DAVIS, W.Va. — Halloween hasn’t arrived, but already they’re thinking snow in the mountains of West Virginia. The state’s ski resorts are prepping for what they hope will as snowy a winter as last.
“We’re coming off a pretty good season where we saw just over 800,000 skier visits,” said Joe Stevens of the West Virginia Ski Areas Association. “We saw lower snowfall totals, but the temperatures remained cold throughout the season.”
In fact, the winter of 2013-14 was one of the coldest on record in West Virginia thanks to the polar vortex.
Right now, the resorts are in prep mode preparing for the winter to come.
“Everything is centered around getting the slopes ready, getting the equipment ready, getting the ski rentals ready and also getting the snow-making operation ready,” said Stevens.
Up at Timberline in Tucker County, they’re in the middle of that prep process.
“We do everything from lift maintenance, which means checking all the chairs, checking all the grips, checking all the electronics that go along with these really massive pieces of equipment. We have inspections. We have engineers come and check our snowmaking pipes and all our snow guns,” according to Timberline General Manager Tom Blanzy.
While snow, and lots of it, is key to a successful season, right now is not a good time for it to start piling up.
“An early snowfall, as early as this, kind of gets in the way of getting things ready for the season,” stressed Stevens.
The resorts look for the snow to start falling by the first week of November. The fresh snow along with the man-made variety and cold temperatures will enable Snowshoe in Pocahontas County to hit its opening date of Thanksgiving week. Resorts at Timberline, Canaan and Winterplace usually open the first or second weeks of December, depending on weather.
“People take advantage of that break between Christmas and New Year’s and we count on that quite a bit. So we want as much open as possible,” Blanzy said.
West Virginia’s resorts are offering more than just skiing and snowboarding these days. There’s tubing, entertainment and the second season for Timberline’s zipline.