Not trying to get ahead of Scott's detailed postings later in the summer/fall about local ski area improvements for the upcoming season, but what are the rumors floating out there, or announcements that may have been missed? Both locally and out west?
I have heard nothing other than the Whitetail trail expansion, and the continuation of upgrades at HV.
I am afraid that many areas will sit back and see what the high gas prices and resulatant inflation bring forth this coming season (both from an operational cost and customer travel perspective) before moving out on expansion, both lifts and terrain.
Anyone heard anything?!!
The Colonel

New mini-hotel slopeside at Timberline (by the lower lift). Structure looked nearly finished this weekend, though the interior is a whole other matter.

Hey - there is NEW stuff this year! What about what's new this season?

- Sept '08: our favorite store/coffee shop proprietors from Wardensville will have their new place open. The word is the women have started preparations for the new place to open and will be even better than before.

- Jan '09: cell service from I-81 all the way through Moorefield/Petersburg will now have cell service (see Moorefield Examiner

JR

The cell phone news is good, but the coffee house news is totally phat. Noticed you said the women... Gather they're the two from before? Awesome.

I'm looking forward to cell service so I can leave the office earlier on Fridays - - client calls.

Yes, totally PHAT about the new place. And YES, it is the two women from before. The word is that its going to be SO much better and they are finally coming back after taking time off from a nasty experience with their ex-partners. Crazy stories from the 7-11 about what the ex-partners actually did to them and what the break up was really about. Have way much more respect for the women after hearing the tales from townees.

Anyway lookin' forward to a great cup-o-joe again while passing through.

I was really impressed with the ladies. Carolyn and Susan were outstanding people. Besides outstanding coffee, they also had organic local produce, and the best and only baguettes between the Fair Oaks Whole Foods and Snowshoe. Susan was also a previous Williams Sonoma buyer, so her skillset allowed that place to prosper as the proveyor of unique little things that put Wardensville on the map.

If that new store materializes, I'll do dances.

I hope they're able to rescue the century-old Steinway that had been in Wardensville for over a hundred years and had been used since the days of silent films. That piece of furniture had seen some changes!

By the way, the awesome coffee machine they had at Coyote Coffee is now in the antique shop a block East of the old place on Wardensville, and man, it is good coffee...

Saw a new pizza and sandwich shop in the old Coyote Coffee space in Wardensville while passing through last weekend. I take it that's not related to the restart by the women?

The new pizza place is not the same women. That building is owned by one of their ex-partners and doubt they would rent from them after their previous experience with them.

I haven't tried the new pizza place, but have heard there is no vent hood for the fat frier. Probably want to wear throw away clothes if you go in. Unless, of course, you don't mind smelling like fried food. Haven't heard any food reviews, but plan to inquire when I'm out again in a few weeks.

It's great to see indi businesses opening in Wardensville.

I was impressed with both women, too. I didn't realize that one of them worked for Williams Sonoma. That totally explains the great design and products.

I stopped by the antique shop a few weeks ago when they first announced the coffee. I thought I recognized the machine as the one from Coyote Coffee, but wasn't sure. My coffee experience wasn't as good as yours at the antique shop, but I think they had just gone through training with the machine. I'll give them another chance.

I'm looking forward to the new place opening, though - - the FREE friendly welcomes, smiles & hugs were always great at the old coffee spot. Haven't been able to replace that on the trek out.

Would you know where the new place would be?

BTW - Susan Applin (sp?) was an old W&S Executive, buyer and expert in gardets. I am a gadget freak, so I got to know them and learned a lot from them. The guys were there until they had decided to go on vacation every two weeks.

Just heard it was in Wardensville. The 7-11 seems to be the active hub of speculation on the new location - - rumors are Old White Star, Mountaineer store, old church and Antique store (doesn't seem to be the antique store).

The 7-11 is also the place where the local contractors hang out. That's the place to get the real low-down on what happened with the old place. The word is there was way more to the story than the two guys ditching them with all the work.

Not sure which one was Susan and which one was Carolyn, but loved the gadgets, too. Let's hope the products are as fun and tasty as the old place!

So any of you Snowshoe fans heard, they are taking the dogleg out of CuppRun?? Curious just how they did that, anybody seen this or have any pictures?

That's all they need is to give the beginners over there more straight line to build up speed before crashing into someone/thing. Hopefully that's just a rumor since the turns are a big part of what makes that slope so interesting. I don't get why they would do that anyway. You don't see problems with traffic there anyway, its usually down at the bottleneck entrance to the flat area at the bottom that gets congested. What do I know though. Maybe your just joking anyway and I haven't been here enough to get it. (A play on Timberlines tree clearing last year perhaps)

Hey JR, good to hear from you, not joking, thought i read it here but it must have been somewhere else. I didn't get why they'd do that either, would like to know if anyone has some first hand on it though.

Yo Jimmy. That crook in cupp has been a topic of discussion for as long as I remember. When we were at that mountain, the reason for keeping the dog-leg was the snow-making hydrants locations. If you ski down, you would notice at to top of the dog-leg on skiers left there are snow making accessories growing from the ground. Moving that stuff is real expensive and disruptive and if it works ok now, why change it?
The reason there was talk of changing it to begin with was to "holomigate" cupp so they could run a super G race there. As it is, it's almost too short to run that type of speed race without widening out below the second headwall anyway.

Looking up at the Western territory this past weekend from Slatyfork, I didn't notice anything different about Cupp and Shay's. Wasn't looking, but think I would have noticed missing trees, etc.

As far as the idea goes, I could see the possibility of shaving a bit off that dog leg to open up more of a right-hand passing lane for through skiers - helping to avoid the folks who stand at the top of the middle section, and who come in on the left from upper Shays.

It would be wonderful to see a coffee house in Wardensville again. And yes, I hope the gadgets come back. I'm still overwhelmed with my new iPhone 3G and by the time they open, I'll need a new reason to geekfest