Snowshoe Mountain Preparing for Opening Day Nov. 26


Whale season might sound like an improbable description for November in West Virginia, but according to Dave Dekema, director of marketing at Snowshoe Mountain Resort, that’s exactly what’s happening on top of the mountain now.

“If you look out on the slopes right now there’s huge piles of snow, sometimes referred to as whales because that’s what they look like. So we call this whale week and have been referring to that, where we show pictures on Facebook and Twitter: ‘it’s whale week; it’s whale season again,’” Dekema said.

“It’s allowed for really good accumulation of man-made snow, which we’ll groom out in the days ahead of opening to understand what the full trails open on Wednesday are going to look like, what the depth and coverage will be.”

This is the first year the resort has opened pre-Thanksgiving in recent years and, thanks to forecasts of a snowy winter, there are plans to stay open until April.

“The idea that we could be seeing good snow and great snow-making temperatures early and then some really big skier friendly snow storms coming in January and February and just all the way out into March has got us very excited obviously.”

“And the fact that we announced early that we’re opening for Thanksgiving, not in a weather-permitting situation, but we know we’re going to be open the 26th and all the way out to Easter Sunday this year, which is April 5th, we’re just really happy, at least the models seem to be lining up for a very good year.”

Snowshoe is still looking for employees. The resort will employ approximately 1,000 people at peak season this year.

“There’s still some great employment opportunities here. We always want to recruit from the great talent here locally and there are still jobs available, which there’s a pretty strong list of on the Snowshoe website, and so we encourage people that either are looking for a new job, a different job, an additional job, to come find us because we want to find you.”

In December, new owners will be opening the former property of The Vantage Inn and The Red Fox restaurant. The Corduroy Inn will be an upscale, boutique hotel with a full-service restaurant, bar and coffee shop.

“A lot of people knew it for the restaurant there, The Red Fox, which was a kind of a locals favorite, but it’s been purchased by a couple, so it’s third-party owned. They’ve done a fantastic job renovating The Vantage Inn to now being The Corduroy Inn. It’s hard to recognize it from the outside, it’s just beautifully well-done. I guess they’re calling it a luxury boutique hotel … visibly as you pull up to the mountaintop up here, you can’t not notice it.”

“Tuscan chop house is the style of fine dining. For folks who know the South Mountain Grille, which is a really popular fine dining restaurant here at Snowshoe, it’s being operated by the same folks, who have put together a fantastic menu there and have a separate full bar, and they’ll be open before the Christmas holidays, so we’re looking forward to our first visit.”

If you’re planning on spending Thanksgiving at the resort, you will find traditional turkey dinner available at the village restaurants and four or five lifts open in the main basin. Silver Creek and the Western Territory will be open later in the season.

Story By

Kelly Taber

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