Mother Nature smiled on West Virginia’s Snowshoe Mountain Resort last Wednesday and Thursday, dropping six inches of natural snow on Snowshoe’s slopes. But an artificial blizzard was already underway at Snowshoe, as snowguns worked around the clock into Saturday. The successful snowmaking has allowed Snowshoe to expand open terrain to 18 slopes and trails, with a 16-34 inch base. The snowguns are now awaiting an arctic air mass that will arrive in midweek, keeping high temperatures at Snowshoe in the mid-20’s.

The arrival of favorable snowmaking temperatures will allow Snowshoe to open even more trails, as well as the Ruckus Ridge Tubing Hill at Silver Creek. By Thursday, Snowshoe plans to attack the Cupp Run expert trail. At least four days of snowmaking will be required to open the 1.5-mile long trail. Once Cupp Run opens, skiers and snowboarders will be able to try out a newly-installed high-speed quad.