<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 3/16/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>After a week of 75 - 80 degree temps in the DC area and mass parent pullouts I had to cancel my Scout troop's trip to Timberline WV. I kept open my offer to camp with the hardcores and ski whatever was there but had no takers. So, out of curiosity I decided on a trip to Snowshoe where I haven't gone for 6 years. The summary report is that every 6 years is about right. Snowshoe is pricey, crowded, flat and boring. Somebody please remind me of that 5 1/2 years from now. I have never had a bad day skiing and did find ways to have fun, but that's how I see it. The enthusiasm of Snowshoe skiers exceeds their ability by about a factor of 10. No problem, enthusiasm is the quality I admire most in skiers. The problem is you must stay out of their way which is not easy. These good folks traverse mogul fields in a panic wedge, slowly passing bumps one by one until they feel that the planets and stars are favorably alligned so that they may attempt a turn. They don't know when that moment will come until it comes, so what chance do you have? Once their decision has been made they still don't know if the turn will work; it's about a 50/50 proposition. <BR> <BR>Several years back Intrawest bought Snowshoe and they have spent millions on it. I have no idea where the money went, certainly not to the skiing experience. The Intrawest magic touch is nowhere to be seen. It is still true that all but two of the trails are limited to 700 vertical feet and they have many dangerous narrow spots and crossing points. It is still true that the tops of the lifts are scattered over 3/4 mile of ridge line. An obvious first improvement would be a lift like Sugarbush's Slide Brook express to transfer people from one point on the ridgeline to another. I'll bet the money was all spent on the condos and the golf course. They have opened one new trail in 6 years, their answer to the charge that they don't have anything steep. The bottom of this <><> rated run, called Shay's Revenge, has about 300 vertical feet of decent bumps with a pretty good pitch (still not up to Extrovert at Blue Knob PA). Last weekend 75% of the skiers on it seemed to be college kids. Translation, raise the factor by which enthusiasm exceeds ability. At any given time half of them were in the lodges watching the ACC basketball tournament, which helped. <BR> <BR>I drove halfway to Snowshoe on Fri. night, too tired from a hard week at work to go the last 100+ miles on 2 lane mountain roads. Sat. I awoke at 7 to heavy thunder and lightning and decided to sleep late. Arriving at noon I booked a room first. I got the last one available on a rainy 55 degree day with marginal conditions. That's why Snowshoe is like it is; there is no incentive to change. People are busting down the doors with money in hand to go there. <BR> <BR>With the rain and soft snow I headed for the 2 runs in the "western territory" the only ones that use the full 1500 vertical feet, Cupp Run and Shay's. The top half of each was locked in pea soup fog that slowly lifted as the afternoon went on. The steep pitch on Shay's was nice. The college kids all stuck to the middle for fear of falling and sliding into the woods or the snowguns, so I skimmed the left edge near the woods over and over. After a dozen runs I went to the front side to explore for the last hour of the day. <BR> <BR>Sun. it began to snow at dawn with a brisk wind. I went back to the western territory only to find that the B@#$%^$#@ had groomed it. In particular the bottom of Shay's, the good part, had a rope across it and a patroller turning everyone away. I asked why in the world they groomed it and got a resigned shrug. Then why can't we ski it if it's been groomed. Her reply was that they went there with the assignment of "fixing" it and they accidentally ruined it. I had no idea what this meant until crossing over to lower Cupp Run and finding deep deep piles of BB size to golf ball size ice balls. I could ski it but it wasn't any fun and would occasionally grab a ski badly and not let me finish a turn. So I went over to the front side and tried a little of everything. <BR> <BR>Ate an early lunch and decided to go explore Silver Creek, Snowshoe's sister resort on a common lift ticket 5 miles away. I'd never been there. Silver Creek is (believe it or not) the baby mountain of the pair. By 1:30 I found a lift on the far skier's left side with virtually nobody on it. The 2 runs it served, Bear Claw and Eagle's Drop, were the only single black rated runs at the mountain. Riding up I could see that the snow was beginning to pile up in drifts and that one whole side of the slope below was in the lee of the wind and _NOBODY_ had set tracks on it. Powder skiers don't go to Silver Creek. The top of the run had about 100 ft. of old icy bumps to negotiate and then it was light powder all the way down. The first turn was so sweet it startled me, then I just surrendered to the mountain and let it go. Does a gull soaring over the waves think about where his next turn is? In 45 sec. I was back on a lift chair - Wow! - my own powder field and nobody else knows about it. No whoops or yells but the exhilaration must have been evident to the 2 or 3 others over there. Halfway up I saw a boarder jump into my line. He was a carver and he respected powder. He saluted me from the slope and I saluted him from the lift. We were to cycle it many times but always 180 deg. out of phase. Next run a couple of skiers showed up, and then the land rush was on. It's the downside of family radios. Soon people began to materialize out of the woodwork. 3/4 of them were young boarders with 3 moves in their bag of tricks; ride forward 10 feet, sideslip 100, ride fakie 10 feet, repeat. In about an hour it was ruined but I got a dozen runs. Had to leave for home at 3:30 anyway and by then it was snowing harder. I'll bet it was nice yesterday. Now that I've reconfirmed that I don't much like the Snowshoe, I've learned how to get there legally from the VA suburbs of DC in 4 hrs. flat.
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Snowshoe, WV 3/11-12/00
- Thread starter Denis
- Start date
<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 3/17/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>I have received several comments from friends regarding this report and they make some good points, which in fairness I repeat here. <BR> <BR>1.) Snowshoe must be considered in comparison to other places in the southeast. In my opinion, Timberline WV has slightly better, although not as much, terrain. Other than Timberline, nothing else in the east south of the Mason Dixon line (MD/PA border) compares. <BR> <BR>2.) It really is pretty cool that lots of flatlanders from places like FL, GA, Carolinas, OH, etc., are out there giving it their best shot. Likewise with young people; our sport needs them. <BR> <BR>3.) Snowshoe and Timberline have a long season, typically going into April every year. <BR> <BR>If Snowshoe management is listening, please take seriously the suggestion to find a better way to move people along the summit ridge, and consider cutting some glades.
Wilsonbike
New member
<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 3/19/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>You're forgetting Canaan Valley. They have some fun territory and usually (not this year) get some good snowfalls. They're about 5 miles south of Timberline with 850 ft of vertical. Gravity and the one liftline are the only real steeps and they won't challenge true experts. But by and large I have more fun on Canaan than the other two places.