TNtoTaos
Angel Diva
My ski buddy, Rita, and I decided to take a SE Ski trip, and meet up with @marzNC and her friends along the way. We had purchased Indy Passes, so we wanted to hit as many Indy Pass sites as we could along the way. Our plans actually changed several times due to the crazy shifts in the weather last week, but it turned out great.
We started out from TN on Tues, 1/26, and were originally headed for Cataloochie in NC, but the weather report indicated very warm and wet conditions, so we decided to head to Massanutten, VA, instead, for two nights at the Massanutten Hotel.
Day 1 of skiing, Wed, was pretty sketchy; d/t the warm weather, Mnut hadn't been able to make snow for several days, and the slopes were now icy and ungroomed, so skiing was rough until it warmed up and the snow softened. That night, however, the cold returned, and they started blowing snow all night, and all the following day. What a difference! The man-made snow was of excellent quality, and by morning they had a good 2-3" on the ground, had groomed nicely, and were in the process of covering MakAttack, which had been bare grass the day before. ParaDice and Diamond Jim, the two black trails, were open, and skiing was very good.
We were originally planning to ski a half-day at Mnut on Thurs, and head to Bryce for an afternoon session, but the skiing was so good at Mnut that day that we decided to stay there until late afternoon, when we headed out to our next stops: Canaan Valley and Timberline.
We had planned to stay at the Canaan Valley Lodge for 2 nights, but with the prediction of snow for the weekend, they were sold out for Fri night, as were most other area hotels, so we ended-up at the Alpine Lodge and Sawmill Restaurant in Davis for 2 nights. This is an old, 50's era motel that was a Best Western in its heyday, but is now privately-owned. The best part of the stay was the discovery of a great take-out only Italian restaurant, Sirianni's Cafe, that served huge portions of excellent Italian food, and the pizza boxes were flying out the door while we waited (outside) for our food, so they must have been excellent as well.
That night, the temps continued to drop and the wind howled, so by AM it was 15° out, with high winds predicted. We decided to hit Canaan Valley instead of Timberline that day, since it's on the Indy Pass, and T'line isn't. We figured if we had to bail d/t the cold we'd rather bail from the smaller resort, and one on the pass.
CV, which is part of the WV State Park system, has 47 trails, but only 20 were open, and most of those were greens, so there were only a limited number of trails to ski. Also, all of their blue and black trails are served by 2 lifts, only one of which was open. The biggest issue we had there was the lack of trail signs and large maps; it was very difficult to figure out which trail was which, and we actually ended-up skiing down a (thankfully) short, but steep and curving black trail that was sheer ice with lots of chunks -- it was pretty scary. I wondered how many others ended up doing the same. This was the most poorly-marked ski area I've ever been to.
They did have some nice trails, though; one long green groomer ran from the top all the way down, and was very nicely graduated, so it was a great trail for beginners. The 3 blues we skied were fairly short, but fun. And the bonus was that the wind died down as we arrived, so the day, although cold, was not windy.
They also have a locker area that has paid (coin-operated, $1/day) lockers, and benches to boot-up, connected to their rental shop, as well as a large, very high-ceilinged cafeteria that had tables set about 10' apart for social distancing. All food was grab-and-go, no buffets, etc.
Day 4, Saturday, was our Timberline Mountain day, our only stop not on the Indy Pass. They have an RFID system, and tix were $55 for Seniors (
), and $80 for adults - there didn't seem to be any discount for midweek vs WE days. The day was cold, but sunny, and no wind. We had some car trouble that AM, so didn't get there until about 10 AM, and the place was packed. I'm sure an earlier arrival wouldn't have made a difference - the lift lines were horrendous. Although they've now put in a brand-new, detachable 6-pack, it's the only lift serving the blue and black runs, and with Covid restrictions it was often carrying only 2-3 riders/chair. They had 4 lines feeding that chair, each of which stretched about 300-400' before merging to get thru the RFID gates. We literally waited between 20 and 40 minutes for each run. (I figured we paid about $7-8/run). If we hadn't paid cash for the day we probably would have left, bjt the skiing was nice, once we a actually got onto the slopes.
Timberline, like CV, had a really long (1.25 mi), nice green groomer (Salamander) from the top, a long blue groomer (Twister), and then two more blues and a very nice black (White Lightening), as well as another black and two double-blacks from the top. I just wish we had been able to ski more, without the lift lines. In retrospect, it was a poor decision to got to CV on Thurs and Timberline Friday, esp with the snow that was predicted for Sunday. Lesson learned. One positive note was that the mgmt was trying very hard to keep us safe: PA announcements were made every so often about keeping masks up while on the lift line, and they actually had Staff patrolling up and down the line reminding people, and even handing out paper masks. I'd say about 1/10 were being non-compliant (and some very obnoxious about it).
Well, we left Timberline and headed back to Mnut on Sat PM, where we met up with @marzNC and her friends. It started snowing that night, and by morning there was a good 4-5" on the ground, with more coming down. It was a nice, fluffy snow, too, so the skiing was awesome! All the slopes were open, including MakAttack, which had been bare ground just a couple of days before. While there were a good number of skiers (they were sold out), it definitely wasn't crowded, and we never waited more than a minute or two in lines. It was definitely one of the best ski days I've had in ages in the East. We skied our brains out that day; I had to quit around 5 - my lower back and SI joints were crying -- and headed back to the condo.
The next day, Mon, we had been planning to leave early, but the snow was still so beautiful that we all decided to ski a few more hours, until around 11:30. We used the bonus 3rd day (25% off) on our Indy Passes, and was pleased to hear that even though they were sold out, they said we were guaranteed a ticket d/t the Indy Pass, even for the bonus day.
Well, the snow was now beautifully groomed and packed, so the skiing was again excellent. We were sad when we finally had to call it a day to get on the road and head home.
We started out from TN on Tues, 1/26, and were originally headed for Cataloochie in NC, but the weather report indicated very warm and wet conditions, so we decided to head to Massanutten, VA, instead, for two nights at the Massanutten Hotel.
Day 1 of skiing, Wed, was pretty sketchy; d/t the warm weather, Mnut hadn't been able to make snow for several days, and the slopes were now icy and ungroomed, so skiing was rough until it warmed up and the snow softened. That night, however, the cold returned, and they started blowing snow all night, and all the following day. What a difference! The man-made snow was of excellent quality, and by morning they had a good 2-3" on the ground, had groomed nicely, and were in the process of covering MakAttack, which had been bare grass the day before. ParaDice and Diamond Jim, the two black trails, were open, and skiing was very good.
We were originally planning to ski a half-day at Mnut on Thurs, and head to Bryce for an afternoon session, but the skiing was so good at Mnut that day that we decided to stay there until late afternoon, when we headed out to our next stops: Canaan Valley and Timberline.
We had planned to stay at the Canaan Valley Lodge for 2 nights, but with the prediction of snow for the weekend, they were sold out for Fri night, as were most other area hotels, so we ended-up at the Alpine Lodge and Sawmill Restaurant in Davis for 2 nights. This is an old, 50's era motel that was a Best Western in its heyday, but is now privately-owned. The best part of the stay was the discovery of a great take-out only Italian restaurant, Sirianni's Cafe, that served huge portions of excellent Italian food, and the pizza boxes were flying out the door while we waited (outside) for our food, so they must have been excellent as well.
That night, the temps continued to drop and the wind howled, so by AM it was 15° out, with high winds predicted. We decided to hit Canaan Valley instead of Timberline that day, since it's on the Indy Pass, and T'line isn't. We figured if we had to bail d/t the cold we'd rather bail from the smaller resort, and one on the pass.
CV, which is part of the WV State Park system, has 47 trails, but only 20 were open, and most of those were greens, so there were only a limited number of trails to ski. Also, all of their blue and black trails are served by 2 lifts, only one of which was open. The biggest issue we had there was the lack of trail signs and large maps; it was very difficult to figure out which trail was which, and we actually ended-up skiing down a (thankfully) short, but steep and curving black trail that was sheer ice with lots of chunks -- it was pretty scary. I wondered how many others ended up doing the same. This was the most poorly-marked ski area I've ever been to.
They did have some nice trails, though; one long green groomer ran from the top all the way down, and was very nicely graduated, so it was a great trail for beginners. The 3 blues we skied were fairly short, but fun. And the bonus was that the wind died down as we arrived, so the day, although cold, was not windy.
They also have a locker area that has paid (coin-operated, $1/day) lockers, and benches to boot-up, connected to their rental shop, as well as a large, very high-ceilinged cafeteria that had tables set about 10' apart for social distancing. All food was grab-and-go, no buffets, etc.
Day 4, Saturday, was our Timberline Mountain day, our only stop not on the Indy Pass. They have an RFID system, and tix were $55 for Seniors (
), and $80 for adults - there didn't seem to be any discount for midweek vs WE days. The day was cold, but sunny, and no wind. We had some car trouble that AM, so didn't get there until about 10 AM, and the place was packed. I'm sure an earlier arrival wouldn't have made a difference - the lift lines were horrendous. Although they've now put in a brand-new, detachable 6-pack, it's the only lift serving the blue and black runs, and with Covid restrictions it was often carrying only 2-3 riders/chair. They had 4 lines feeding that chair, each of which stretched about 300-400' before merging to get thru the RFID gates. We literally waited between 20 and 40 minutes for each run. (I figured we paid about $7-8/run). If we hadn't paid cash for the day we probably would have left, bjt the skiing was nice, once we a actually got onto the slopes.Timberline, like CV, had a really long (1.25 mi), nice green groomer (Salamander) from the top, a long blue groomer (Twister), and then two more blues and a very nice black (White Lightening), as well as another black and two double-blacks from the top. I just wish we had been able to ski more, without the lift lines. In retrospect, it was a poor decision to got to CV on Thurs and Timberline Friday, esp with the snow that was predicted for Sunday. Lesson learned. One positive note was that the mgmt was trying very hard to keep us safe: PA announcements were made every so often about keeping masks up while on the lift line, and they actually had Staff patrolling up and down the line reminding people, and even handing out paper masks. I'd say about 1/10 were being non-compliant (and some very obnoxious about it).
Well, we left Timberline and headed back to Mnut on Sat PM, where we met up with @marzNC and her friends. It started snowing that night, and by morning there was a good 4-5" on the ground, with more coming down. It was a nice, fluffy snow, too, so the skiing was awesome! All the slopes were open, including MakAttack, which had been bare ground just a couple of days before. While there were a good number of skiers (they were sold out), it definitely wasn't crowded, and we never waited more than a minute or two in lines. It was definitely one of the best ski days I've had in ages in the East. We skied our brains out that day; I had to quit around 5 - my lower back and SI joints were crying -- and headed back to the condo.
The next day, Mon, we had been planning to leave early, but the snow was still so beautiful that we all decided to ski a few more hours, until around 11:30. We used the bonus 3rd day (25% off) on our Indy Passes, and was pleased to hear that even though they were sold out, they said we were guaranteed a ticket d/t the Indy Pass, even for the bonus day.
Well, the snow was now beautifully groomed and packed, so the skiing was again excellent. We were sad when we finally had to call it a day to get on the road and head home.
