by Peter Galuszka

Many skiers won't admit it, but when they hit the slopes again this season, an old fear will return as sharply as the icy air on a mountain morn. We're not talking here about how to remain balanced over two narrow skis or the most common of ski accidents - breaking a thumb. No, the greater challenge is easing out of a ski lift with dignity and grace. If your departure is sloppy, the next thing you know, you're eating snow. The lift operator scowls since he must slow the operation to avoid your decapitation. Even more embarrassing, you must regain your balance and stand up in front of the next chair full of fellow skiers.

Yet, take heart. Among changes on Virginia's slopes this season is a lift that processes people as efficiently as an assembly line spits out cars. Wintergreen ski resort in Nelson County has just installed a $1.8 million, high-speed, six-passenger lift that carries twice as many people and travels three times faster up the hill than a traditional lift. Don't worry, though. John Kirshner, Wintergreen's ski area manager, says the loading and unloading processes are much slower. "The chair is moving more slowly and the interval between chairs is much longer." Moving six people into a ski lift at once is a lot like "the starting gates at a horse race," he explains. "The gates open up. They're timed with the chair. Everyone comes out together. They're already spaced out and in the right order. You just step forward and ease into the chair. It's really state of the art."

The lift, designed to ease congestion in the resort's Diamond Hill area, is part of $5 million in improvements at the ski resort which is located in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. Also new this season is a $2 million, 10-lane snow tubing park and the widening of the upper section of Wild Turkey. About a third of the trail has been doubled in width, a boon for advanced skiers who enjoy its 1,000-foot drop.

There's new action off the slopes as well. Only 9 percent of Americans actually ski, and half of those who visit winter resorts actually spend time on the slopes. So when Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia expends $100 million in capital improvements, some of the money goes for non-ski activities. New this season are the $3 million Split Rock Pools, where skiers and non-skiers alike can enjoy the pool's geyser and slide, or catch a mountain sunset from a warm hot tub. Snowshoe, which draws a quarter of its guests from Virginia, is an easy drive away and offers horse-drawn sleigh rides, snowmobile rides, cross country skiing and snowshoeing.

Closer to home, the Homestead in Hot Springs, Va. also offers snowshoeing and an Olympic-size ice skating rink. Hard-core skiers can enjoy nine trails with the longest run at the Homestead, 3,400 feet. Ski managers report solid bookings so far with the lowest gasoline prices since 1999 making a winter vacation more affordable for greater numbers of people. Plus, resorts may benefit from this year's coverage of the Winter Olympics, which typically inspires people to try a winter sport.

Prices vary. Day skiers can go a la carte, picking their activities much like a diner selects items from a menu. A sampling of prices: an adult lift ticket at Snowshoe costs $53 on the weekend and $39 during the week. A two-hour session at Wintergreen's new tubing park -total length 900 feet with a vertical fall of 100 feet - is $14.

Wintergreen charges $47 for an adult lift ticket on weekends and $35 during the week. Children 13 and younger pay $37 for weekend lift tickets and $28 for weekday tickets.

Return to Virginia Business - January 2002