Charleston, WV -The mountains of West Virginia will be receiving more natural snow this weekend, as two more resorts, Winterplace in Raleigh County and Oglebay in Ohio County open for the season tomorrow, December 18.
Snowshoe Mountain in Pocahontas County has been open since December 5, while Canaan Valley and Timberline in Tucker County opened last weekend.
Again this week’s temperatures in the higher elevations have been very good for snowmaking operations, allowing the resorts to open additional terrain. The snowmakers at all of the resorts are working around the clock when temperatures allow. When snowmaking conditions were at their best this week (in the teens), over 10,000 tons of snow was being produced in West Virginia, enough snow to cover 20 football fields with a foot of snow made each hour.
Early season reservations have been strong as the resorts are again projecting to attract around 800,000 visitors to the mountains. "It’s great to get all of the resorts open and operating for the season," says Terry Pfeiffer, President of the West Virginia Ski Areas Association. "If the current weather conditions continue, we will be in very good shape for the upcoming critical holiday season." The top states providing skiers and snowboarders to West Virginia slopes are Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida.
The ski and snowboard season traditionally, weather permitting, continues through early April. The five-month long ski season in West Virginia has an estimated economic impact of over $250 million and 5,000 jobs at the resorts and other related companies. For more information on skiing and snowboarding in West Virginia go on-line at www.goskiwv.com .
Joe Stevens
Director, Communications & Development
The Media Center
Phone: 304.720.5466
Cell: 304.382.1133
Email: [email protected]