Sure, Snowshoe Resort has been closed for a month, but apparently no one told Mother Nature about that. This week, the first week of May, Snowshoe got over a foot of flakey-fresh powder. Let's take a look at the historic snowfall totals for Snowshoe and celebrate the true heroes here.
At the time of writing (5/4, 0700) the snowfall for the last 3 days is 13 inches. We did have quite a bit of melting on May 2nd afternoon, which was really our only break in snowfall during this storm. To get the 13," I had to measure the snow in 6 different places and got the following totals: 23", 10", 13", 15", 13", 13". So, we're going with a very unofficial 13 inch total. (*Edited: the official snowfall total as of 5/5 is 16" for the mountain!)
And really, what's 13" for a resort mountain? Do you even know about Cheat Mountain Magic? Well, for this year, 13" is a really big deal. In fact, this one snowfall beats out half of the largest snowfalls per year for the last decade.
According to On The Snow, a multi-resort website that follows historic snowfall, the 22-23 winter season at Snowshoe only received 55" the entire season. The average for the mountain is 109". So... not good.
But, check this out.
This is the most important part.
Are you ready?
The average base depth for the last decade at Snowshoe has been 25 inches. Want to know what it was this year?
Fourty-two inches.
How is this possible, you ask?? This is because of the investments Snowshoe has made in snowmaking capibilities and, most of all, the magic of the snowmaking crew. Seriously, this season had half the regular snowfall, but doubled the normal base depth? Only because of this team! So, next time you're up on the mountain, find someone who can point you to a snowmaker and tell them 'thank you!'
Now, just imagine if we could have both next year...
(Photo of Nordic Run, an EverHome property)