CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The dropping of temperatures in the mountains of West Virginia heralds the coming of another ski season.
The whirring of machines can already be heard in some places as winter resorts get ready to welcome in thousands over the next few months.
“When the temperatures dropped below freezing earlier this week, the snow makers were able to start making snow and preparing for the season,” said Joe Stevens, communications director for the West Virginia Ski Areas Association.
Stevens is hoping this years can help advance a reputation that West Virginia is trying to build of having the best snow conditions thanks in part to the powder sent by way of moisture from the Great Lakes.
“Natural snow is an important thing, plus we have the best snow making in the region,” Stevens said. “When people go on to the various websites and see the snow cams, slope cams and that sort of thing, they see a lot of snow.”
As a way to improve the conditions, the infrastructure for snow making was a focus of the resorts in the off-season.
“We’ve got to have good, upgraded snow making operations and all the resorts reinvested into their snow making operations,” he said. “At the end of the day, what people are going to see is just more snow.”
For those eager to hit the slopes, they will have to wait a little longer than in years past due to the unusually warm weather earlier in November.
“The traditional opening is around this Thanksgiving week, but because of the milder temperatures that we’ve had in the early part of November, snow making has just commenced.”
Snowshoe in Pocahontas County is expected to open at the end of this week or the start of next week, followed by Timberline in Tucker County on December 11 and Winterplace in Raleigh County on December 12. Canaan Valley in Tucker County is planning on opening its tubing hill before on-slope operations begin on December 18.
To keep up with snow condition throughout the season, visit goskiwv.com or skisoutheast.com.