Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 24, 1991 TAG: 9103250275
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID BARUDIN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Across the country, West Virginia is one of the few states that did well during a season when preliminary figures point to a 10 percent drop in skier traffic in New England and a 5 percent drop in Colorado.
Winter started off milder and dryer than normal in West Virginia, but temperatures dropped after New Years. Then, as the snows started in mid-January, skiers began showing up in record numbers.
More than 31,000 people skied Snowshoe during the first week of January, the most ever in a single week at the Pocahontas County resort. Every week from mid-January on was up in skier visits over previous years. Snowshoe is one of two major Eastern resorts with an increase in skiers over last season.
"March is holding its own," said Dan Seme, Snowshoe general manager. Seme expects to ski 295,000 people before closing on Easter Sunday. That would be Snowshoe's second best season in history.
I skied Snowshoe last Sunday, where 33 slopes were well groomed, like race tracks. By Saturday, 29 slopes remained open and the resort was reporting a 41-inch base. There should be exceptional spring conditions on Easter weekend, barring unfavorable weather.
The top-notch late season was aided by two solid weeks of snow-making at the end of February and early March, plus 2 feet of natural snow this month.
"We'll close with 27 slopes and 30 inches or more of base," said Seme. "Unfortunately, when Virginia resorts close early, skiers get the perception that there's no more snow anywhere."
To make his point, Seme plans to keep Cupp Run open a week beyond Easter, "just to show skiers we can ski in April."
Silver Creek, which shares Cheat Mountain with Snowshoe, needs less than 1,600 skiers to post its best ever year. It plans to close today with 13 of 14 slopes covered with more than 20 inches of snow.
"We have a shot at a record 55,000 skiers," said Ron Crozier, ski area manager at Silver Creek. The resort's 250-room lodge was 90 percent full last weekend, and reservations were strong for this weekend, he said.
Other West Virginia areas operating through Easter are Canaan Valley Resort Park and Timberline Resort, both near Davis. The resort park has adequate snow coverage on its two main slopes. Spring conditions are better at Timberline, where the trails are less exposed to the afternoon sun than at Canaan Valley.
Virginia's ski areas had a disappointing year, because mild weather restricted snow-making.
"It's painfully obvious that the last two winters have been the warmest in 20 years," said Steve Showalter, ski area manger at Massanutten Resort near Harrisonburg. Skiers there numbered 50,000, about half the anticipated number. "We won't know how to act if it gets cold in the winter and stays cold," Showalter said.
"Last year it just got warm and stayed warm," said Mark Glickman, marketing director at Wintergreen Resort, in Nelson County. "This year we'd have a great week followed by a 70-degree week. It was impossible to get any momentum."
About 98,000 skiers came to Wintergreen, roughly the same as last year, but well below the 160,000 average.
The Persian Gulf War also had negative effects on the state's ski business, Glickman said.
"We used to get tons of buses [from the Hampton Roads area]. But it's like a ghost town. The war deleted one of our major markets."
Despite the back-to-back off years, Virginia's ski operators are trying to think positively about next winter.
"I think there's still a lot of enthusiasm; all we need is to prepare and have some cold weather," said Sepp Kober, ski director at The Homestead in Hot Springs.
"The last three seasons have been below average," said Manfred Locher, general manger at Bryce Resort in Bayse. "But we go into each new ski season with great hope and optimism, or you shouldn't be in this business."
AUTHOR NOTE: David Barudin is a Roanoker who frequently writes about skiing for this newspaper.
by CNB