Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 3, 1991                   TAG: 9102040304
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PARADICE AT MASSANUTTEN

Early snows last season teased skiers, then went into premature hibernation, leaving behind a disgustingly warm January and February.

And this year, snow seems to be taking a vacation.

Even a recent attempt to blow manmade snow on a downtown Roanoke street and park for a winter festival was thwarted by warmth.

So when something positive happens in the provincial world of Virginia skiing, it's time to celebrate.

Something positive happened last weekend with the opening of a new 4,100-foot intermediate run called ParaDice at Massanutten outside Harrisonburg.

"This is something people have been waiting for almost since the inception of Massanutten back in 1972," said resort spokesman Paul Volkman.

A new run may not sound like much. But consider that ParaDice now ranks among the longest runs in Virginia. And since it boosts the resort's vertical drop from less than 800 to more than 1,100 feet, it may help this much-overlooked - and once bankrupt - resort compete with others in Virginia, such as Wintergreen.

Also, coinciding with the first day of skiing on ParaDice was the opening of the resort's new quad chairlift.

A new chairlift also may not sound like big news. But Massanutten tripled its lift capacity with this one, which will help decrease crowds and long waits by keeping all lift lines moving.

Last Sunday, the first day for ParaDice and the new chairlift - which sneaks through a small valley that protects skiers from the wind - the wait in lift lines was never more than a minute or two.

Ken Baker, a skier from Richmond, said he waited an average of 15 minutes in lift lines Saturday before the new lift opened.

"This makes a big difference," he said.

But the skiing was the real difference.

"It's a great trail. It's really quite an improvement," said Rob Weber of Fairfax. "It'll probably take a lot of the heat off the other trails . . . You can't beat this for two hours from [Washington] D.C."

ParaDice is actually one of two new trails built last year as part of a $2.1 million expansion at the resort. The other, Diamond Jim, is a shorter but steeper expert trail. Warm weather may prevent it from opening until next year.

Both actually were scheduled to open last year, but cold weather in December slowed construction and warm weather after that prevented snowmaking.

The two trails together have doubled the resort's amount of skiable terrain. Both start at Massanutten's 2,923-foot peak and offer an expansive view of the Shenandoah Valley.

"This is Southern skiing. So, for Virginia, this is great," Baker said after skiing ParaDice a few times.

"I think this will attract more skiers," said Tom Mayer, an auto technology teacher at nearby Blue Ridge College. He is a part-time ski instructor.

"It's a nice long trail. You can really get a nice rhythm going and get into a nice skiing pattern," he said.

ParaDice's first patrons at 9:30 a.m. Sunday were two ski patrols, who whooped and hooted while checking to make sure it was safe. Right behind them came three snowboarders, who said it was "awesome."

A short bottleneck at the top opens into a wide and winding trail with a few challenging dropoffs and no intersections with other trails, except at the bottom.

The thrill of a new trail was compromised, though, by poor conditions.

Massanutten rushed to get the trail open for Sunday, converting 15 million gallons of water into manmade snow for 144 straight hours, Volkman said.

In the morning, skiing was hampered by baseball-size chunks of the fake snow. Chunks were broken up by the afternoon, but in many areas were replaced with bare spots and ice. One snowboarder complained that an uncovered rock gouged the bottom of his board.

By mid-afternoon, ski patrols had to block off bare spots with warning gates.

Volkman expects it may take time for word to spread about ParaDice and Diamond Jim, but in time they will become "southern favorites."

AUTHOR NOTE: Neal Thompson is the education writer for this newspaper and an avid skier