Christmas Day at West Virginia’s Timberline Resort. Photo provided by John Sherwood.

Despite poor health (colds) and projected bad weather, my wife and I decided to head up to Timberline on the 24th. Ski a cold and starve a fever! Isn’t that what the doctor used to say? By the time we reached Keyser, WV, the car thermometer read 59 degrees - hardly encouraging for a ski trip, but the sun was shining and the drive was a breeze, so no one complained.

I woke up on the 25th to a steady drizzle and temperature readings in the low 40s. “What a fabulous Christmas gift,” I mused. Since Timberline did not open until 12 noon, I spent the morning bird watching at the National Wildlife Refuge. Cold rain, however, meant no birds. I did notice that the beaver which lives in the pond on Freeland Road had cut down some apple trees. He must be hungry because beavers generally prefer Aspens.

I got a nice cold, WV shower as I rode up Thunderdraft for my first two runs. My first run was on the new mile-long Twister trail. Rainy goggles prevented me from seeing much of the trail on that descent, but subsequent runs gave me a decent impression of the new trail. In general, I like it. The top two twists are fairly steep for an intermediate run but then it settles down a bit into a nice, gentle cruiser with a pitch just slightly steeper than Sally. It will spread people out more on the mountain and prevent congestion on the blue squares. Also, the sunshine on the new trail is wonderful. With its western exposure, this will be my favorite trail on cold days, not to mention sunsets.

Timberline had more terrain open this Christmas than any Christmas in past memory (going back to 2001). I skied it all, but my favorite was Thunderstruck. Both upper and lower were open, giving the trail a BIG feel. The weather stayed cool enough to prevent the machine groomed snow from getting too sticky, and what is more, the sun finally came out after my third run. Nothing like sun and soft snow to turn a marginal day into one for the memory banks!

Blue sky finally breaks through on Christmas Day. Photo provided by John Sherwood.

My wife’s fever reappeared after her 8th run so I bid her adieu and skied the rest of the day solo. I had been itching to ride the whale of Off The Wall all day but I did not want to push my wife to ski double blacks.

“Call me Ishmael,” to quote the famous line from Moby Dick. The whales were still there and soft snow made them fairly benign. The right side of the trail is the easiest way down but better snow and more interesting lines can be found on the left. Also, don’t ignore the whales themselves, but be careful because they can bite. I will be at Timberline through Tuesday. I hope to see others here as well because Timberline is better than ever this year.

PS: My lift bird of the day: a sharp-shinned hawk - spotted at 2 p.m. above the mid-station.