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Shavers Centre Campout

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jbc28
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One area in which the SkiSoutheast messageboard crew excels is sniffing out a good deal and, subsequently, passing the info around to each other. When the word of the Shavers Centre Campout trickled down to me I immediately put it on my “to do” list, and so did about 20 others. Good or bad, I knew this would be a memorable trip.



On the eve of the campout I found myself in a mad dash to gather up all of my gear and pack. I finally got in the bed after midnight and stared at the ceiling to at least 1am. Pre trip jitters had gotten the best of me. The 2:45am alarm came much too early. SkiCop, k2josh, and k2’s friend Brandon arrived at my house about 3:15, and we were on our way to pick up Teledave and Zeus. About 4 hrs later we ran directly into the Knoxville morning rush hour. I called Teledave to get some alternate directions to his place. Thirty minutes later we found ourselves going down a one way street in a residential neighborhood far from where we needed to be. I wanted to kick Dave in the shins at that moment, but we finally made our way to Dave’s house. Back on the road we didn’t waste anytime. About 7 hours later we rolled up in front of The Depot.



Check in went smoothly with everyone having an envelope containing their pass and other pertinent information. While in The Depot, Dave and I noticed a video of us from last year’s SkiSoutheast summit playing on the overhead flat screen monitor. I guess my royalty checks have been lost in the mail…it’s tough being famous;)



We hung out in the parking lot of the Shavers Centre for a bit while we sorted our gear. We met up most of the crew there and headed off to Silver Creek for some night skiing. The conditions at SC were great. With the temperature in the teens and a mix of natural and fresh manmade snow on the ground I was smiling on each run. We lapped the blues on looker’s right of the mountain until hunger overtook the desire to ski.



Back at the village we found The Foxfire Grill to be packed to the ceiling with people. However, The Junction was able to seat all 12 of us immediately. After a short wait our waiter came by to take our food and drink order. I opted for the bacon cheeseburger, which turned out to be mighty tasty, especially after driving and skiing all day and night. After dinner we made our way back to the Shavers Centre to set up camp.



Here are where some things took a turn for some people. Our “campsite” was directly below the nightclub. Quiet time did not come until 3am, but there was quality entertainment scattered in up until that point. I didn’t expect to get 8 hours sleep, and I wasn’t wrong. Luckily, with two little kids I am used to operating on a small amount of rest.



7:30am came way too soon, but we had to clear out so the staff could ready the dining room for the breakfast crowd. Some took exception to the fact that we had to get up and clear the floor, which I really didn’t understand, since it was noted in our check in packet. After some biscuits and gravy (Snowshoe should hire someone from the south to make their biscuits) I was ready to get on the snow. We made a lap or two around Ballhooter and then made our way to the Soaring Eagle lift. The snow over there was slightly heavier than that around Ballhooter, but it still made for some good turns.



Dave and his pants









Artsy-upped shot of Zeus







Captain America (jeffryc) with the best ski outfit ever made





Ohdrinkboy moments before a knee injury…heal up quick, bro





SkiCop doing some DIN testing









Ridingshockgun in a rare non kayak pic





I totally failed here…sorry, hnhbaxter





GreshamB showing some good form





Mellow Yellow doing what he does best





I took a break around lunch to hand off some pictures to Laura Parquette, and we grabbed a bite to eat at The Junction. The campout was Laura’s idea, and I was able to talk to her some about it and the resort.



Laura on the campout planning

The idea came about in our preliminary planning for the 35th anniversary sometime last spring. We knew that some of our original guests had ended up lodging in Shavers Centre, and the stories from those impromptu campouts have become somewhat of urban legends around the resort. We wanted to try to capture the spirit and camaraderie of those stories, as well as host a really unique event that would hopefully create some new, lasting memories for people.



On whether or not this was the first event of its kind

Yes and no. The idea came from some of our original guests who used to camp out back in the mid-70s. But, those folks were doing it out of necessity. At the time, there wasn’t lodging for 30 miles, and the access road was unpaved. You can only imagine what it was like trying to get down the mountain when a snow storm hit. Because of that, the Shavers Centre became the unofficial lodging on the property before actual accommodations were built.



Some time ago, I think it might have been for the 25th anniversary, the idea of doing this kind of a celebratory camp out was proposed. I’m not sure what the actual circumstances were, but the camp out never happened. SO the idea has been around before, but this is the first time it’s actually been carried out, somewhat successfully.



On the response to the campout

We were really pleased and somewhat shocked by the response we got. We owe a lot of the success to the power of Mike’s website, and of course the message board community. I think if it wasn’t for Skisoutheast.com, we probably wouldn’t have had the response we did. But I was really pleased to see a group of friends be able to do it together, because that’s what the event was supposed to be about—sharing this crazy weekend and having stories to share for years to come. I’m not positive how many additional phone calls we received. I know we did turn away some people.



On the size of the resort back then to now

There’s really no comparison. The resort opened with 7 trails, today we have 60. In the beginning, there was no lodging on the mountain, today we have 2,200 lodging units, 1,800 of which are on our rental program.



Employee-wise, the resort began as a real mom-and-pop organization. Because it was much smaller, there wasn’t the need for the huge employment numbers we support today. This winter we have roughly 1,300 employees. The number is smaller in the summer and shoulder seasons.



Because of the changes in the resort over the years, today there’s a number of positions that wouldn’t have been need in ’74. Today the resort supports jobs like a TV producer, two graphic designers, an Adventure Programs manager, and many more.



On future plans for the resort

Right now I think we’re in somewhat of a holding pattern. Snowshoe owns 11,000 acres, but at this point we’ve expanded basically as far as we can go without needing to invest in new infrastructure like roads, water, electric, etc. We do have some room to cut new trails within the “X”, which connects Ballhooter and Soaring Eagle, so that’s a possibility at some point. I think other potential areas of growth are in our summer events, our Adventure Programs and maybe doing more large, third-party events like the GNCC off-road racing event we’ve held for the last two summers. And of course there’s the potential to add additional high-speed lifts to replace some of the aging lifts like Powdermonkey.



But I think more likely you’ll see smaller capital improvements like what we’ve done in the last few years with our teaching areas at both Silver Creek and Snowshoe, revamping our shuttle system for the convenience of our guests, investing in our snowmaking equipment and capabilities to ensure we have the best technology available, and doing things like buying wind credits for some of our lifts, which we did this summer for the Ballhooter and Skidder lifts.



Thanks to Laura for taking time out of her day for the info.



Unfortunately, after lunch rain had moved in and turned a good day into a miserable one. I spent the rest of the day counting down the minutes to our free dinner at the backcountry hut. I think that it was Dave’s idea to go in the later seating group. Again, I wanted to kick him in the shins, but without the rain it would have been the right way to go. We assembled at the Adventure outpost and made the short drive to the hut via a cool restored military ambulance and 4wd van. Rally cars would have been a nice…maybe they can add that for next time. Dinner consisted of some very good soup as a starter, new york strip with garlic mashed potatoes and snap peas, and a black cherry cobbler for dessert. I wish that I would have signed up a fake name too. That way I would have had double portions. It was that good. The staff at the hut was top notch, also.



Mellow approves of the selection





k2josh was just happy to be there









The backcountry hut staff….thanks, guys





After the dinner the Bama/Tn crew decided to head back. The rain had killed our desire to stay. With the possibility of no new snow on the way and maybe some refreeze staying didn’t sound too enticing. We loaded up and headed out. We could have only skied about 2 hrs. anyway.



I want to thank Laura for putting this all together and Sonny (aka powdermonkey) for all of his help. It was like we had our very own Snowshoe concierge. Every time I visit Snowshoe I am impressed with the friendliness of the employees. Everyone that I encountered this weekend was pleasant and seemed to enjoy being there.



It was a good time.



The End.

Zone Driven
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The ole superman pic. Classic. Great report. I assume all in all it was a great trip right? Hopefully the can make this event a more yearly thing.
EastCoaster
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Who is that hippy with the ponytail?



Why do my eyes hurt when I look at that guy's pants?



Why is that guy flying through the air? You're doing it wrong?



Why is the guy on the red jacket on a snowboard? I thought he retired from the sport in order to take up little-plastic-boating?



Why are your pictures always better than mine?



Why can't I find an outfit as awesome as Captain America's?



This TR rules.
Silence160
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^ +1

I was getting flashbacks of Max Headroom looking at those pants...or perhaps Tron
gdwindowpane
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Great report!!!



Skittles Gone Wild!!!
Zone Driven
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I thought he was joking about getting those pants. I was wrong!
Josh
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I'm glad I got one papparazi shot, I seemed to be a run behind the photog!
Publicenemybrad
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yup. i officially suck for not being able to make it. this is not the first time my father has twarted my plans of funhaving, and good experiences however. i will make it sometime. hopefully. hell i've not even seen snow this year.
Josh
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It is not documented by photo, but I had a joyous time making laps on Camp 99 and Sawmill solo. I did make a run with a patroller on Camp 99...he told me the Foils were too wide of ski for me...JONG. He was PSIA fo sho...
Shoebunni
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good report
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