NNN Basketball Ski Trip: March 6th-9th 2014

Ramblings
1

This was mentioned in the ShoutBox amongst Niner National, NLP and I. And this may have potential.

The plan: Go on a road trip for the Marshall game (Thursday, March 6th) then spend the weekend skiing in West Virginia.

Itinerary: Thursday 3/6 AM: Leave Charlotte via I-77, drive is approx 5 hours
Thursday 3/6 pm: Watch the Niners beat Marshall to close the regular season.
Friday 3/7: Drive east to a TBD Ski Mountain. (Winterplace is the least out of the way, and we could get there in time to night ski Friday night)
Saturday 3/8: Go HAM on the slopes
Sunday 3/9: Drive back to Charlotte, broken and bruised.

If anyone has interest or opinion speak up so we can start planning. This could be a fun weekend.

2

Hmmm… this may have some legs. Depending on our workload here, I may be interested.

3

I would much rather go to Canaan or Snowshoe, but those two also include a killer drive back to Charlotte (5 - 6 hours, longer if the roads are bad). I’m cool with Winterplace though if that is the preferred location.

4

My suggestion of Winterplace was entirely motivated for driving purposes. I’ve never been to Snow Shoe or Canaan, and want to.

5

Snowshoe is a fantastic mountain, and will likely have the best spring skiing because it’s at a higher altitude… but the road up to it isn’t for the faint of heart.

When we went years ago, you couldn’t see five feet past the front of the car through the fog.

6

Winterplace has a run that is 1.25 miles. Found that surprising. That is equal to the longest at Snowshoe.

For comparison purposes, here are the trail maps for the three resorts mentioned so far:

Snowshoe Mountain:

Canaan Valley:

Winterplace:

And just so we’re not ignoring Timberline:

7

Apparently Timberline has the longest trail in the Southeast at 2 miles in length. Nearly double the length of anything else in the Southeast.

8

That’s my birthday!

9

Would anyone like to do another ski trip separate of this?

Looks like round trip plane tickets to Burlington, VT can be had for $185 in January. Killington is the biggest or second biggest ski resort east of the Rockies and it is only an hour and a half away by car.

I did some initial pricing and it looked like a 4 day trip including airfare, lodging, and lift tickets would be about $550. Would anyone be interested in something like this?

10

Will there still be snow in March?

11

[quote=“stonecoldken, post:10, topic:28157”]Will there still be snow in March?[/quote]Depends on the year. Last year I went skiing in WV twice.

I went in January and there was no natural snow on the ground.

I went in Mid-March and there had been almost 2 feet of natural snow in the week leading up and while I was there.

12

Do they have an easy slope for beginners?

13

Anyone have experience on the double blacks at Timberline or Snowshoe?

Those runs aside, I like the terrain map for Canaan.

14

I haven’t done the double blacks at Snowshoe, but they have the biggest verticals in the southeast at 1,500 feet… I’ve done many of the black diamonds at snowshoe though and they’re pretty legit.

Everything at Canaan is pretty easy. Even the black diamonds are do-able for an intermediate skier.

Timberline has the longest run in the southeast at 2 miles. Snowshoe’s longest run is 1.5 miles.

15

In the WV mountains? Oh yeah, there will be snow.

16

[quote=“ZombieLew, post:5, topic:28157”]Snowshoe is a fantastic mountain, and will likely have the best spring skiing because it’s at a higher altitude… but the road up to it isn’t for the faint of heart.

When we went years ago, you couldn’t see five feet past the front of the car through the fog.[/quote]The road up is definitely the worst road I’ve ever driven on. It’s like 20 miles of switchbacks.

17

[quote=“Niner National, post:16, topic:28157”][quote=“ZombieLew, post:5, topic:28157”]Snowshoe is a fantastic mountain, and will likely have the best spring skiing because it’s at a higher altitude… but the road up to it isn’t for the faint of heart.

When we went years ago, you couldn’t see five feet past the front of the car through the fog.[/quote]The road up is definitely the worst road I’ve ever driven on. It’s like 20 miles of switchbacks.[/quote]

You must not drive a European car.

18

[quote=“itsbraille49, post:17, topic:28157”][quote=“Niner National, post:16, topic:28157”][quote=“ZombieLew, post:5, topic:28157”]Snowshoe is a fantastic mountain, and will likely have the best spring skiing because it’s at a higher altitude… but the road up to it isn’t for the faint of heart.

When we went years ago, you couldn’t see five feet past the front of the car through the fog.[/quote]The road up is definitely the worst road I’ve ever driven on. It’s like 20 miles of switchbacks.[/quote]

You must not drive a European car.[/quote]Honda Civic.

I have gone around the mountain in a Subaru WRX before. It was much more exciting in that thing. We were blowing around 15mph turns at like 35 (it was summer though).

During the winter it is a long slow grind to Snowshoe, but once you get there it is worth it. It is easily the most developed ski resort in the Southeast.

I’m hoping for a brutally cold winter in the mountains with above average snow. Skiing on fresh snow is so much better.

19

Alright, so let’s try to plan this thing out:

Snowshoe is 200 miles from Huntington. 4 hours.

Canaan is 221 miles from Huntington. 3.5 hours. Timberline is basically the same distance. They’re only a few miles apart.

Despite being further away, Canaan is about a half mile closer because you don’t have to drive through the mountain roads as far.

Winterplace is a little over 2 hours away from Huntington.

My preference goes in this order:

  1. Go to Snowshoe & ski Friday-Sunday. Leave at 4:30 to drive back to Charlotte.
  2. Go to Canaan and get a 2 day ski pass. Then ski Sunday at Timberline. Leave at 4:30 to drive back to Charlotte.
  3. Go to Winterplace.

Canaan will likely have the cheapest accommodations. I’ve stayed there twice. I think I paid around $125 per night, which isn’t bad split 2 or 4 ways. They also have cabins that can sleep 6-8 I believe. I have never stayed in one of those though.

I would like to start planning this soon because I’ve already started looking into booking rooms for other trips this winter and I’ve noticed that many weeks are already getting booked up.

20

The only real downside to Canaan is that it doesn’t look very beginner-friendly. Lots of blue and black, little green.

That being said, it’s also right on my way back to DC from Huntington. So… it’s pretty much a wash.