ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 9, 1996 TAG: 9612100079
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOORS EDITOR
THE snow that appeared quick and slick last week was a jump-start for the 1996-97 skiing and snowboarding season, but, in reality, enthusiasm already was spilling over from last year's amazing season.
``Record'' is the word that best describes last season: Record snowfall, record number of skiers and snowboarders, record number of skiing days, record revenues. When the season finally ended April 14 at Snowshoe Mountain Resort the tally for the West Virginia facility was 285 inches of natural snowfall and 410,000 skier visits to take advantage of it. Wintergreen, near Waynesboro and well out of the snow belt, received 6 feet of natural snow and another 10 feet came roaring out of its snow guns.
Even the heat of August can't make skiers forget that kind of season. Many are coming to the slopes this year with new equipment, new clothing and new vigor.
Here's what they will find:
* More trails.
* More lifts.
* Improved snowmaking.
* Shaped skis for clean carving of curves, and lessons on how to use them.
* More emphasis on youth programs.
* Web sites that make it easier to get information from resorts even when phone lines are clogged.
* Emphasis on additional snow sports: tubing at Ski Beech and snowshoes at Canaan.
* Still more emphasis on snowboarding.
``Coming off a good ski season always gives us a jolt going into the next year,'' said Mark Glickman, director of public relations and advertising at Wintergreen Resort. ``The business on the books for December and January already is well ahead of last year.''
``We can tell whenever we have had a good weather season, because it is the next year that you see the boost,'' said Steve Drumheller, of Canaan Valley Resort. ``And conversely, if the weather has been bad one year, the next year it is like pulling teeth to get people to make early plans.''
This season, plans are being made early.
``We are way ahead of last year,'' said June Brinkman of Massanutten. ``We have been booked [accommodations] for Christmas since last Christmas. Groups are at least double what they were this time last year. We already have closed two dates out to groups sales.''
``It also shows up in merchandising at ski shops,'' said Sepp Kober, who is starting his 36th year as director of the Homestead ski area.
Silver-headed Kober - ask him his age and he will say, ``I won't tell you, but I'm still skiing'' - has been around long enough to use the disclaimer ``weather permitting'' when he looks to the promise of a new year.
And while Joe Stephens of Snowshoe agrees that last year's great season will cause the turnstiles to spin faster this season, you really can't compare a new season to an old one. ``That's apples versus oranges,'' he said.
``Last year, we got enormous amounts of snow,'' he said. ``Last year at this time we had 26 trails open. This year we have 19. Two years ago we had seven.''
Snowshoe has received more than 3 feet of natural snow this season, including 7 inches out of Thursday's storm. Last year at this time the count was 50 inches, and it kept on piling up.
Maybe too much, said Massanutten's Brinkman. Massanutten had a record 175,000 skiers and snowboarders, but it could have been more had snowstorms not kept people from reaching the resort, she said.
``There were times when we had to close night skiing because the police said they didn't want people on the road,'' said Brinkman. ``It actually hurt us a little bit. I bet we could have done an extra 5,000 if we hadn't had all that weather. So I say, `Think cold,' so we can make snow, not `think snow,' and have to push it off the roads.''
Sugar Mountain Resort got out of the gates first this season, opening Nov. 10, one of the earliest opening dates ever. Snowshoe followed five days later. By last weekend, nearly every resort in the Mid-Atlantic region was operating, with the exception of The Homestead, Wintergreen and Timberline. The Homestead hopes to be open by Dec. 18 when it has a group booked. Wintergreen and Timberline have announced plans to open Friday.
Wintergreen received 7 inches of snow Thursday. ``It looks like a winter wonderland up here,'' Glickman said.
Timberline's later opening was planned, said Ronda Thurman, who is the resort's public relations director.
``It is a financial decision,'' she said. ``We want to open with a lot of terrain. When we open the door, we are going to have practically the whole mountain for skiing.''
Timberline had a major expansion of its facilities two years ago, and the new terrain has been ``hugely successful,'' said Thurman.
This year's biggest expansion award goes to Winterplace, where four new trails, two quad chairlifts and a 10,000-square foot midmountain facility have been added.
``I believe we have more expansion than all other ski areas in the region combined,'' said Terry Pfeiffer, the president. ``This is our biggest expansion since Winterplace was opened in 1983. It is almost like putting in a whole other ski area.''
The new trails are for beginners and intermediates, and the lifts are designed to give skiers and snowboarders more time coming down the slopes and less getting up, Pfeiffer said.
The midmountain facility, called the Mountainhouse, is ski-in, not drive-in, and offers food and spectacular views, Pfeiffer said.
One of the biggest buzzes at resorts this season is super-sidecut skis, also known as shaped, hourglass or parabolic skis. Glickman believes the improved performance they offer will be embraced by the Baby Boomer crowd, and perhaps add spark to waning enthusiasm. Wintergreen and Snowshoe will offer super-sidecut rentals and lessons. When you rent them at Wintergreen, you receive a free 11/2-hour lesson.
Resorts have added web sites and e-mail, and they are receiving expanding use.
``We are up 200 percent in use,'' said Snowshoe's Stevens. Surveys show that 60 percent of the skiers have access to the Internet. They may not have access personally, but at work. We see a lot of inquiries from 2 to 4 p.m.''
``If they can get our snow report that way rather than calling us, it is a good thing for us,'' said Massanutten's Brinkman.
There are occasions when resorts must field some odd questions, said Stevens. His favorites:
``Where does the white go when the snow melts?''
``At what altitude do the deer turn into elk?''
``Where do you store the snow in the summertime?''
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Stephanie Klein-Davis.i 1. (no caption). color. 2.by CNBSnowshoe is blowing man-made snow onto the 3 feet of natural snow it
has received. Graphic: Chart: On-Snow participants. color.