Pizza, anyone? The Cheat Mountain Pizza Company is one of two full-service restaurants offered in the new Highland House lodge. Photo provided by Snowshoe Mountain Resort.

Since purchasing Snowshoe Mountain Resort, Intrawest Corporation hasn’t wasted a moment transforming the West Virginia ski area into a world-class resort. An additional $10 million has been spent in enhancements this summer; over the past three years, a total of $72 million has been spent on capital expansion.

This winter, skiers and boarders will find many improvements at the resort. Most visible is the completion of the Highland House, a slopeside lodge that adds 78 ski-in, ski-out mountaintop units and 13,000 square feet of retail space. Located within the Highland House, The Junction and the Cheat Mountain Pizza Company will offer full-service dining to hungry visitors. The Pocahontas County Supply Company will also open, featuring clothing and outdoor equipment. At the Silver Creek area, the Black Run Sugar House will offer on-slope food and maple syrup produced from the resort’s own maple trees, the southern most produced syrup in North America.

The Ballhooter express quad will receive a 20% increase in capacity through the addition of more chairs, and two new Bombardier machines are being added to the grooming fleet. Beginner skiers will get a brand new trail, Yew Pines, located in the expanded Northern Tract. Instructors will use the 300-foot vertical, gently sloping Yew Pines trail to introduce skiers and boarders to the sport. Skidway, Log Slide, and Dinky will also be lengthened and widened. At the Silver Creek area, over two acres of gladed terrain will be added near the expert terrain, bringing Snowshoe’s skiable acres to over 220. Snowmaking capacity has been increased all around, allowing Snowshoe to blanket the equivalent of four football fields with a foot of snow in one hour under ideal weather conditions.

$450,000 in new equipment will be added to the rental fleet, including 1,800 new pairs of skis and 350 snowboarders. A new Rental Shop will be located atop the Brigham Check-In, next to Rimfire Lodge and adjacent to Skidder Slope.

Booking a vacation at Snowshoe will be easier than ever this year, with an on-line, automated reservation system. Snowshoe is also adding a toll-free number, (877) 441-4FUN, for those who would rather make a reservation the old fashioned way.

Weather permitting, Snowshoe plans to open for the winter season on November 17. Last season, Snowshoe received 464,000 skier visits, placing it in the top five percent of all North American winter resorts in skier visits.