Charleston, WV – West Virginia’s ski areas, after enduring perfect winter conditions, are relishing in perfect spring skiing conditions. The mountains of West Virginia have received over 12 feet of natural snow this season and temperatures have been perfect for snowmaking operations.
The official first day of spring is only a few days away and West Virginia Ski Resorts, which include Canaan Valley and Timberline in Tucker County, Snowshoe in Pocahontas County, Winterplace in Raleigh County and Oglebay in Ohio County continue to provide the most open terrain of any state in the southeast or mid-Atlantic regions. The reason is the snowmaking capabilities at West Virginia Ski Resorts. This winter’s cold weather has allowed the resorts’ snowmakers to make snow around the clock this season thereby providing excellent snow conditions.
The resort’s snowmakers use the cold temperatures to create manmade blizzards, producing 20,000 tons of snow per hour when the temperature drops into the teens (when combining all five resort’s snowmaking efforts at once), that’s enough snow to cover a football field with twenty feet of snow each hour. Due to that, the ski slopes continue to be covered in the mountains of West Virginia.
The mountain state’s resorts have experienced an up tick in visitation this season, as skiers and snowboarders in the Southeast’s metro areas have seen snow all winter, keeping their minds on winter sports. Skiers and snowboarders have come to rely on West Virginia ski resorts to provide excellent conditions when weather conditions permit and this spring skiing season is going to be no exception. There is still a few more weeks of skiing, riding and tubing left and the conditions are fantastic in the mountains of West Virginia.
The ski and snowboard season is expected to last through the first week of April. The five-month long ski season in West Virginia has an estimated economic impact of over $250 million and 5000 jobs at the resorts. For more information on skiing and snowboarding in West Virginia go on-line at goskiwv.com.