That T-line visions thread was real popular, so I'd like to start a new one on a similar vein. But this one will be about Bill Bright and his future darling, Almost Heaven.

What is it that we're envisioning when we think of Almost Heaven? Let's concede that we're all thinking that this ought to be the best ski resort in the Mid-Atlantic, bar none. It's the answer to every frustration we have with other ski areas around here, save for the fickle weather (which even MPC and the Dolly Sods don't escape). What is it that, for us, would be "Almost Heaven" in a local ski resort?

Since we're a group of the most committed skiers and riders in the region, let's take this seriously. Let's imagine that Bill Bright has asked us for our input. He wants to know from the core group what we want at a ski resort.

So what is it? What's our vision for Almost Heaven?

Free!

Good one Z, my AADD is bad today. Bear with me cause I'll probably blurt thoughts out when.......

1. Strive to be the first to open and the last to close.

jimmy

Long, uniterrupted vertical. Naturally segregrated terrain so that beginners don't wander onto blacks too often.

Oh, and a completed Corridor H.

RogerZ I'm with you...

1) Logistics/Staffing (Think Whitetail!!!!!)
2) Start with well thoughtout Terrain, appeal to ALL.
3) Well layed out base area.
4) Snow Making, get a Snoeshoe type system (add lots of water).
5) Did I mention Snow making?
6) Good lift capacity.
7) Add the Tubing park & Ice Skating (Revenue generaters).
8) I like the village concept.
9) I really like the mid-mountain cafe.
10) Try for the rusticness of TLine.
11) Limit Lift tickets. I said I like the logistics and staffing @ Whitetail NOT the crowds.

Last eveyone needs to get over the $$$ thing. Bill needs to make money to make this viable. So, sell the condo's and houses.

The first thought I get for MPC is that this would provide nearly 2000' of vertical which means some very massive and very awesome double black terrain. First and foremost would be to get an olympic skier such as say Bode Miller to come in, consult and design one or two double blacks. While straighline trails are... "OK", they have no personality, they have no ferociousness to them. Take something like Cupp Run or Shay's and magnify them to stand out at MPC as trails you revere, trails you respect, and trails that scare the piss out of even the most experts of experts.

With that said the same should be done with green's and blues. I'd almost say as trails are being designed on the mountain is that the single and double blacks would have their own portion of the mountain that would look down on the rest of Canaan Valley for miles around. But back to the green and blues, have long defining green runs longer than 2 miles that are wide open and groomed to perfection. Don't stop at 30-40 trails either, I encourage Bill Bright to create upwards of 100 trails (without logging the crap out of the mountain either).

The biggest concern for me as with everyone here I think is the fact that Reality sales stand to be the biggest threat to the perfect enviornment of any resort including MPC. One of the favorite reasons I like to goto Canaan and TL is the fact that it's the closest feeling I get to being in the backwoods of the Teton's riding down without another soul in sight. Dolly Sods and the Roaring Plains are perfect to have a resort snuggled up next to because quite frankly, I'm tired of places like Wisp where you ride a chairlift beside limitless condos.

Hrm... another thought would be to have two base lodge areas which are both designed to be Alpine towns. Going back to the Timberline thread, for goodness sake, PAVE the parking lot!!. It would be great if there was an Alpine village there at the Dry Fork entrance area, and then say at another entrance have another base lodge area. That would allievate congestion off of everyone funning right to one lift to ride to the top... again like Wisp. This would create some really great load balancing and along with designing trails/lifts to optimize amounts of skiers without congesting any one area. That alone would make MPC stand out as the greatest MA resort.

Create a wonderful night sking enviornment that covers 90% of the available terrain.

Create a dedicated area with 2-3 Terrain Parks including a massive super pipe. But don't stop there, one reason big resorts out west seem to be popular back here in the east is that all sorts of events are televised from them. Winter X-Games, and such. I don't know who or how, but it would be imperative for Bill Bright and management to entice racing events, terrain events of a regional wide nature to come here for multi-day competitions.

Thats what I'm thinking of at the moment... but there is more boiling in my mind of what could be done.

I'll pass on commenting on real estate, skier services, logistics, lodging, food service, etc (all the money making stuff). I'd use some of it, but it doesn't inspire my creative side.

The ski terrain does. What would be great and unique is if they could come up with a trail layout that featured a dozen or two runs - all with a vertical drop of 1500-2000 feet. That would catch the attn of the masses, and attract all skill levels from the entire mid-atlantic and beyond. I haven't studied detailed maps of the area they are looking to develop so I can only speculate, but to keep dreaming...if the vert was that big it would justify one or more high speed quads to serve the main terrain. That trail pod could get the standard heavy snowmaking infrastructure and wide fall line runs a la the model represented by Snowshoe's basin side or Seven Springs front face (only on a bigger scale) to accommodate the masses. It would be good if this part of the mtn included a mix of blue and black runs from the top, perhaps with a long green cruiser or two like Salamander or Timber Trail swinging wide from the summit. Basically, build a conventional ski area.

Then, assuming there is more than one mtn face to the terrain that they are looking to develop (and it is steep), I would build a mini Mad River Glen. Cut 8-10 narrow, no snowmaking, no frills, quirky trails down about 1000-1500' of vert, integrate some nice glades in this area, and string up only one or two t-bars (!!) to serve it and filter out inappropriate level skiers/boarders. Make this place 75% black diamond, but maybe cut two solid blue runs off to the fringes with a little snowmaking to offer better intermediates a small option away from the main ski area mentioned above. The idea behind this section of the mtn would be to have it as an option that could be cheaply opened when natural snow is good.

The combination would give the mtn mainstream appeal, yet bring black diamond credibility to attract hardcore downhillers and backcountry types that seem to migrate towards WV already.