ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 11, 1995 TAG: 9512110103
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN/OUTDOOR EDITOR
YOU head north on curvy U.S. 219, cross Elk Mountain and travel up through a West Virginia valley where ``Mail Pouch'' is painted on a rustic barn, and there in the distance is Snowshoe Mountain Resort.
The largest ski area in the region, Snowshoe sits atop lofty Cheat Mountain, which has had a crown of snow since early November. Winter settled in early, even while places such as the Roanoke Valley and New River Valley, three hours to the southeast, remained mere frost pockets.
``It is hard to believe the amount of snow on this mountain right now,'' Joe Stevens, the resort's media director, is telling a caller. ``It is big-time.''
As big as 56 inches of natural snow in November alone (there were 3 inches last year), which is nearly one-third of the average annual 180-inch total.
By the end of the Thanksgiving holiday, Snowshoe was touting a record start, with 11,500 skier visits during a Thursday-through-Sunday period. The old record was 6,700, established in 1981.
``We usually hope for 200 to 300 hours of snow making in November,'' said Danny Seme, Snowshoe's president and general manager. This time, the snow guns topped the 400-hour mark.
The brisk start drew the attention of the Weather Channel.
``When the Weather Channel starts announcing that we have some of the best skiing in North America, people sit up and listen,'' Stevens said.
They have done more than listen. Some skiers who usually head west came to Snowshoe instead. And the Snowshoe regulars came early.
``Four days ago I was sitting on the beach, and now I'm skiing in fresh powder and it's only November,'' said Rusty Carrige, from Hilton Head, S.C.
Snowshoe was quick to open Cupp Run, a premier, top-to-bottom trail that is more than a mile long and, said Tom Gibson, ``can range from one of the most spectacular runs in the mid-Atlantic under ideal conditions to a nightmare when iced over and thronged with out-of-place beginners.'' Gibson, a Roanoker, publishes Ski Tripper, a newsletter for Southeastern skiers.
The exciting start was marred when a Kentucky man apparently lost control on Cupp's 1,500-foot drop, hit a tree and died a short time later.
``It is an unfortunate incident that has happened,'' Stevens said. ``We deal with it and have to go on. That is part of the industry.''
Resorts in Virginia have been slower out of the gate, and the same can be said of Canaan Valley and Winterplace in West Virginia. But most were welcoming skiers by the weekend, and their efforts were boosted by the snow that fell Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Winterplace got 8 inches; and Wintergreen, near Waynesboro, recorded up to 6 inches.
Snowshoe opened its second ski area, Silver Creek, on Friday and promised it would have all 53 trails open for the Christmas holiday period. It was touting 38 trails open, 11 lifts operating and a 36- to 48-inch base.
Resorts can't buy better advertising than snow falling in the marketplace, said Mark Glickman, director of public relations and advertising at Wintergreen.
``It's spectacular up here - 4 to 6 inches of new natural, plus continuous round-the-clock snow making,'' he said on the eve of Friday's opening.
The early arrivals at the resorts often are snowboarders. A half-dozen years ago, many ski areas viewed boarders as acne-face undesirables and kept them off the slopes. No longer.
``The growth part in the ski industry right now is in snowboarding,'' said Dave Zunker, director of ski sales at Winterplace. ``This is not just the young kids, the refugees from skateboarding. These are people who are curious about the sport and are shifting over from skiing or they are skiing and snowboarding. They are all ages.''
Four seasons ago, Wintergreen flaunted a closed-door snowboarding policy.
This season it proudly is touting a new snowboard park, and using terms that include ``staggered razorbacks'' and ``quarter pipes'' to describe it. Wintergreen has quadrupled its supply of snowboard rentals and is offering free lessons with each snowboard rental, a service it offered skiers last season.
The resort solicited help in designing the park from local snowboarders.
``We wanted to make certain we weren't designing it in a vacuum,'' Glickman. said. ``We wanted to get some good advice from people who really know about snowboarding.''
Winterplace also has a new snowboard park, and so does Sugar Mountain in North Carolina. Ski Beech, also in North Carolina, has a new full-service snowboard shop featuring five brands of clothing and more than 100 snowboard rentals.
Sugar Mountain and The Homestead opened snowboard parks last season. Both were successful.
``Snowboarding is in,'' said Sepp Kober, who has observed the skiing scene from The Homestead for 35 years. ``It is big and it is getting bigger.''
Shortly after 2000, snowboarders likely will outnumber skiers, Kober said.
Massanutten was the first resort in the region to begin seriously catering to snowboarders.
Nearly every resort in the Southeast has increased its snow-making capabilities. Massanutten has added tower-mounted airless snowguns and bought a new Bombardier 400+ groomer.
Following a 50 percent increase in its snow-making capabilities last year, Wintergreen is introducing SnowMax, something Glickman calls ``a high-tech snow inducer.''
Southeastern resorts have been perfecting ways to deal with warming trends that can slow the start of the season, or cripple operations with a January thaw. Under certain conditions, SnowMax will permit snow making at 35 degrees, Glickman said.
``This year we will be able to run our snow making at maximum capacity at temperatures almost 10 degrees higher than just two years ago,'' he said.
Winterplace has completed a $1.5 million expansion of its snow-making system, which Terry Pfeiffer, the general manager, says will allow the resort to make snow twice as fast as last year and under varied weather conditions.
Sugar Mountain, near Banner Elk, N.C., has increased its snow making by 33 percent, mostly through a new water pump. It has added two grooming machines, which should mean better reconditioning of snow surfaces.
Beyond snowboarding and snow making, the 1995-96 season is short on major additions to facilities.
Bryce Resort, which is celebrating its 30th year - 29 of them under the leadership of Manfred Locher, the general manager - may have some announcements of planned new features later in the season. In the making is a $500,000 addition to the lodge.
Itrawest, the new Canada-based owner of Snowshoe-Silver Creek, isn't expected to make changes this year, but the company's history of investing heavily in its resorts should mean a new look in the near future.
The Homestead has plans to install a new lift, probably next year. It likely will be the first of a number of improvements by its new owner, Club Resorts.
Winterplace has expanded its resort center by 15,000 square feet and doubled the size of its group-rental shop, filling some of that space with 1,200 new pairs of Rossignol skis and 300 new pairs of Elan skis.
On the mountain, Winterplace has replaced a surface lift with a new double chairlift and added a beginner's run, called Over Easy.
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Stephanie Klein-Davis. (no caption) color. 2. File.by CNBSkiers at Sugar Mountain in North Carolina should find better
surface conditions thanks to new grooming equipment. 3. File. The
slopes and lifts usually fill up on weekends, therefore many resorts
emphasize special mid-week packages and rates for skiers.