I am thinking of going to Snowshoe the 17th-20th of March, but have no idea what the snow is "usually" like during this time. When does the season normally end there. Thanks for any information.

I have gone to Snowshoe in late March for a number of years. I have never been disappointed, in fact, I got snowed in twice.
The Colonel

I've skied at SS on their closing weekend for the last two years. That is usually the first weekend in April. Conditions were very good both times, so I think that SS in March is a pretty good bet.

Tom

Missy,
I've gone to their Mountain-Top beach party the last several years (usually the third weekend in March). The snow has always been good and they're either 100% or close to 100% open then. In fact, I've seen it snowing and in the teens at that time

-Warren-

I've been for the final weekend once or twice and it's been real good. I was up this weekend and it was nothing short of spectacular so I'm thinking of going again in March.

I've been to SS in March and April. I skied SS a few years back after they had received 30" of snow on March 26. In 00/01 (I think) they got something like 70" of snow in March. My hope is that we have a repeat of that year, because I'm getting ready to book a trip there the week of March 21.

By all means, go!

We always book at least one of our 3-4 Snowshoe stays during March .. going up this coming weekend for 4 days. If the cold shots keep coming, we will probably book another weekend 19-20 of the month.

We have never been disappointed about skiing Snowshoe in March ... even late into the season they are generally 100% open with excellent conditions. I recall 2 years ago we went up in a snowstorm and drove back in another storm several days later. The trip was memorable because the housekeeping staff had not latched the balcony door to our room correctly, and, when we arrived at midnight, there was a snow drift about a foot high and 4 feet wide by the open door. I kid you not! So we called the front desk, they came up and helped us clean up the snow .. it was friggin freezing in there .. took all night for the place to warm up and the icicle under the toilet to melt! Snowshoe was fully booked that weekend so they couldn't give us another room. So instead, they comped us our room and lift tickets ... 3 days in Rimfire at SS for $103 ! Cheapest ski trip ever!

AND .. there was a good foot of nature's powder laid down!

March is usually the best month for skiing in WV--lots of terrain, warm weather, low crowds, and sometimes if you are lucky, fresh snow. People often think that once Whitetail closes, the season is over but the WV resorts usually last 3-6 weeks beyond the WT close. You can also get some marginal conditions in March but you can get marginal conditions any day of the Winter here in the Mid-Atlantic.

Has anyone ever stayed at the Morning Glory Bed and Breakfast?

Yes. The Morning Glory is very nice. Spacious bedrooms. It's a B&B and breakfast is very good.

How far to the mountain is it really and are there restaurants and bars near there or would we just hang out at the mountain at night. I have never been to snowshoe before so any info is good info, thanks.

I stayed in a B&B my first time at the Shoe but I can't remember what the name was because I didn't book it. I don't know how far your B&B is from the foot of the mountain but from the base to the top is 6 miles and I'm pretty sure there is nothing much in the way of restaurants except at the top. If you haven't been to the Shoe before you'll be pleasantly surprised by the quality and selection of eating establishments. Just be aware that you should book a table three hours at about midday so you have somewhere to eat that night. The one thing the mountain needs more than anything I think is more eateries. The condo developments are swelling but the food sources remain the same.

I've only ever eaten at the Junction which is very good but very busy. I've gone out at the Connection which is okay, I like Yodelers pub and the Comedy Celler is pretty cool.

Missy - Morning Glory is located "off mountain" a mile or two south on 219 from the resort entrance. It's probably 7-8 miles from Snowshoe village (it's 6 miles from the resort entrance to the top). As far as dining and entertainment go - the closest things to Morning Glory would be Elk River restaurant and the restaurant and bar at the Inn at Snowshoe (at the base of the resort) There is no shuttle that goes all the way from the base to the top (so you are on your own going back and forth).

Missy,
From down-town, it's probably 4.5 hours or so. I live in Centreville and it typically takes me a little less than 4 hours. Although it costs more, there are tons of places to stay right on the mountain-top and once you park your car, you never have to move it until you leave. I like being able to just walk (or take the shuttle) anywhere in the village I want to go. There are several restaurants up there as well. If you like barbeque, go to the Foxfire Grill!

-Warren-

Warren,
Do you have any suggestions for on the Mountain lodging? Driving is really not that big a deal, I guess my biggest question is if we stay off the mountain and head up to the village at night are we going to run into parking problems and stuff like that? Any information is helpful so thanks.

On mountain lodging depends greatly on your price range; Allegheny Springs most expensive, Highland House & Rimfire, Whistlepunk, Camp 4 are all high end, all the rest are more moderately priced with non-slopside condos being the least expensive. We prefer to stay in the village which gives us easy walking access to shopping and dining. Our choice of lodging is generally Rimfire but we have also stayed at Highland House, Allegheny, and Powder Ridge (not in village). Lodging also depends on the size of your party and whether you have younger children. Kids seem to do much better over on the Silver Creek side of the mountain. Larger parties would probably be more comfortable in the large Camp 4 units.

I recommend you check out Snowshoe's web site for lodging amenities, location and pricing: www.snowshoemtn.com . There are also a number of units that advertise privately for lodging and those you can find on the web by searching for "Snowshoe WV rentals".

I also recommend that if you haven't yet made your reservations, especially if you decide to stay at the resort instead of off-mountain, you make them pronto! The good units fill up fast and, especially this year, are fully booked 1 to 2 weeks in advance.

Missy,
General parking is more limited than it used to be. As far as I know, the lot by the Top of the World complex is where you're supposed to park if you don't have a permit for one of the housing complexes. I really like to stay at the TreeTop complex. They have 2 and 3 bedroom townhouse-style condos. They're quite close walking distance to the village (just across the Mountain-Lodge parking lot). It all really depends on how big your group is like Snowcone said. If you did stay off-mountain. I would imagine that you could drive up, park in the general parking and take a shuttle bus to where you wanted to go.

Snowcone, do you know of open parking Missy could use (especially for evenings) without going to Top of the World?

-Warren-

Warren and Missy,

I haven't heard of additional open parking on top other than TotW. Since they built the new Seneca, all of the parking that used to be available at the Village is now private permit parking. We have been told illegals are towed ... so personally I don't think I would want to take the chance.

On the other hand, if Missy prefers to ski Silver Creek she should have no problem finding parking there ... just for the Basin/Territories ya gotta go to TotW if you are not staying in the Village.

Snowcone/Missy,
That's pretty much what I thought. I just wanted someone else's thoughts on that too...

-Warren-

Missy,

Try www.snowshoevacationrentals.com. Their rates are substantially less expensive than going directly through Snowshoe. Same units and service that SS offers. Even with SS's Free Lift ticket offer, it's still less expensive to rent through Snowshoevacationrentals.com.

If you're going to stay off mountain, try Elk River Touring Center. They have cabins, rooms, a restaurant, a pub, X/C skiing, etc. all at a very reasonable prices. www.ertc.com

SCWVA, I couldn't get that link to work but I've used this one before: http://www.snowshoerentals.com/rates.asp

I wouldn't say they're great but they're a little better than going through snowshoe. They throw in coupons for lots of stuff including discounted lift tickets. Is snowshoevacationrentals any better?

The http://www.snowshoevacationrentals.com did not appear correctly because there was a period after the .com

The Old Spruce folks have a superb customer service orientation. Their web site also allows online bookings, although they are reticent to rent out to college students for obvious reasons of damage and wanton destruction, although the Snowshoe Rental program will rent to anyone.

Lou,
I wish I was still a college student, those were the days, but got all that out of my system a few years back. Thanks for everyone's suggestions they have been really helpful.

Warren,
Thanks I actually thought it was more like 6 hours, so your info is great...of course maybe you are a nascar driver, but I am assuming not.

Any suggestions on Nightlife in Snowshoe, where are the good places to eat and just hang out. thanks.

Missy,
No, not really (my wife would kill me!). I do tend to drive close to 80mph on rt 81 but then on the mountain roads, I'm under the limit many times. I'd say my average is probably < 60mph.

-Warren-

Again, food and nightlife are dependent on your finances. Although we don't 'do' nightlife while skiing [need the sleep in order to ski all day], we have eaten in most of the SS restaurants. Our personal favorite is Foxfire, great food and a good après ski bar.

Village restaurants in order of cost:
Red Fox - gourmet and pricey but worth it, some amazing entrees - reservations required.
Village Bistro [new this year] - we haven't tried it yet, but comes highly recommended especially the bar.
Foxfire Grill - our favorite as mentioned, good food, huge servings, reasonably priced, popular and packed .. either order for pick up or get there early and hang out at the bar while waiting for your table.
Junction - food is good but a tad over priced. Usually packed during lunch but not too bad later in the evening, say after eight.
Cornerstone [previous Good Time Bobby's] - haven't eaten there in a while but was not impressed. Maybe it has improved.
Cheat Mountain Pizza - better than average pizza joint. That said, the pizzas are expensive.

Something to keep in mind; Interwest sold a significant percentage of their business investments in all of their resorts within the last year in order to concentrate on the more profitable real estate sales. This means that Interwest restaurants at Snowshoe are now most probably under new management and that may affect food/service quality. We prefer the non-Interwest privately owned and run restaurants; Red Fox, Foxfire, and Bistro.

I have heard there is some pretty fine off-mountain dining near SS but we are simply too lazy to dig out the truck for the ride down the mountain. It's so much easier to walk to dinner in the Village.

Snowcone,
I'm with you about getting in the car and driving. I also tend to agree about your restaurant analysis. Although the pizza is a little expensive at Cheat, I and my family REALLY like it! Also, they seem to make some good looking sandwiches too (although I've only ever had the pizza). By far my favorite is the FoxFire Grill. If I'm really hungry I'll split the barbeque platter for two with someone

-Warren-

Thanks guys this is great stuff, sounds like the BBQ place is a must, so I will keep that in mind as well as the other places. Could you give me info on Silver Creek, I heard it was going to be closed the weekend of the 18th, is this true and if so why if they have the snow.

I think I saw that the 20th is the last day for Silver Creek. I guess its finances.

I love Fox Fire. They have a burger that has pulled pork and bacon on it. If you're like me and my friends and don't care about the whole heart attach thing its great. We ate Bistro for lunch Saturday. Junction and everywhere else had 30-45 minute waits and Bistro was immediate seating. The prices were around 8.50 for sandwiches which my friends enjoyed. That doesn't seem bad. I got a Pepsi and clam chowder soup for a total of 5.50 which was good.

For supper they had a 2.5 hour wait at Fox Fire and everywhere else was packed to the doors too. We went to Shaver Center and had a decent Pizza in 20 minutes so if you get caught with 2 hour waits don't forget Shaver. We were really looking forward to that burger at FoxFire though

The weekend of the 18th is the last weekend Silver Creek is open. It is also the weekend of the Snowshoe 24 which begins Saturday at 12 and ends sunday at 12 noon. I know it is run on a few different trails, But i don't know if Silver Creek is closed to the general public or not.

As far as places to eat off the mountain, Route 66 (a sandwich shop) has the best sandwiches around there and only at 5 bucks a shot. It is located on the right before you make that left to go up the main hill. Also there is a sit down place very reasonable priced at the intersection of 219 and 66.

I'm torn between the Springs or the Shoe as a last major trip. My heart says shoe but my wallet says Springs. As regards driving to the 'Shoe. I could potentially have done it in 3 1/2 last time if I hadn't stopped. It's not that I go super fast I'm just extremely comfortable on twisty roads. In Ireland you could take the road to snowshoe, narrow it a bit, put a ditch either side of it, tear up the road surface and liberally add potholes and that is considered a main road which I would have no problems doing 60 on. It makes the roads here look like a dream. So the road the snowshoe is a breeze. If I was driving a stick I would dominate it but make all my passengers sick as dogs in the process.

Being new to this whole message board thingy I have to say I am now a believer. Everyone has given me great info and I am excited about my trip to Snowshoe in 2 weeks, I am praying it stays cold and then the sun comes our about wed or thurs of that week, couldn't think of a better way to end my ski season.

"..which I would have no problems doing 60 on."
And you'd make Grant County all that much richer !!!

Oh I know Rich. Every dog has his day and I'm sure mine will come too.