Last Friday we made our first ski trip of the season. Thomas and Evelyn and I spend the afternoon at Hidden Valley, in the Laurel Highlands of western Pennsylvania.
Thanksgiving weekend is one of the best times to ski, as everyone is home from school and from work, and most non-skiers are out shopping. The main problem with early-season skiing in the mid-Atlantic is the climate. Local resorts make most of their snow, and this requires cold temperatures. We hit Wisp the day after Thanksgiving back in 2005. The last two years have been too warm.
This year Mother Nature has been cooperating. For several weeks now cold air has been streaming out of Canada and south across the Great Lakes. This means plentiful lake-effect snow at the higher elevations, and excellent snowmaking conditions just about everywhere.
