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Snow and ski season arriving at the same time

SNOWSHOE, W.Va. — The timing of the snow in the forecast this week couldn’t be better for ski business in West Virginia.

The National Weather Service said it’s possible the state’s higher elevations could receive up to a foot of snow Wednesday, which is the day Snowshoe Resort in Pocahontas County is scheduled to open its 40th season.  

Snowmaking efforts during the past week and the natural snow set to arrive will allow ski resorts to open more trails than normal at the beginning of a season.

West Virginia Ski Areas Association spokesman Joe Stevens said the other ski and snowboarding locations in Tucker, Raleigh and Ohio counties will open in December.

“We’re going to be in very good shape,” Stevens predicted. “You’re not going just to see one or two trails opening at resorts. Canaan Valley is going to be opening from top to bottom and Snowshoe is going to be opening with double digits in trails.”

The resorts have been making snow for several days.

“All of the snowmakers have been working around the clock with the temperatures that have been around for the last five, six, seven days,” Stevens said.

The ski industry rebounded in West Virginia last year after a bad year in 2011 when the state experienced a very mild winter. There were more than 800,000 ski visits during the past season. The industry brings in about $250,000 a year and provides 5,000 jobs.

Stevens said natural snow in the forecast this week helps generate interest in skiing and snowboarding in the local marketplace.

“When people are getting snow in Charleston, in Parkersburg, in Beckley, in Morgantown and over in Martinsburg–that’s where we really need the natural snow to fall because it gets people to think about the snow,” Stevens said.

Skiers and snowboarders will also be able to take advantage of new lodge accommodations of Canaan Valley Resort in Tucker County this winter.

Snowshoe opens Wednesday, Timberline Resort on Dec. 12 and Winterplace and Canaan Valley on Dec. 14, but it’s possible both Winterplace and Canaan could move up their dates.  Oglebay will also open in December.

Stevens said the most up-to-date information can be found at goskiwv.com.





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