Actually there are alot of ski areas (I say ski areas as opposed to resorts because I firmly believe there is a differnce) that have awesome skiing but very poor or older out of date facilities, Timberline, MRG, Alta, etc. But to me i like those places, they feel more homey and fun than super resorts.

Blasphemy!! Putting Alta and Timberline in the same sentence should be punished by 5 hours in warm rain. And, actually, Alta has adopted a much more enlightened attitude and poured huge $$ into upgrading the infrastructure. They rebuilt Watson shelter last summer and have installed two high speed quads in the last couple of years for 3 detachables overall. The new Collins quad goes from the Collins/Wildcat base all the way to saddle between Baldy and East Greeley for 1900' vertical in a single, relatively quick ride. Put another way, Alta's facilities are now first rate! And the snow's not too bad, either...

Eug, appreciate your views on facilities, amenities and layouts, particularly from family vactioner perspective. Old timers like me often can't see the blizzard for the flakes.
I was raised on a heavy dose of Blue Knob (lodge there was rebuilt in '80s after similar one burned down). Coming from Blue Knob all other area lodges and infrastructure, including T-line's, look pretty good to me. Like Terpski I'm more into terrain than facilities and the sustained 1000 feet of vert at T-line exceeds Canaan Valley's and most other mid-Atlantic areas. Tline has a nice variety of good int-adv runs of decent length and continuous pitch similar to those from hispeed quad at Whitetail. With better natural snow than Whitetail, esp in this 2006 winter when being on the west side of Allegheny front makes quite a difference. They seem to have ramped up their snowmaking this year and have been offering some of the best conditions available in the region. The bookend easy trails of Sally and Twister surpass anything comparable at Whitetail. T-line is a tougher drive to get to, of course. I think Canaan Valley ski area is generally always less crowded than T-line. It's real nice that the valley has two fairly distinct skiing options (make that three with Whitegrass). If they ever built a Tory Mtn or Almost Heaven in the neigborhood we might be talking a weeklong destination.
Apparently, last Fri and Mon 1/27&30 were public school holidays in several DC metro area districts (incl huge Fairfax county), elevating that to the best long weekend of the mid-winter for an extended ski outing for many. Though I won't refuse hispeed lifts, when you're talking modest mtns of about 1000' of vert or less slow lifts work fine for me (as long as they don't stop altogether). Lack of good night skiing and perhaps flex tickets are probably a function of market. Closer areas like Liberty and Whitetail have a lot more demand for that, although selling a 4 hr ticket for just a few dollars less than full day would seem to be a no-brainer moneymaker to convince a few latecomers to hit the slopes. Maybe there's an enforcement issue on ticket expirations?
I have still to experience Off the Wall and the tougher glades at t-line, but they appear to add a difficulty factor to t-line's terrain that approaches Blue Knob (toughest stuff not open that often) and the Western Terr of Snowshoe (tough stuff limited to one or two runs) for some of the most challenging in the mid-Atlantic. {Anybody know if steep glades are unofficially skied around Lower Shays?}

If the quality of off-slope "resort" stuff is as important as the ski terrain to your group, and this is a legit requirement for many vacationers, then Snowshoe, Seven Springs and probably Wintergreen are tops in our region, with Wisp coming on fast.

Sorry for the ramble.

AAAH-HHEEMMMMMM !!!

ixna on the hitegrasswa

It's been mentioned here several times and I have finally accepted that not everyone is into the Whitegrass scene. No need for any more converts. I mean after all, the lodge dates back to the 50's, the people are a bunch of furry faced forest fairies intersmixed uber sexy chicas decked out in form fitting athletic gear as they head out to skate the track or climb for the highlands.

Nightskiing is a bit hampered after all. You have to provide your own headlamp...plus they don't have that any crappy soundsystem blaring out some 80's hair band rock. What to do? What to do?

I'd like to make a proposal to leave Whitegrass out of any further discussions about the skiing in Canaan Valley. It's way dated, no lifts, people are weird, no light system, no snow making and if everyone starts showing up there I may have to ski beside their tracks in the freshies instead of making the first ones myself...three days after a fresh snowfall.

Steve

WHAT A BLOG! Take no prisoners! Burn baby burn! All I can add is that you get what you pay for. You want four star restrooms you pay for them in lifts, rentals, food, and in some cases lodging. I can agree on the night skiing problems in the valley, but I've found it the same whereever you go, skiied off, "fast" snow, snow guns, and poor visibility. Night skiing has a specific market (day/ 1/2 day tripers and locals) which the valley really doesn't cater to. Personally, if you ski 8 hours during the day on challenging terrain, who needs night skiing?

Regarding night skiing: rather than trying to improve or expand the existing lighting, I think it would be great to extend the day session into the late afternoon early evening as the days get longer toward the end of Feb and in March - or at least keep more of the mountain open when there is sufficient daylight.

tgd... I agree. Extend the skiing until 5:30 or later in March, until 6pm. Their only problem is the time required to sweep the trails at closing, assuming that skiers were skiing trails only. When working ski school at the shoe, we used to help when patrol was short handed, but manpower would be an issue if they were to do this.

Yep, always figured it was a staffing issue. Especially come March when most people in the Mid-A have packed up their skis for the season. Seems then there are almost as many patrollers as paying customers on the slopes.