Mountain Times ~ Supplement to the Pocahontas Times ~ SnowShoe, Slatyfork, Green Bank, Cass, WV

Focusing on the resort and tourist
community of Slaty Fork, Snowshoe Mountain, Cass and
Green Bank

Vol. 2 No. 4
April, 2003

Serving SnowShoe Mountain, Slaty Fork, Green Bank and Cass
"News you can resort to"

Second Section of
The Pocahontas Times
Post Office No. 436-640
ISSN No. 07388373

Upcoming Events Around the Mountain Resort

On The Mountain: April
4/1 to 4/6 - Ski Free Week, Snowshoe Mountain. Find out what the locals have known for years . . . some of the best snow of the season can be found at the end of the season. All the resort's facilities might not be open during this week, but you can be assured that the skiing and riding will be great.
4/5 to 4/6 - Last Hurrah Weekend, Snowshoe Mountain. The Last Hurrah of the winter season! Try to endure crazy games such as the human dog sled race, speedo tic tac toe, and the first annual pond skimming competition. It's guaranteed to be a blast. . . SPLASH! Super lodging deals and free lift tickets for the grand finale weekend.
4/13 - Season Ends Be sure to join Snowshoe Mountain on April 13 for the last day of the 02 / 03 winter season. Get in those late season turns with the best late season conditions in the region.

Off The Mountain
4/1 State Park Campgrounds open - Most campgrounds and cabins at WV state parks, forests and wildlife management areas open in April. For a complete list of facilities, rates and reservation procedures, call 1-800-CALL-WV, (304) 558-2764 or visit online at www.wvparks.com
4/5 - Annual Greenbrier River Cleanup If you or your group would like to participate in trash pickup along the river, trail or any of its tributaries, call 653-4722 in Pocahontas County. DNR and DOH will help with hauling. Bags and gloves will be provided.
4/6 - Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad. Take a ride on the Durbin Rocket, powered by the Climax #3 steam locomotive. Take a leisurely 1.5 hour, 10 mile round trip train ride. The little train passes several scenic vistas and wildlife viewing areas. For information and reservations, call 877-686-7245.
4/6 - Cheat Mountain Salamander Rail Bus, Cheat Mountain. During the two hour, 36 mile round trip, the unique rail bus not only goes over the river, but over the mountain too. Enjoy the beauty of the mountains and first flowers of early spring. For information and reservations, call 877-686-7245.
4/12 - Poteen in Concert, Opera House, Marlinton Great Celtic music! For information, call (304) 799-7386.
4/26 - Great Greenbrier River Race, Marlinton. Team relay race on the Greenbrier River and Trail. Canoe, bike and run. Numerous competitive categories. You can have a team or compete solo. Race begins at 11 a.m. at the bridge at the intersection of Highways 219 and 39 in Marlinton. There is a mandatory race meeting at 10 a.m. Full details available on the Greenbrier River Trail Association web site, www.greenbrierrivertrail.com. Registration forms available from the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-336-7009, or you can register on-line at www.active.com. Proceeds benefit the Greenbrier River Trail Association.

On your mark, get set, have fun!
Get ready for the Great Greenbrier River Race
Barbara Elliott
Contributing Writer

And they're off! Participants in last year's race splash their way to the canoes and kayaks and out into the current for the first leg of the relay.
photo by Carol Moore

     If you're in great physical shape and want to pit yourself against equally fit folks, why not sign up for the Great Greenbrier River Race, a relay featuring canoeing, mountain biking and running? It takes place in Marlinton at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 26. And if you're out of shape, wobbly and haven't been in a canoe or on a bike since the summer of '65, enter anyway... It's that kind of race!
     This is the seventeenth year for the event, which was started by the Greenbrier River Trail Association in 1986 as a way of drawing attention to the trail and letting everyone know it was still here after the devastating flood of 1985, according to Leslee McCarty, president of the Association. McCarty and Gil and Mary Willis of Elk River Touring Center were the principal founders of the event, which they modeled after a race they'd heard about in Oregon.
     The first year the starting point was at Clover Lick, where the canoes put in. As McCarty recalls it, the trail was a "little dicey" that year. After a few years on that course, the race migrated to Greenbrier County where it continued until three years ago, when it returned to Pocahontas County with a new starting point. The canoes now put in at the park beside the bridge in Marlinton. The canoe leg ends at Buckeye, where the mountain bike leg continues to the bridge at old Watoga and back to Buckeye. The race finishes with a running leg from Buckeye to Stillwell Park in Marlinton.
     McCarty said that since the very first year, the race has attracted participants from other states. Last year's race drew 65 teams from Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Ohio in addition to many from West Virginia and Virginia.

Minor mishaps do happen in all the excitement, as shown in the photo above, where contestants attempt to right one canoe as three more canoes try to avoid a collision.
photo by Carol Moore

     Perhaps the key element that puts the "Great" in the Greenbrier River Race is that it appeals to participants of all ages and skill levels. As a result, although there are serious competitors in the crowd, the overall atmosphere is one of camaraderie, support and most of all, fun. As many as four people can enter as a team, and for the truly insane among us, there's also a solo category.
     Ken Tubbs, of Frankford, is a true veteran, having participated in almost all of the races since the beginning. Most of those years he has raced with his current team, the Droop Mountain Boys. He has come a long way since his first race, when he signed on to help a neighbor canoe and they wound up almost dead last after their leg.
     Things started looking up when he hooked up with the other Droop Mountain Boys Ron Smith and Steve Buly, of Hillsboro, and Karl Hartzell, a friend from Oregon, who comes East each spring to participate in the race and do volunteer work on the Appalachian Trail. Their early experience was mixed (one year their bike had a flat tire and the runner accidentally threw away the baton), but once they hit their stride, they won the overall event for many years in a row. Although most of them are now old enough to compete in the "Masters" category (a polite way of saying over 50), they continue to run with the younger crowd and more than hold their own.
     "I still plan to be paddling when I'm 60," Tubbs declared. "I enjoy this race because it's what you want it to be. If you just want to have fun, that's what you do with it. If you're competitive in nature and want to do your best, that's what you do."

At Buckeye, the baton changes hands from bicyclists to runners, who complete the last leg of the relay.
photo by David Elliott

     Living proof of that fact is Dreama Simpson, a newly retired grandmother from Covington, Virginia, Last year some co-workers convinced her to join their team from Dabney Lancaster Community College. Although her prior canoeing experience had been to "sit in the front of the canoe and hold a paddle" while her son Keith did all the work, she gamely went out for one practice session before paddling her heart out in the actual race. Although she laughs that they couldn't even keep up with a family with small children paddling just ahead of them, she had a lot of fun and was just happy to finish the canoe leg without going overboard.
     Teams are made up of everything from church youth groups to civic clubs to families. One young father showed up last year with a toddler in tow, dubbing his team "Father, Son and Holy Boat." There are many sub-categories for all-male teams, all female teams, mixed teams, and others. There's an Advantage category for those participating with kayaks or Kevlar canoes or tandem bikes. Even so, the organizers have to keep a watchful eye out to make sure racers are competing in the appropriate categories. For example, one year a notorious male prankster entered the solo female category dressed in drag.
     On the other hand, Liz McGuffie, of Lewisburg, is the real deal‹a female who entered the race solo for the first time last year. She had participated on teams five or six times prior to that and just wanted to see if she could do it on her own. She was already an able biker, but she was concerned that knee problems might impede her running. She started training in January, running on the treadmill at the local YMCA. The biggest challenge proved to be the kayaking.
     "I'd played around in a kayak, but had never raced before," she said. "I plan to train a bit more this year." That's right, folks. She's going to do it again, and she's invited a friend to go for it too. The two of them are even training together.
     "It's a wonderful event. Everyone is just so encouraging," she explained. "I especially like this route, because the facilities in the park are so nice.
     Racers enjoy lunch together as the times are tallied before prizes are awarded. Lunch and a race tee shirt are included in the registration fee. Advance registration fees are $25 per person for those competing on teams, or $30 for solo participants. Pre-registration ends April 15. On-site fees are $5 more per person.
     A second great aspect of this great race is the fact that proceeds benefit the Greenbrier River Trail Association, a volunteer organization which for more than 20 years has worked to help maintain, upgrade and promote the trail. The Greenbrier River Trail is a state rail trail managed by the WV Division of Natural Resources.

Runners at milepost 53 still have two miles to go before the finish line at Stillwell Park.
photo by David Elliott

     Income from the race is derived from registration fees and sponsorships. This year's sponsors are the Greenbrier Sporting Club; Snowshoe Mountain; The Greenbrier; The General Lewis Inn; the Greenbrier County Convention and Visitors Bureau; the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau; and the Greenbrier River Watershed Association. Complete race details and registration forms can be found on the Greenbrier River Trail web site, www.greenbrierrivertrail.com
     Registration forms can also be obtained at the Pocahontas County Convention & Visitors Bureau in the Marlinton Depot, or by calling 799-4636 or 800-336-7009. Registration also can be completed online at www.active.com.

     Barbara Elliott is assistant director of the Pocahontas County Convention & Visitors Bureau. She trains for the race by writing articles about it and on race day you'll find her doing arm extensions as she hands out tee shirts.

NRAO Visitor's Center nears completion

These baffled corridors have special absorption cones behind glass, to absorb radiation coming into or going out of the exhibit halls or rooms that could interfere with the telescopes' function. They also have neon floor lights that change color and tiny flashing ceiling lights that represent stars.
photo by Heidi Zemach

by Heidi Zemach
Contributing Writer
      Despite bad weather, which has delayed its expected completion by five months, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's new visitor center at Green Bank should be open and ready for the public by Memorial Day. The spacious, light-filled lobby, with a shiny mosaic linoleum floor sits empty, but ready. Its high wall of two-story angled glass windows and skylights overlooks trees that still must be cut in order to bring the massive Green Bank Telescope into clear sight.
      Neat rows of 150 blue-cushioned seats fill the new auditorium, patiently awaiting the first group of tourists or school children, who will be shown a new movie about the NRAO.
     White electrical sockets stand in line across the floor of a new computer lab, ready for banks of computers to be plugged in. And the ceiling of the gym-size main exhibit hall is dotted with an array of spotlights, already trained on exhibits, yet to be delivered and installed. The exhibit hall will feature artifacts and hands-on displays that explain the instruments, techniques, and scientific discoveries of radio astronomy from the GBT, the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope.

The glass and tile lobby await visitors. It has ample room to accommodate large groups of tourists. There is a cafeteria and gift shop located off the lobby, and visitors are able to view the Green Bank Telescope and much of the observatory grounds through the lobby windows.
photo by Heidi Zemach

     "The interior is basically complete," said NRAO business manager, Mike Holstein. All it really needs now is its furniture, appliances and, of course the exhibits, which should start arriving by the truckload April 1, he said. They should be installed and in place by mid-May, Holstine added.
     The $6.1 million NRAO visitor center is being created to provide a new tourist destination for Pocahontas County and a future learning experiences for thousands of school children. It is planned to replace the existing center.
     Because unpredicted winter weather delayed much of the exterior work, most of the outdoor grading, paving, seeding and landscaping still needs to occur. Paving the road and entranceways in front of the building will resume once the local asphalt plants re-open and start production, which should begin around April 1, Holstine said.
     The round concrete patio behind the building, adjacent to the visitor center, also still needs to be built. It will be used for visual observations of the night skies during the "star parties," Holstine said. NRAO planners hope to schedule a Grand Opening in late May possibly on Memorial Day, he said. If the center is ready earlier, there may be teacher tours scheduled, or small groups of children may be allowed to visit, as early as May 1, Holstine said.
     Even empty, the building is modern and unusual. Principal Architect Blair Frier, of S.E.M. Architects in Beckley, said he designed the center to be contemporary looking to reflect NRAO's purpose. To accomplish this look, the building has plenty of rounded edges, and walls at unfamiliar angles. The lobby's blue-tinted windows look outward and upward and form a round design similar to the telescope, he said.

The exhibit hall, minus exhibits.
photo by Heidi Zemach

     Even the main hallway points in an unexpected direction, straight toward the GBT beyond. There are other space age features, some with a meaningful purpose, others mostly for fun. The walls of blue absorption cones that line two winding entranceways are there to absorb any radiation leaks that may interfere with the NRAO telescopes. The neon floor lights that change colors also line at least one entranceway--producing a cool effect that's bound to dazzle visitors. So will the small pinpoints of light resembling stars that flash from the entranceway ceiling.
     On a recent visit to the building he designed, Frier said the visitor center looks even better than he imagined it would be.

Pizza made fresh to order, and you can watch 'em work.

Adventures in good eating

Cheat Mtn. Pizza delights, satisfies
Sunny Given
Staff Writer
Photos by Sunny Given

Max, our waiter, stands at-the-ready.

      If you like Italian food and a slopeside view, try Cheat Mountain Pizza. I stopped in for lunch with a friend on one of those incredibly beautiful, bright cold days that holds a promise of spring and lets you know winter's winding down. Skidder slope was still in great shape and packed full of kids outside the window where we chose our seats.
      The restaurant makes use of available light with almost floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides, and the atmosphere is lively - wood floors, tables and ceiling do little to absorb the sounds of music and people enjoying their meal. There's also lots of color - chairs are painted in blues, greens, reds and yellows, and the festive dinnerware and napkins match as well. CMP is usually packed during the lunch hour, so I delayed our arrival a bit to avoid the crush of people anxious to eat and get back to the business of skiing.
      I said Italian food, but I should categorize that as Italian lunch food. Appetizers, calzones, subs and salads are on the menu, but the specialty of the house is pizza - and boy, do they give you a lot of choices. There are the traditional style with traditional sauce and almost an unending selection of toppings. The Cliff Hanger features capicola ham, pepperoni, sausage and cheese; the Groomer with ham, pineapple, mushrooms and parmesan.

CMP is light and airy and sports an eclectic decor.

      If you're avoiding red meat, try the Highlander with grilled chicken, mushrooms, roma tomatoes, mozzarella and parmesan. or the Double Eagle, with chicken, garlic, herbs, roma tomatoes, mozzarella, feta and asiago cheese. If you like cheese, the Quad's for you with nothing but mozzarella, provalone, monterey jack and asiago cheese to please.
      A vegan's delight would be the Herb Pesto, with basil, pine nuts, garlic and asiago crust. Not concerned about cholesterol? Take the Plunge - a ham, pepperoni, onion, sausage, fontina, mozzarella and garlic delight. There's more. I left out a few of the standard choices, but know that should any of the pizzas be insufficient for your cravings, you can create your own. CMP offers a variety of sauces, 10 cheeses and 19 toppings from eggplant to anchovies, and fire roasted peppers and onions.
      The staff is happy to work with you if you have special menu needs, as well. A couple from Washington, D.C. sitting next to us told us they had no trouble modifying the menu to get vegetarian version of the pizza they wanted. It was their first visit to Snowshoe and to Cheat Mountain Pizza and they were delighted in both the resort and the restaurant.
      How could you go to a pizza place and not be in the mood for pizza? No matter, it happens. You've still got a great choice of calzones - you can create your own with the same ingredients for customized pizza; subs come in roast beef, turkey and asiago, the CMP Combo, or a meatball. Salads include Greek, with feta cheese and yasou feta cheese vinaigrette dressing, fresh garden salad or Caesar.
      I had heard great things about the pizza, and so opted for the Greek salad, while my buddy chose a calzone - probably not to embarrass me by eating a whole pizza. We decided on the breadstick appetizers, which were actually more like pizza crust, served with a marinara dipping sauce. Hot and chewy, they disappeared almost immediately. Max, our waiter, was friendly and attentive, and asked if I'd like my salad to arrive with the calzone.

The restaurant wraps around one side of the work counter and kitchen.

      Our meals arrived on those colorful plates and I was struck by the size of the calzone. It literally filled the platter it was on, and was steaming. It was bursting with hot Italian sausage, mushrooms, mozzarella and dusted with bits of roasted garlic. Marinara dipping sauce was also included. My friend said it tasted as good as it looked, and was kind enough to give me a few bites - just to prove it.
      My salad was very good - the feta cheese and vinaigrette dressing were excellent, and there was plenty of it and black olives, too. I only could have wished for a bit more variety in the greens to make it perfect.
      Dessert choices at Cheat Mountain Pizza include Cookies 'n' Cream Pie, cheesecake, Chocolate Confusion - a four-layer delight with chocolate mousse and frosting. Needless to say, we didn't have much room left for dessert. That will have to be another trip
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Outfitters
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Realestate

Burton ~ Salomon ~ Nitro ~ New and Used Demos Come talk to the resort's most
experienced snowboard outfitters.
Store Sale 20 - 50% OFF
Ski and Snowboard Rentals and Sales
1 mike south of WV 66 ~ 304 572-4173

Open Daily 7:30 am - 11 pm, Later on Friday

Largest Ski and Snowboard Rental Co. in the Southeast 304 572-1234
Located at the corner of Rt. 219 and Rt. 66
LOWER RATES ~ FRIENDLY SERVICE
All Ski & Snowboard Clothing and Equipment
ON SALE!!!
Entire 2nd Floor DISCOUNTED

SNOWBOARD & SKI RENTALS
Great Quality, Great Prices
Daily 7:30 am - 11 pm
Friday 7:30 am - 2 am    304 572-1200
route66@neumedia.net

Restaurant
at the Inn at SnowShoe ~ EVERY WEEKEND ~
SHOW COOKERY & BUFFET STATION
Room service available 6:30 am- 1 am
Lounge hours
Mon. - Fri. 4:30 pm - 1 am
Sat. amd Sun. 1 pm to 1 am
Menu Items available daily 'til 1 am
~ 304 572-1000 ~

Open 7 AM until 9 PM
Home of the $4 breakfast!
Located on the corner of
Rt. 219 and Rt. 66

An intimate off-mountain dining experience
Featuring an International Buffet with
live local music each Thursday nite.
5 miles south of WV 66 on US 219
Open Thursday thru Monday evenings
For reservations call:     304 572-3771
Privately owned and operated Since 1982

Douglass S. Keith, Broker
Beverly Figg, GRI ~ Matt Matthews
Raymond Godwin     304 572-5687
P.O. Box 364 Snowshoe, WV 26209
Visit our Office in Shaver's Centre, Snowshoe Mountain

Presenting the Height of Luxury
Allegheny Springs at Snowshoe Mountain
Yours to own 1-800-489-1943

Mountain Country Properties
304 572-4663      mcpinfo@neumedia.net
David Curtis, Broker ~ Christine Butler, Associate Broker
Sales Associates: Debbie Goodwin, Cathy McGee, Bet Curtis P.O. Box 7
Slaty Fork, WV 26291
Rt. 66, ¼ mile from
Snowshoe Entrance

Glades Hardware

Marlinton WV
304 799-4912

Calhoun & Kipp
Unique Items from around the world.
Mon. thru Sat. 10 am 'til 9 pm
Sunday 9 am 'til 8 pm
304 572-5250

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	Douglass S. Keith, Broker Beverly Figg, GRI ~ Matt Matthews Raymond Godwin 304 572-5687 P.O. Box 364 Snowshoe, WV 26209
Visit our Office in Shaver's Centre, Snowshoe Mountain