot of cooking beans.

On top of that, Farmer's Almanac is predicting a cold and snowy winter for Western North Carolina, a polar coaster. The polar coaster means temperature swings of highs and lows that will resemble The Fury of Carowinds. 

The polar coaster will help Beech Mountain Resort during the cold swings, but all the new upgrades to snowmaking will give it all the help it needs after milder temperatures. Upgrading water lines means more territory open at the beginning of the season to supplementing current coverage after a string of warm temperatures. Last year we had 22 inches in one storm, it was all gone in two weeks! Here's where you can get your Farmer's Almanac https://www.farmersalmanac.com

Look also to the Wooly Worm Festival of Banner Elk for winter's forecast. A Wooly Worm or Wooly Bear is a black and brown caterpillar. During the Wooly Worm Festival, Wooly Worms race it out in heats all day Saturday, the winning caterpillar collecting 500 dollars and providing the winter forecast.  There are 13 segments on a Wooly Worm for13 weeks,  the brown segments mean warmer, the black more severe weather. For me, the perfect caterpillar would be all black!  Here is last year's winner named Montgomery County's Best. "black, black, black, flick, dark brown, dark brown, dark brown, dark brown, dark brown, dark brown, flick, flick, flick. Black: below average, snow/ Dark Brown: below average/ Light Brown: above-average/ Flick: black and brown, below average, frost or light snow. The average temperature is 27 degrees F." For more information on the festival visit http://www.woollyworm.com

So if you are collecting beans, let me know your tally. As the weather turns colder, be on the lookout for Wooly Worms and let them race. Last year even with strings of warm temperatures, I still skied 118 days. This year my goal is 121, one-third of the year. Time to get those skis out and start prepping for winter, only 11 weeks to go!

WTF - Cold Weather Driving

Plan A or B for That Trip

Traveling to ski resorts takes some planning. From getting your equipment together to getting the family in the car on time to get to the slopes on time. I always start my winter season with planning on Plan B, C, or D when it means traveling to the slopes. That means putting together my winter kit for my car.

What is a winter kit? It is a kit for the trunk of your car for winter travel. We all know that driving the roads of ski resorts can be tricky during winter weather and have read news about road closures due to accidents. Keep a few things in your car in case you could get stuck on your way to a ski resort or the time to travel is much longer than expected.

I buy a grocery store cooler type bag for my kit. This is a square bag with a silver lining designed for summer keeping perishables from spoiling. The cooler type bag will keep things dry and separated from the other items of your trunk.

In my box, I keep:

First Aid Kit

Several blankets, if you get stuck and there are several people in the car you may want to conserve gas by turning the car off at times. This provides warmth for each person in the car.

Hand Warmers - there is nothing more comforting than a nice pair of hand warmers.

Several pairs of hats and gloves - you will thank me when changing a tire on a frozen day.

Bottles of water - even if they get frozen, keep several in your car. A car once went off the road during winter and no one saw it down the embankment until a day later. Luckily she had bottles of water!

Granola bars - keep them in a plastic bag so the bears do not smell them during their fall foraging trips. 

Flashlights and extra batteries

Battery Powered Radio

Kitty Litter - I buy the 5 lb bucket. This is perfect if you get stuck, the litter providing traction. The bucket also adds extra weight for travel.

Booster Cables and Flares

Matches and Small Candles

A Fully Charged portable battery for cell phones

A lot of people keep a 2x4 in the trunk of the car for protection if needed but it also becomes a great accessory if a car gets stuck in the snow or mud. Tie the 2x4 to the tire, it will give the tire added traction.

Finally always fill the gas tank prior to climbing a mountain! In my book Views From 5506, I never go up the mountain without at least a 3/4 tank during winter. My son learned it the hard way. He ran out of gas, a local stopped and asked if they were alright. He said he ran out of gas, the guy laughed, called them rookies and left them to figure it out. Lesson learned.

Of course, if you don’t feel like doing all the work, there’s plenty of emergency survival kids available through amazon.com and other outlets. A quick Google search will show many results.

I know this sounds like a lot. But once you move from moderate temperatures to where temperatures can turn extreme it is always a good idea to be over prepared! Keep this kit in the garage and put it in your car for your trips up to the slopes, or simply keep it in there for the winter season. Once summer rolls along, I usually pair it down with summer necessities or switch it out for my summer kit.

Don’t get caught wishing you had a Plan B when Plan A on the road doesn’t work out.

Traveling Cheaply

As many know, I have two teenagers now,

the pharmacist with my Xanax prescription
the wine store owner with my favorite white
the grocery store as I am buying for a small army weekly

This past week we went on a Spring Break trip for 7 days and only spent 1400 dollars!

Yes, that's right 1400!

How did we do it, I thought I'd share:

Spring skiing is your best value when it comes to travel. We drove to Killington saving airfare traveling out west this year.

We started with a rental car from Enterprise in Boone, it was much cheaper than trying to rent a car at an airport or city! The car (a Dodge Ram truck) was $263.00 for the week.

How do you survive a 14 hour drive with 3 teenagers?

Cooler!

I filled a cooler with snacks and drinks. A case of water costing 2.99 vs a bottle of water at a gas station stop at $1. Of course since we were on vacation, I really saved money buying the 12 packs of soda at Walgreens, etc than purchasing the same thing individually at a gas station.

I was also able to hit the grocery store for snacks, combining the junk they love along with a few healthy alternatives. Once they went through the junk (15 minutes in to the drive) they had nothing left but healthy snacks!

We did splurge once a day with some fast food but ordering simple ChickFilA sandwiches and letting them grab drinks, etc out of the cooler we were still able to satisfy those urges.

Oh and of course, $1 Sweet Tea at McDonalds!

Another great money saver with teenage boys was finding lodging that included Breakfast! If they have an afternoon cookie or two even better!

We found the Killington Mountain Lodge, 1.5 miles from the resort on a website for $59/night!

And that included a buffet breakfast every morning of Vermont favorites, syrup, granola, milk, etc.

This is a very casual, comfortable hotel complete with a 20 person outdoor hot tub, a pool, pool table, games in the common area complete with a fire each night, oh, and a bar for Mom and Dad. We relaxed each evening in the common area, the boys even checking out the nightly movie in the theater. (Rogue One one night!)

The cooler came into the room with snacks and drinks, giving the kids what they needed after the snow.

We went out one night, splurging spending $100 on dinner for 4 at an Italian restaurant.  The rest of the week using grocery stores deli department and pizza delivery.  Here's the breakdown:

Italian Restaurant - $100/ four pasta dinners, water and one glass of wine (hey, I'm stuck with boys)
Pizza Delivery - $30 - 1 large pepperoni pizza and two orders of garlic knots plus delivery tip.
    The boys took the pizza to the hot tub and enjoyed hanging out.
Grocery Store - $18 - two large vats of Beef Stew one large vat of mashed potatoes.
Grocery Store - $15.99 one large rotisserie chicken leftover mashed potatoes and veggie side.

So we ate well, spent time at the lodge and didn't miss out on the Killington experience.

Lift tickets to Killington for spring skiing were only $25/day purchasing them 2 days early online in block of 3 days.

Good thing to remember for spring skiing, if you are only going one day make sure you bring a lift ticket from another resort and Killington gives a 50% discount off of your lift ticket!

Saving money in Killington opened up the coffers for adventure in Baltimore. I still was able to get out of the city for around $400 for all of us. We enjoyed an Oriole baseball game, crab feast, skating at Charm City Skatepark and a hotel downtown!

Oh and talking to a local, we found a way back South avoiding all the tolls on the way back including avoiding the traffic on 95!!

There's nothing like traveling and experiencing with children, all you have to do is a little early planning and you can save big while having the best experience.

The best part of the trip was listening to one kid whisper to another, "Dang! $9 for a cheeseburger, that's pretty expensive!

This way I'm preparing them for those traveling trips their senior year in high school or college or Spring Break!

WTF - Skiing and What Exploded?

Our second day of skiing was fantastic. It went below freezing so the groomers went out clearing this huge mogul field and creating a fantastic run for the day!

Mogul Field definition please, a place where you accidentally ski in, bounce around like a ping pong ball then crawl out sweating.

I met a new friend in the morning. Paul watching my first run, probably realizing the little sphincter palpitation I had standing for the first time at the top of SuperStar, decided I needed ski lessons. Of course I'd been by myself all of day one, dumped by the kids after embarrassing them at the Gondola so I welcomed the company. I did the one ski thingy, the hold my poles in front of my thingy, move your hands in front of you thingy, to the lean in your boots thingy. I mean, I know how to ski but it was nice having the company, plus skiing with Paul kept me off the Gondola and over at a nice chair lift I'm used to!!

The Killington Mountain Lodge, 1.5 miles from the resort is a great value for the money, $59/night including a breakfast buffet! The lodge included a pool table, games, a bar (hallelujah) and a 20 person outdoor hot tub. It wasn't the newest place but it was clean, the rooms were big enough and did I mention it had a breakfast buffet (insert feeding teenagers on a budget right here.)

Of course the boys called the room "crusty" and for the rest of the trip they kept saying, "Is it time to go back to Crusty yet?" or "Who has the key to Crusty?" "We can save $5 a day is we don't have the maid clean Crusty making Crusty more crusty!" (Insert teenagers laughing here)

Crusty, definition please,
anything old, or dirty or questionable
Example please: a clean hotel room except for a dark fingerprint on the remote to the TV ("It's blood isn't it Mom, did someone get murdered in this room?")

The only real problem on this trip is the exploding suitcases. I swear I open the hotel room door and before my foot steps in, all three boys are pulling the rip cord on their suitcases!

The first day, I left the boys in the room, go down for an extra key and by the time I walk back up to our room, the suitcases regurgitated all over the room, two boys sitting on the bed watching cartoons, one boy in the bathroom.

For a good half hour, maybe longer. What is he doing in there?

"Pooping," someone says.

"That long?"

The other two look at me, "Yeah, it always takes that long."

"It can't take that long, it takes me 5 minutes. Is he writing a novel in there?"

"No, just pooping," they reply going back to the cartoon.

This could be a long trip, I think as I step over shoes, skateboards, snowboards,

wait, is that a pair of my underwear?

I'm wondering "What is that smell?" until I step on a wet sock and realize everyone's snow socks are soaked and sweaty from two days on the snow. When the child finally comes out of the bathroom, I hold my nose, throw some shampoo in the tub, putting all the socks in and run in them before hanging to dry, at least the bathroom now smells like Panteen.

I think I'm better off using the public restroom in the lodge than attempting our room bathroom. I'll go down there, and maybe forget about Crusty with a glass of wine!

WTF - Me vs. Gondola

As you know we are chasing snow, driving to Killington VT for one more go at it before we call it quits on the season. We finally made it, 20 chicken nuggets, 4 large fries, 3 milkshakes, 4 double cheeseburgers, one 12 pack of soda, two bags of chips, large Goldfish tub, 2 packages of beef jerky, half a box of MoonPies and three packs of gum.

I found us a great hotel, 1 mile from Killington for only $59/night! And it included breakfast so I am patting myself on the back for that one as I left the boys in the room and ventured down in front of the fire for a cold beer. 

The next day we started our three days on the snow, everyone excited. So excited that the boys ditched me after the very first Gondola ride, I think because I embarrassed them.

You see I am Gondola challenged.

They have it easy, they have snowboards and the slots work perfect. I have twin tip skis and they don't want to fit into the ski slots. So the first ride up, I was running around with the Gondola trying to get my skis in before the "DO NOT LOAD PAST THIS POINT" sign. Of course the boys wouldn't help me, they were too embarrassed. Luckily the attendant had pity on me and with a sigh, put my skis in.

"Our little mountain doesn't have a Gondola!" I yell back with a smile, all three boys cringing with a "MOM!!!"

I think that's why I was on my own with the Gondola, the next time I come down, I've got it all planned out. I pull my skis apart and put them separately into the slots!  Plan B!  Of course the attendant has that "Oh, it's you again" look and comes back putting them together and fitting them in the damn slot!

Next, I'm watching all the skiers put their skis in the slots, planning my mode of attack. Most do not have curved edges so I'm thinking I'll start just as the Gondola comes in, shove those babies into the slot like trying to fit in my bathing suit and I'm good to go. Of course it doesn't help that I drop one ski while trying to do this, the same attendant coming over, not saying a work picking them up and putting them in the slot!

It was a slushy day of skiing, snow melting by the Gondola to dirt prompting me to ask the liftie as he put my skis in the slot,  "What's that smell? 

"Spring." He says walking away.

I'm not sure if it was Snomax on top of dirt or if something busted by the K-1 Lodge but by 2pm I was perfecting my pond skimming technique deciding to call it a day. I came down to the Gondola, the attendant walking up putting out his hands with a "just give them to me" look! So,= I smiled sweetly saying, "See you tomorrow!"

Did he roll his eyes?