Snowshoe New Slopes
April 22, 2006
18 posts
14 users
3k+ views
On the article, The Renaissance of Snowshoe, it talks about the phase 5 of interwest's plan, which involves Hawthorne slope system - 30 acres. Does anyone know what this is or where it will be? And further, does anyone know if it will actually happen and when? I believe Snowshoe is a great resort, that still tons of untapped potential. I would love to hear from some slope developments, instead of another condo.
Might get 1 0r 2 runs of 1000 to 1200' vert in the hawthorne area & thats it...The rest of the basin area would be just it...Basin..no diff. Snowshoe is Kool but west Va needs a new kid on the block!
where at snowshoe is this area located?
The old Hawthorne slope system was/is nearly directly across from Top of the World Lodge which is at the top of the Widowmaker lift. The Hawthorne trails and lift were put in by a previous owner of the Shoe. The slopes were hardly ever open since there was no (or at best very limited) snowmaking. The lift ran down the western side of the resort, as does the Western Territory runs. I think it was to provide a connection to the valley activities such as golf. Intrawest dismantled the lift and moveed it to the basin side. With good snowmaking and better cut runs the Hawthorne "Territory" could provide some really good skiing. It would not surprise me to eventually see the new Widowmaker detachable quad continue on across the road and parking lot and then descend the western side where tha old Hawthorne chair used to be. Detachable chairs can have multiple on/off platforms, and if things are as I surmise, then there would be four ramp areas eventually for this lift: at the bottom of Widowmaker, the top of Widowmaker, the top of Hawthorne and the bottom of Hawthorne.
I could be all wrong, but it makes sense to me.
The Colonel
Could you provide a link to the article you mentioned?
Quote:
Detachable chairs can have multiple on/off platforms
How can a detatchable chair have multiple on/off platforms? Chair sync and spacing is accomplished by the terminal drive system, which is driven by PTO from the bull wheels in all installations that I've seen. Also, what would be the advantage of this versus two independent lifts?
We all here just like to think big. Namely having a gondola from Timberline to Canaan and three highspeed 6pack detachable lifts up Timberline.
This past Jan I rode on high speed lifts that had several loading/unloading stations. It works just like a high speed with only a top and bottom station. The chairs arrive at the station, switch to the slower track, then leave and switch to the high speed cable. Bottom line, there are multiple long haul and station cables, but only one lift as far as the rider is concerned. As to why Snowshoe might want connect the future Hawthorne area with the Widowmaker area...it is a long walk from the new and old upper unloading station for Widowmaker across the Top of the World parking plaza, the road and the wide area on the western side. You would energize the future Widowmaker slope system and the future Hawthorne slope system, spurring use, not to mention making the new lodges around the top of Widowmaker much mor attractive. Imagine if you did not have to take off your skis to get over to the Western Territory from the basin side, that would be a great help...unfortunately it might also bring over some more folks that do not belong on Cup or Lower Shay's Revenge.
With a high speed lift connecting the two sides of the mountain I believe that some of the crowding seen today would spread out, making the skiing experience better for all.
The Colonel
Hmmmmmm - good points about getting rid of the walk. And down at that end of the mountain, it's a LOT further between slopes than at the Cupp Run crossing.
Where did you ride on such a lift? I have a signficant interest in ropeway transportation systems and have never seen one like that (and would like to.) From the DoppelmayrCTEC, Yan and other web sites, it looks like it must be a very custom configuration because the standard terminals obviously don't work that way.
Tommo, Collins lift at Alta has a mid station for loading only.
Tim,
When I was out in Colorado this season, I rode at least one detachable six-pack that had a mid-mountain load-unload station. I think they're a little more common than you may think.
-Warren-
Breck has a mid mountain detach too I believe it's the peak 8 super connect.
Since they already own the Widowmaker lift - why couldn't they just move it to Hawthorn side this summer when the NEW Widowmaker life goes in? BYW - just what DO you do with a "used" lift - eBay ???
Yep it for sure works and that would be a cool lift system the way its described in the post.
Remember, the Cupp run detachable lift was also originally designed to have a on ramp. Also, the Hawthorn ski slope/ lift was installed back in the late 70's. The western facing, double falline slope led to it's demise. At that time, the golf course was only a pipe dream and wasn't built until the Japanese Company bought both the shoe and the creek, (circa 1990) saving both from bankrupcy (again).
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Could you provide a link to the article you mentioned?
I googled "Renaissance of Snowshoe" and the first item that was returned was a dcski article from 1998:
http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=241&mode=headlines
perhaps this is what the original poster was referring to?
Yeah, looks like it. In which case it's probably real outdated by this point.
We'll know how feasible it would be to have a continuous lift run from Widowmaker to Hawthorne when we see the new Widowmaker lift this summer. There is not a lot of room for a "straight shot" with the new Soaring Eagle lodge going in. However, that would not preclude a separate short lift to ferry between the two sides of the mountain.
Personally, I do not see a lot of payback in Hawthorne compared to other potential projects at Snowshoe.
The PowderMonkey lift is woefully slow and could use a replacement (especially considering it feeds the Western Territory). Maybe even make the unload station a bit higher up the hill and offset it to ease congestion at the top and make the walk across the street shorter.
The Western Territory lift is seriously under capacity, so I would expect more trails over there to take advantage of the excess capacity. Question is where, since they are running out of room at the top! The trails would most likely branch off upper/mid Cupp and Shays.
With the new Widowmaker chair, I would expect future trail expansion on the basin side, to the skier's right of Widowmaker. The lay of the land and the exposure are ideal over in that area.
Anything that takes advantage of existing lifts and/or improves existing lift lines makes the most sense to me. The last thing they should do is cut more trails and install lifts in remote areas when the existing infrastructure is not yet optimized.
