Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 10, 1994 TAG: 9412130006
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BECKY HEPLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MOUNTAIN LAKE LENGTH: Medium
The weather gives and the weather takes away.
The same factor that makes Mountain Lake Hotel a pleasant place to be in the sweltering summer months is the reason it must cease its year-round operation. The hotel will close to the public after brunch Sunday and will not reopen until the first weekend of May 1995.
Hotel manager H.M. "Buzz" Scanland cited last year's ice storms as the crowning blow in what could only be called a dismal history of winter operation.
"Winter traffic is not that heavy to begin with and then to lose those bookings because of bad weather makes an impossible situation," he said. "It's very hard to go back to those people whose conferences or parties were canceled during the winter and ask them to book with us again."
The unpredictability of the weather makes it hard for the staff to plan a more efficient operation. The hotel has seen snow as early as October and as late as April. The altitude also complicates the picture. "It's like the world changes there at the Horton Center [two miles from the hotel]. It may only be raining everywhere else, but we'll be getting snow and ice," Scanland said. The curvy, mountainous road to the hotel has deterred not only guests but staff as well, united by their common winter driving horror stories.
Tammy Long, executive director of the Giles County Chamber of Commerce, lamented the closing of the hotel. "It's so unfortunate," she said this week. "The hotel draws a lot of people into the county. They come for a conference in the winter and return as tourists later." Long also expressed concern for the people who will be laid off by the closing.
While hotel employment has always had seasonal fluctuations, from a summertime high of 150 full- or part-time employees to 40-50 people in the winter, the closing creates an even more drastic impact. Only five to 10 positions remain for the winter schedule, mostly maintenance/security people and sales staff.
The Virginia Employment Commission is readying for the closing. Jack Beason, job services manager, said his office will supply mail-in applications for services to the hotel employees to save them the trip to Radford. The office has a computerized jobs listing that covers the national as well as regional employment situation.
"We're hoping to give the employees all the information they need to help them find work," Beason said. He noted, however, that the seasonal nature of hotel jobs means that people may have leave the area or leave the field. "This situation is hard, because if one part of the industry is slowing down, the others in the area most likely are as well."
Scanland expressed regret about the impact of the hotel's closing on the local employment picture, but believed the changes were necessary and would benefit the hotel's operation.
"We'll have around-the-clock security and a maintenance team to attend to repairs and renovations," Scanland said. "We'll also use the time to more effectively sell our services. Once we can concentrate on that, we'll run a better occupancy rate during the time we are open."
Access still will be available to the popular hiking spots near the hotel, however alternate routes, possibly starting near UVa's biological station, will be necessary.
While the demands of the bottom line are urgent, they are no solace to tradition-enamored romantics. Lisa Reagan and her husband live in the Hampton Roads area, but have visited Mountain Lake every year since 1988, usually in the summer or fall.
She was excited about starting a Christmas custom of spending the holidays on top of the mountain. "Everyone we've met there has this same kind of attachment to the place, a feeling that this is a special place that belongs just to us," she said. "I couldn't imagine a more beautiful place to be on Christmas." The call to cancel their reservations was a crushing disappointment.
With its eternal-looking stone buildings and old-fashioned cabins, the resort does evoke a sense of tradition and it is based on fact. Scanland said there has been a hotel on the site since 1857. Nevertheless, its wintertime operation is a new addition, starting in 1986, after major renovations to the main hotel and the building of Chestnut Lodge conference center. Now Mother Nature is restoring the older tradition.
by CNB