Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 30, 1995 TAG: 9501310033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Binding them together is a single, two-day lift ticket called "Ski the Valley."
Selling for $60 on weekends and $48 in midweek, the ticket permits guests to ski at Canaan Valley Resort State Park and Timberline Four Seasons, which are located about five miles apart near Davis, W.Va.
The new package opens 68 slopes to skiers, making it the largest skiing experience available in the Southeast, said Herb Faulkenberry, Canaan's marketing director.
"It has been pretty popular. We definitely have sold some tickets," said Rhonda Turman, marketing director at Timberline.
"The person most likely to buy it is the person who has never been to this area and they want to ski both places," she said.
Merging mountains has been a growing trend in New England and out West, as resorts attempt to give skiers more opportunities for fewer dollars. But this one is a bit different from most, Turman said.
"Most places that have interchangeable tickets, both mountains are owned by a single company," she said. "We are totally separate organizations."
The $60 weekend Ski the Valley ticket is a $6 savings over buying back-to-back, single-day tickets at the two resorts. But Faulkenberry and Turman stress factors such as flexibility, convenience and variety over savings.
"The advantage of it, you have one ticket purchase and you get a two-day ticket that is good at both areas," Turman said. "You can go back and forth and sample both resorts at a beneficial price. Customers have been asking for it for a long time"
Snowshoe-Silver Creek came together in Pocahontas County, W.Va., in 1992, when Snowshoe purchased neighboring Silver Creek. The result was 53 slopes in one area.
Other ski resorts in the Southeast near enough to one another to merge operations are Ski Beech and Sugar Mountain in North Carolina.
"There has been talk for a long time, but I don't foresee it happening anytime soon," said Andrew Corpening, of Sugar Mountain in Banner Elk, N.C.
The two resorts are about one-half mile apart, and skiers often come to ski Sugar one day and Beech the next.
A change last year in the ownership of the ski concession at Canaan Valley, which is a state park, helped pave the way to the shared ticket with Timberline. A shuttle service has been established between the two resorts. It runs every half-hour on weekends.
The sharing has a few drawbacks.
"There are some administrative difficulties when you take two resorts that are separate businesses and start mixing funds," said Turman. "We can't accept any kind of discounts or promotions or coupons on the Ski the Valley ticket. People sometimes don't understand that.
"We can't replace a Ski the Valley ticket ever for any reason. If it is lost, if it is stolen, if anything happens to it, it can not be replaced. You have to keep the accounting 100 percent clean. We will have to see how customers respond to that."
If you are happy to ski just one of the areas, a multiday ticket at either Canaan or Timberline is a better buy than the Ski the Valley ticket.
by CNB