Local Hill Trivia
March 1, 2006
37 posts
15 users
4k+ views
Okay this is a really dumb question. I just looked at the Hidden Valley trail map and I got to wondering. Who was the gearhead who decided to name all the trails after cars?
Honestly, I've never made the connection. But the more I look at it, the more it definately makes sense.
Probably one of the Kettlers made the names.
I never noticed until I was looking at it and was kind of laughing at how the names of slopes, at any hill, go from really tame for green to gradually more fierce for black. For example Bellyflop at Wisp to Devils Drop. Anyway Model T stuck out as weird, then there was Jetta and I thought that was weird too then noticed all of them were a little car-ish. Odd.
Yeah and to keep the laugh going the instructers have made an unoffical trail map that includes the likes of "Integra", "Diablo", "Toureag","Carrera" and "Enzo".
I bet "Diablo" is skiable this weekend, some of the hidden valley regulars have more than likely seen me skiing it.
BTW tree skiing at Hidden Valley is niether allowed or disallowed, at least last time i check there was nothing saying you couldnt.
Yay there is a trail named after the car I drive "Outback". lol
OK, here's a bit of trivia I learned from kwill this weekend. Does anyone know how they decided where to cut the trails at Timberline?
Picked good tracks down the fall line?
I know they had a T-bar way back in the day... over by Thunderdraft...
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I know they had a T-bar way back in the day... over by Thunderdraft...
c-man, rumor has it that they still have that surface lift in storage. You think it would be a nice addition to the terrain park?
Yeah, i agree they picked good tracks down the hill, but what "device" do you think they used to pick them?
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Yeah, i agree they picked good tracks down the hill, but what "device" do you think they used to pick them?
Bowling ball?
Keg of beer?
Old couch with rollers on the bottom?
I'm going to act as the devil's advocate here and go with outhouses.
It's not the *TRUE* West Virginia way unless it's a couch that is on fire, with 3 drunk topless guys on the back trying to race it down. Now... picture that on OTW.
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Old couch with rollers on the bottom?
DING DING DING (c) Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner, JohnL with the bowling ball. Kwillg6 tell him what he won
. Legend has it that they dropped a bowling ball at the top and let it determine the fall line. Good ole Mountaineer Injunanuity for ya!
I knew there was a reason I've always like Timberline.
Yeah, but the way some of the finances go there, Doc might've bowled a strike.
Wouldn't a rolling bowling ball act more like a plinko chip?
In that case, was Bob Barker standing at the top of the mountain with him to drop the bowling ball? If so I wonder if he got the $5000?
Just to update on Hidden Valley Trivia the "New Owners" (whomever that may be) are working on names that better match the current conditions...
Jaguar > Yugo
Continental >Samurai
And of course
Outback > Brat
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Just to update on Hidden Valley Trivia the "New Owners" (whomever that may be) are working on names that better match the current conditions...
Jaguar > Yugo
Continental >Samurai
And of course
Outback > Brat
New owners coming up with new names? You seem to know something that some of us don't.
Please share what you know here , it's sort of become the clearinghouse for all HV sale rumors.
Hmm... this weekend at T-line I couldn't find any employees who could confirm or deny the bowling ball myth. But it does seem logical.
Moving on:
What southern WV ski trail closed over a decade ago (at a very unlikely resort) because it was too dangerous?
Hmmmmm...
and guess who was the owner who closed it (bonus points for that one).
ooh ooh ooh. call me mr. kotter. nightmare at winterplace. i thought they just closed it to put another set of lift towers - two sets beeing too much. i never skiied it but it would be a toughie.
bonus: the prospective developer of mpc (as if).
This is way too much fun. I'm going to guess that the run called "strike zone" was closed at timberline because of the bowling ball that remained at the bottom of the run making it A) the first terrain park in history and B) too dangerous.
I have some mnames that the current owners of HV could use to rename the trails.
Land of the lost.
Forgotten wood.
Seldom seen.
some more name changes for HV
Road Runner = Chuck's run
Thunderbird = Boston Tea Party(due to the oppression of Red Coats)
Continental = Crash & Burn
Stingray = Land of the SPORES
well I am sure noone got any of those, so I am jsut going to shut up now...........
Wow, decent thread....Ok, someone tell me this one...what was the long trail at the shoe that was closed on the "valley" side and why? Then there is the "quest" question which I'll probably be in BIG trouble with the patrolers and ski school at the shoe for bringing up.... but here goes... What is the "secret hang out" on the bowl side of the shoe called?
Bonus question... 50 xtra points for anyone who knows where on the mountain it is. Hint... you have to ski to get there.
First answer- Hawthorne. Closed in mid 80s due to lack of snowmaking (that's a guess). There was also an intermediate run that went down to the midstation of Cupp that was closed by Intrawest, probably because the mid station was being gotten rid of thanks to the new high speed quad.
No idea about the hang out place.
Oh, and ding ding ding! right answer on the Winterplace question.
Let's go with even more 'Shoe trivia:
What was supposed to go on the backside of Silver Creek and what really happened?
Right, RogerZ. Now to the bonus round! What was the lift on the shoe's bowl side which had a mid station until the late 80s?
Ooooooh... I have no idea but I suddenly feel like I'm listening to Paul Harvey's "And now for the rest of the story."
Tell us! Tell us!
it's more like the twilight zone or the outer limits...
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it's more like the twilight zone or the outer limits...
Indeed. Some of these questions are Off the Wall.
One of the more interesting pieces of local ski hill trivia I've learned from DCSki:
Tim and Diane Mueller are ski industry giants who own/operate the very successful ski operations at Okemo, VT and Mt. Sunapee, NH. They also recently purchased the ski operation at Crested Butte, CO and are leading a major revitalization of that area. About ten years before they took controlling interest in Okemo in 1982 (for $600K!) they cut their ski area management teeth by running a local mid-Atlantic ski hill. Can you name it?
Hint: the answer can be found in the Lost Ski Areas section of DCSki.
This thread would be a lot more interesting if you guys just told us the trivia rather than ask a bunch of questions!!
I do believe there is an airstrip on the backside of Silver Creek, right? BTW, if you hike in there, I have heard there are some good powder stashes.
Here's some more trivia -- from the top of lower Shay's, look around and notice some of the mountains with perfectly flat tops. Apparently, this is the after-effect of some pretty intensive mining, where they chop off the top of the mountain to get at coal underneath. Trees have grown back now, so the only sign (from a distance) is the impossibly flat mountain top. It's pretty wierd.
Craig
"I do believe there is an airstrip on the backside of Silver Creek"
Funny you mention that. Last week I noticed a small sign that said "Airport" right next to the Silver Creek entrance sign. However, I met a couple w/kids that fly their plane in all the time from Florida and fly to Elkins where they keep a car to drive down.
I only wish I knew more. I am nothing more than another fetup homeowner waiting and waiting
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Funny you mention that. Last week I noticed a small sign that said "Airport" right next to the Silver Creek entrance sign. However, I met a couple w/kids that fly their plane in all the time from Florida and fly to Elkins where they keep a car to drive down.
The story goes that back in the day Snowshoe let a group of people develop what they believed was going to be an airstrip, unfortunately they were double-faced and really made a strip mine to rob the backside of Silver Creek's coal deposit. The sign you saw is a mtn. bike sign, the trail going up through that meadow is called "Airport". It was an integral part of the now-deceased 24 Hours of Snowshoe.
As for the comment on mountaintop removal, it's not so prevalent in the northern areas of WV. It's very common in the southern coalfields of Wayne, Mingo, McDowell, Wyoming, and Logan counties and there is an excellently tragic article in a recent (I think February's) National Geographic.
Since everyone wants to just KNOW, I'll answer my own questions. Powdermonkey lift used to have a mid-station. Also there was another lift which ran out of that basin area toward the powderridge area. I understand this was later relocated and became the grabhammer triple. As for the secret "hangout" spot... between the ballhooter and widowmaker trail was/is a "hole in the wall" frequented by folks wanting a "quiet" place. Haven't been back there recently to see if it is still frequented by my old buds on the hill.
It's a landmark but not as famous as Ole' man ballhooter who became a casuality of the Ballhooter quad.
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One of the more interesting pieces of local ski hill trivia I've learned from DCSki:
Tim and Diane Mueller are ski industry giants who own/operate the very successful ski operations at Okemo, VT and Mt. Sunapee, NH. They also recently purchased the ski operation at Crested Butte, CO and are leading a major revitalization of that area. About ten years before they took controlling interest in Okemo in 1982 (for $600K!) they cut their ski area management teeth by running a local mid-Atlantic ski hill. Can you name it?
Hint: the answer can be found in the Lost Ski Areas section of DCSki.
Answer here: http://www.dcski.com/lostareas/viewlostprofile.php?id=2
Hope link works or else you guys will die of curiosity.
