Born and Raised in WV- 1st Time at Snowshoe- Feb 17-20

[WVULINK]

Even I had a hard time believing that even though I was born and raised in WV and have been a skier for over 30 years; that this past weekend was my first ever trip to Snowshoe. I have skied all over WV, MD, VA, NC, and PA; but never Snowshoe WV. Not sure why really. I guess I always used expense and remoteness as excuses. Most ski trips are my idea and I usually try to keep them short and on the cheap. This time though the trip was my wife's idea (who usually hates all things snow related). She got an amazing rate on Mountain Lodge #190 from a colleague and we decided to take a 4 day/3 night trip to Snowshoe. My teenager daughter (a skier) brought two friends along (boarders).

Nervously I watched the weather all week. As the temps in NC reached the 70s, I kept praying and hoping that the cold weather would return to WV. When we departed on Friday morning from Salisbury the temp was 66 degrees and it was raining. As we drove up 1-77, I started to get optimistic as the temperature gauge on my car started to drop. And my excitement couldn't be contained as we exited the north end of the East River Tunnel into a haze of snow flurries. Welcome to WV indeed!! As we continued up 77, through Lewisburg, and up 219, the weather was bi-polar, going from snow flurries, to sunshine, to rain.....changing about every 30 minutes. The temps continued to drop and as we passed through Marlinton, the temperature dropped below the freezing mark. As we started the final ascent to Snowshoe around 330 PM, the rain became all snow and it started to stick to the trees and road. By the time we checked in, parked, and unloaded; the entire ML parking lot was covered in 1/2 " of snow. The wind was gusting hard. The dumb teenagers who refused to listen my advice before leaving, were dying as they attempted to carry their luggage inside while wearing shorts and t-shirts.

After getting our luggage in, we drove over to Ski Barn/SnowCreek Mountain Sports (SCMS) were I has reserved the skis for me and my daughter and the snowboard for her friends. SCMS may be the best rental experience I ever had!! The staff was amazing. They took their time making sure we were all were properly fitted and happy with our rentals. They were super organized and very helpful with all of our questions. They even gave us all discounts for 1st timers. I loved that you can pick up your rentals after 5 PM, ski that evening and all the next day, and as long as you return by 10 AM, the following day, you will be only charged for a 1 day rental! Plus we took advantage of their current BOGO deal. Me and my daughter got new ski helmets. What a deal! I definitively will rent from Ski Barn/SCMS again. Heck with the BOGO deal still going on, I may drive back and finally buy us some boots and skis.

After we got back to ML, we walked to the village. The snow guns were blasting, the wind was howling, and the snow kept falling. I was thrilled!! The village was beautiful with about 2 inches of snow. We got to Cheat Mountain Pizza early, and despite the crowds, only waited 20 minutes for a table. Very good pizza IMO. We made our way back to ML and called it a night as the snow continued to fall.

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful scene. The sun was out and the mountain trees glistened with snow. It was absolutely stunning. It was still cold (mid 20s), but not as windy as I thought it would be. I was determined to make rope drop at Ballhooter. Unfournately with the teens, we missed it, but I was on the slopes by 915 AM. The next parts will be boring for most as I am not a highly skilled skier. I absolutely love skiing but I am no expert and don't ski enough to get good. So I spent most of Saturday morning getting my ski legs back on the greens lapping PowderRidge, and Powder Monkey. At noon when the lift lines staring exceeding 10-15 minutes, I went back to the ML condo for lunch. The afternoon I started took Hootenany to South Mountain doing a few green laps. I then worked my way back towards ballhooter and started to hit a few blues ( J hook, Lower Ballhooter, Spruce, Singletree) that afternoon as my ski legs returned.

My afternoon got cut short as one of the snowboarding teenagers had fallen backwards and hit her head. She was wearing a helmet but she was disoriented from the fall. Ski Patrol was great in responding. They got her on a lift and to the Ski Patrol hut. I was at the bottom of ballhooter and before I made it up there, they had evaluated her and released her to my wife. They revoked her lift ticket and took her board. But it was almost 3 PM at this point, so she only lost an hour at Snowshoe Luckily she was fine and 2 hours later had forgotten it even happened. We had a delicious dinner courtesy of my wife from 4-6 PM, and then me, my daughters, and the uninjured teen went over the Sliver Creek for night skiing. We really liked Silver Creek, but because it dropped below freezing that evening, the conditions quickly got icy. We returned to ML at about 9 PM.

On Sunday I was solo, as the teens only had purchased a 1 day lift ticket. I had a 2 day lift ticket so I really had an opportunity to explore the mountain and work on my skills. The weather was absolutely bluebird, with highs in the mid 40s. I got more comfortable on the blues, and then tackled a few laps on Widowmaker and Sawmill. Feeling more confident I later hit Western Territory around noon and gave my best at Cupp Run. It wasn't pretty and I had quite a few falls, but I conquered it. I went back to ML, grabbed lunch at the condo, and then hit South Mountain again. I rested at Hoots to watch the UNC/NCSU game and had a drink. By 2 PM the crowds and lift lines had gotten much better. I hit Upper Ballhooter (which I found harder than Widowmaker, IMO). I lapped a few greens and blues and called it a day at 4 PM.

While I was skiing that afternoon my wife and teens went swimming at Split Rocks Pool and said it was a good time. That evening we all went to Silver Creek. My wife and the teens all went Cosmic Snowtubing. I did a few laps at Silver Creek, but then my legs said no more, and I cruised over to the snowtubing to watch my family. I grabbed a drink at the Silver Creek sports bars and they tubed till 830. I dropped by rentals off at SCMS, bought some more BOGO stuff, and we went back to ML.

The next morning we packed up. Not thinking to check the weather, we packed up our coats. Big mistake as Monday morning on the mountain was cold, windy, and rainy. We grabbed a big meal at Junction Ale House (which has a excellent breakfast),a then departed on our journey back to NC.

Overall it was a great experience. Was it expensive? Yes.... especially feeding 5 people. Was it crowded everywhere? Yes.... being presidents day weekend it was crowded on the slopes and in the shops. Were the lift lines long? Yes....especially on Ballhooter from 10 AM-3 PM.

Was any of this a surprise? NO!! Was it worth it? YES ABSOLUTELY! I packed my patience and focused on the positives. I actually was expecting way worse in terms of crowds and lift times so it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We all had a great time, even my snow-hating wife and the injured teenager. We are already have talked about going back. I will definitely go back, especially if the SkiSoutheast Summit ever happens again. Thanks to all the advice I got on my pre-trip report. It definitely helped a lot. This website and message board provides so much information that despite it being my 1st time at SS, I felt like an expert. Thanks for reading this novel and my ramblings.

[johnfekete]

THIS is true snowshoe is great but once YOU get to hunter mountain or GORE MOUNTAIN in new york all bets are off. Gore is like 8th or 9th best in state and is 5 times better than snowshoe. THIS FOOL keeps going to pennsyvaniaa, nooooooooo do the extra drive to hunter mountain NY CATSKILLs wayyyyyy better than anything south of it.

[johnfekete]

sorry gore is 8th or 9th in the whole easttttttttttttt, unbelieveable gladessssssss