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Vol. 4 No. 1 January 2005 | 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 |
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Vol. 4 No. 1 January 2005 | 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 |
 January AROUND THE COUNTY January 7 Film Fest Friday National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, 304-456-2150 Come enjoy a great movie and discussion with the NRAO staff. Begins at 6:30 p.m. January 8 Star Party National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, 304-456-2150 NRAO Staff will orient you to the star-filled sky and then view the night sky on the Star Party Patio. Bring optical telescopes and binoculars - you won’t believe the view! January 12 High Tech Wednesday National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, 304-456-2150 Join us for a guided tour through parts of NRAO normally off limits to visitors like lab areas where sensitive receivers are designed and built. Space is limited to 15; cost is $3.00 so make reservations early. January 13 Star Lab National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, 304-456-2150 Gather at the planetarium balloon every Thursday for a unique look at the sky. There is a $3.00 charge per person and reservations are suggested. January 20 Star Lab National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, 304-456-2150 Gather at the planetarium balloon every Thursday for a unique look at the sky. There is a $3.00 charge per person and reservations are suggested. January 27 Star Lab National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, 304-456-2150 Gather at the planetarium balloon every Thursday for a unique look at the sky. There is a $3.00 charge per person and reservations are suggested. January 29 Jimmy Costa at the Pocahontas County Opera House Pocahontas County Opera House 818 Second Avenue Marlinton, 800-336-7009 One of West Virginia’s best known musicians, Costa plays fiddle and banjo, sings, and teaches classes in traditional mountain music at festivals and workshops across the state. Looking ahead... Feb. 11 Solazo at the Pocahontas County Opera House. A unique blend of Latin contemporary dance music and soulful ballads that appeal to all ages and cultures. 7:30 p.m. $5.00 admission.
On The
Mountain
January 2 – 5 College Winter Break
College students converge on Snowshoe Mountain for the biggest party week of the year. Huge happy hour bashes, live entertainment and wild games on and off the slopes make Snowshoe the perfect spot for your Winter Break.
Feb. 3 - 5 € Jose Cuervo Games of Winter and Super Bowl Weekend. Two of the best events on the mountain combine forces over the first weekend in February. Start off the weekend with the legendary Cuervo Games of Winter and then roll the fun into Sunday at our Super Bowl Bash in the Connection Night Club.
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Eager Beaver Wood Shop is packed with handmade pieces from West Virginia artists, woodworkers, jewelry makers, weavers, quilters, potters and candle makers.
Photo by Drew Tanner
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Drew Tanner
Staff Writer
New to the Village at Snowshoe as of this year, Eager Beaver Wood Shop is
an ecologically conscious company featuring handcrafted furniture produced
from Appalachian hardwoods.
Eager Beaver's master woodcarvers and furniture makers specialize in quality
crafted, rustic and traditional pieces created from standing dead or already
downed trees. No two pieces are completely alike, as the artists allow the
natural contours and character of the wood to dictate their designs,
resulting in strikingly beautiful pieces.
Poster beds made from a combination of locust and walnut, uniquely formed
bowls carved from the burls of oak and ash, dining room tables and benches
made from wormy chestnut or tables featuring rough-cut slabs of red maple
for their tops are just a few of the shop's eye-catching offerings.
Finishes range from rough, rustic pieces to smooth, sleek works that have
the feel of polished stone.
A wood burl bowl, carved from ash, is one of
the wood shop's most eye catching offerings.
Photo by Drew Tanner
The dazzling craftsmanship and creative touch aren't just limited to
woodworking, either.
Forged iron curtain rods and candleholders grace Eager Beaver's walls and
shelves, as well.
Eager Beaver Wood Shop has also joined with local artisans from Pocahontas
County and throughout the state to bring customers the most unique blown
glass, pottery, weavings, quilts, jewelry, metalwork, carved items and
paintings that West Virginia has to offer.
Work by the shop's featured Pocahontas County artists include pottery by
Vicki Hungate, of Snowshoe, jewelry by Cindy Stalnaker, also of Snowshoe,
and furniture by John Friel, of Cass.
The pottery found
at the woodshop combines beautiful forms with day-to-day
functionality.
Photo by Drew Tanner
Other artists from Belington, Chloe and Beverly specialize in jewelry,
wood-burned panels, burl bowls, glass work, hand-woven baskets, quilts and
pottery.
The Eager Beaver wood shop's manager Jimmy Starkey, Jr., showcases his own
wood burning, engraved signs, and soy candles as well.
Custom wood panels featuring
geometric patterns can be made to order by Eager Beaver's
craftsmen and can be used for floors, ceilings or walls.
Photo by Drew Tanner
The shop also sells natural soaps, moisturizing creams and lip balms from
the Fernwood Soap Company.
Furniture? Artwork? Pottery? Natural soaps? If you're looking for that
perfect, one-of-a-kind gift for someone special or perhaps a new item to
grace your own home, be sure to take a break from the slopes and check out
the Eager Beaver Wood Shop.
Handmade glassware, jewelry, soaps and candles (above) from
West Virginia artisans make wonderful gifts. Of course, you might find
something for yourself as well.
Photo by Drew Tanner
Rough cut boards (right) wait to be
transformed into tables, benches, shelves or signs. Pieces found in Eager
Beaver are inspired by the wood's natural contours.
Photo by Drew Tanner
A white winter abundance
Jeff Tumblin monitors Snowshoe Mountain's fully automated snowmaking
system. Realtime data from pumps and compressors flashes across the screen.
Photo by Drew Tanner
Let it snow... Or make it!
Drew Tanner
Staff Writer
How does a winter resort in West Virginia boast snowfall conditions similar
to resorts in the northeast?
First, by putting a lot of faith in Mother Nature, who graces the slopes
with an average of 180 inches of the white stuff each year.
When Mother Nature is feeling uncooperative, however, Snowshoe Mountain's
high-tech snowmaking capabilities and a top-notch crew of snowmakers
maintain the resort's superior conditions.
With an arsenal of more than 400 snow guns, 15 high-powered compressors
and 10 pumps to draw the water from the resort's lakes, crews can lay down a
blanket of the white stuff at the rate of 2,500 tons per hour when the
conditions are right.
Massive radiators cool the compressed air coming out of the Shavers
Compressor Station. Air exiting the compressors must be cooled from 260º F
to approximately 34º F
Photo by Drew Tanner
At Snowshoe Mountain's Shavers Compressor Building, Energy Center Manager
Jeff Tumblin provided a behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating
snow.
"What we make snow on is not the actual temperature," Tumblin explained.
"We take the actual temperature and factor in humidity and wind speed."
More power! While water is an obvious ingredient for snowmaking, the guns
on Snowshoe Mountain must also receive a steady supply of air. Six giant air
compressors rated at more than 1,000 horsepower each, in the Shavers
Compressor Station, pump air to the guns on the resort's slopes when
conditions are right for cranking out the white stuff.
Photo by Drew Tanner
"Last week, the actual temperature was 40ºF, but the humidity was 30%."
With that combination of factors, the guns were able to fire," Tumblin said.
In other words, temperatures don't have to fall below freezing in order to
make snow, so long as the humidity is sufficiently low.
That explains how, in spite of unseasonable warm weather, Snowshoe Mountain
was able to open its slopes on December 3 to begin its 31st season.
The outside air temperature isn't the only temperature Tumblin has to take
into consideration. The air that comes out of the compressors used in the
snowmaking process is well above water's 220ºF boiling point.
"The air that comes out of the compressor is about 260ºF," Tumblin
continued. "We cool that down to about 34, 35, whatever we can get it down
to without freezing the radiators up."
The radiators Tumblin referred to are similar to those used to keep
your car's engine cool, but in size there's no comparison. An array of
massive radiators sits outside the compressor building, taking advantage of
the cool outside air.
The air and the water pumped from Shavers, Silver Creek and Western
Territory Lakes are distributed to the slopes by a network of more than 40
miles of underground supply lines, according to Tumblin.
Snow guns on the resort's slopes were running around the clock early in the
season. The resort is capable of laying down up to 2,500 tons of snow per
hour.
Photo by Drew Tanner
Hydrants tap into these lines at 100-foot intervals along the resort's
slopes.
When the conditions are right for snowmaking, air is pumped at a pressure of
70 to 90 pounds per square inch and water at 560 psi to the snow guns,
according to Tumblin.
Some guns, which have their own air compressors and do not rely on the air
supplied by the compressor house, can pump out 250 gallons of water, which
rapidly crystallizes into snow flakes, per minute.
All told, the resort's guns can put down an impressive amount of snow.
"We can pump approximately 8,000 gallons of water per minute," Tumblin
said.
That translates into the aforementioned 2,500 tons of fresh snow per hour.
Snowshoe Mountain's fully automated snowmaking
system cranking out the white stuff
Photo by Drew Tanner
Put another way, it's the equivalent of covering five football fields with
a foot of snow in one hour.
"We don't move to another slope until we get three-to-five feet down,"
Tumblin continued. "That way we don't have to come back later."
"Until we've got it all covered, we're running 24 hours a day with
everybody we've got," he said.
Even though manmade, these flakes are not artificial or fake. For the 39
slopes of the Snowshoe Area, Snowshoe Mountain recycles water from the
resort's 40-acre, 125 million gallon Shavers Lake. Essentially, the resort
produces its snow the same way Mother Nature does, just without the clouds.
"Last year we pumped over 300 million gallons of water," Tumblin added.
"That's basically draining and filling up Shavers Lake three times."
The process is the same in the Silver Creek area and Western Territory,
covering all 57 of the resort's slopes.
As the snow melts, of course, it flows back into the lakes at the base of
the slopes at both resorts and on the Western Territory.
Once Mother Nature kicks in with the natural white stuff, the snowmaking
operation backs off, according to Tumblin, and shifts to nighttime
operations, taking advantage of the lower electricity rates for the
power-intensive process.
The next time you're sliding down the slopes, glance under your skis and
think about all Mother Nature and Snowshoe Mountain's snow making team, have
laid before you. ‡
ADVENTURES IN GOOD EATING
This friendly snowman greet guests in Elihu's dining room. The restaurant
offers a wide variety of food, friendly service and pleasant atmosphere.
Photo by Pam Pritt
Eat at the bottom, feel like you're on top
Pamela Pritt
Managing Editor
If you're looking for a place to eat close to Snowshoe Mountain Resort, but
you don't want to climb that mountain, look no farther than Elihu's on Rt.
66.
Now under new management, the restaurant has a new menu and a new slogan
"Eat at the bottom, feel like you're on top."
That's possible three times a day.
Elihu's serves breakfast, offering eggs cooked any way you like them, with
bacon or ham and potatoes and toast or a biscuit. The restaurant also has
Eggs Benedict two poached eggs with ham and Hollandaise sauce.
If you're in the mood for something a little sweeter, the usual pancakes are
on the menu, but so is something a little unusual. The "Sweet Special" is
two sweet potato pancakes topped with a dash of cinnamon and powdered sugar.
Also, for the carb-conscious, a "South Beach" breakfast includes three eggs
covered in cheddar cheese and a choice of two meats.
Omelets are also available with ham and cheese, western, cheese, or have it
your way. If they have it, you've got it, according to the menu.
For lunch, Elihu's has a variety of sandwiches and a soup of the day, as
well as a homemade chili all the time.
Sandwiches include the roast beef and swiss melt, which comes with real
hunks of roast beef, lettuce and tomato. The three-bean chili is loaded with
ground beef and has "just the right kick to it." Soup-of-the-day was a
turkey and wild rice with vegetables a nice warm-up on a cold day in
Pocahontas County.
Sweet potato fries are something new to the restaurant and are quite a treat
served with a horseradish sauce, and are also available with honey mustard
sauce.
All sandwiches are served with french fries, but sweet potato fries can be
substituted for an additional $1.
There's also a seasonal fruit platter with turkey salad or cottage cheese
and egg or tuna salad.
For dinner, Elihu's has Suzi's Salmon with dill sauce, and an apple-smoked
stuffed pork chop. Seafood entrees include a Calabash-style shrimp platter
and North Carolina flounder either broiled, fried or blackened. And if
that doesn't make you hungry enough, a roast turkey dinner complete with
stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce rounds out the menu.
Delicious desserts await you after a filling meal at Elihu's. The peanut
butter chocolate mousse pie and pumpkin pie are just two of the choices
available at the restaurant.
Photo by Pam Pritt
For dessert, the chocolate peanut butter pie is truly filling. It's rich and
creamy and as sweet as sweet can be. The pumpkin pie, which is available in
season, is smaller and lighter, but just as satisfying to the sweet tooth.
And there's more! Go find out for yourself what Elihu's has to offer. You'll
feel like you're on top! ‡
captions: Photos by Pam Pritt
Delicious desserts await you after a filling meal at Elihu's. The peanut
butter chocolate mousse pie and pumpkin pie are just two of the choices
available at the restaurant.
This friendly snowman greet guests in Elihu's dining room. The restaurant
offers a wide variety of food, friendly service and pleasant atmosphere.
WV beats out western bike meccas
Almost (mountain biking) Heaven
Kristy Mantz, of Marlinton and Team Snowshoe/ Dirtbean.com, shows off her
form in a recent race.
Photo courtesy Dirtbean Racing
Drew Tanner
Staff Writer
After being ranked as the nation's top state for mountain biking, it's only
fitting that West Virginia would have its own professional team for the
sport.
With easy access to some of the best trails in the area, that team has
found its home in Marlinton.
On December 13, the International Mountain Biking Association released its
sixth annual report card of mountain biking locations throughout the country
and around the world.
West Virginia was the only state in the country to receive a grade of "A"
on the report card, while traditional mountain biking meccas such as Utah,
Colorado and Arizona came in at "A-."
A press release from IMBA noted it was the first time a state east of the
Mississippi River had taken the survey's top honors.
Almost simultaneously, Chad Mantz, DirtBean Racing's team manager,
announced that his mountain biking team had received title sponsorship from
Snowshoe Mountain Resort for the 2005 racing season.
DirtBean Racing is based in Marlinton at DirtBean Halé, the team's
dedicated training facility, full service bike shop and coffee/smoothie bar.
In addition to Snowshoe Mountain sponsorship, the team is sponsored by
Technix Bikes (frames), Fox Forks (forks) and Crank Brothers (pedals and
tools), according to Mantz.
Marlinton-based Team Snowshoe/DirtBean.com features established professional
mountain bike racers from West Virginia, including Kristy Mantz, of
Marlinton; Mandie Riddle, of Elkins; and Bryan Fawley, of Webster Springs.
Semi-pros Joe Stone, of Charleston, and Joey Riddle, of Elkins, round out
the DirtBean roster.
The team will race in the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series and be
featured at the series' fourth stop at Snowshoe, August 19-21, in addition
to regional races throughout the Mid-Atlantic states, Mantz said.
Mantz himself is also a top racer in the Xterra off-road triathlon series
and plans to conduct an off-road triathlon camp, for the novice to the
professional triathlete, at Snowshoe Mountain Resort June 9-12, he added.
Between now and the start of the racing season, Mantz and the team are
keeping busy with preparations.
"We're coordinating riders, lining up travel plans, finding and ordering
uniforms, piecing together the bikes and getting all the press releases
out," Mantz said.
Once the season gets underway, Team Snowshoe/ DirtBean.com riders will have
a packed schedule.
"We'll be doing over 20 races this season, with a pretty good concentration
in the mid-Atlantic area," he continued. "A couple of our upper-end pros
will be going out nationally and internationally."
Mantz said he would also be crossing his fingers for his riders to be able
to compete at races in Spain or France, if funding permits.
With the recognition of West Virginia as the country's mountain biking hot
spot and the news of Snowshoe's sponsorship, Mantz is looking forward to
what the season holds in store for Team Snowshoe/ DirtBean.com.
"Once we get this team a little bit more solidified, it will be doing what
I hoped it would do," Mantz said. "In this first year we will have already
amassed most of West Virginia's mountain biking talent. Then we can start
building on that group in year two." ‡
Jimmy Costa brings music and folklore to the Opera House
West Virginia master fiddler Jimmy Costa of Summers County will bring his mixture of music and folklore to the Pocahontas County Opera House in Marlinton for a performance on Saturday, January 22, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 and will be available at the door.
The Opera House in Marlinton privodes an
entertainment venue offering music, drama and dance.
Photo by Drew Tanner
In addition to his fame as a singer and performer on the fiddle and banjo, Costa is also passing along his love of traditional mountain music to a new generation by teaching at The Allegheny Echoes Workshops in Pocahontas County, the Augusta Heritage Workshops at Davis and Elkins College, and other workshops and festivals around the state. He is also a craftsman and curator and conservator of antique farm implements and tools of this region..
The Pocahontas County Opera House is located at 818 Third Avenue in Marlinton. Opera House performances are informal, family-friendly and open to all. Persons with disabilities are encouraged to attend; special accommodations can be arranged upon request. For further information, call 800-336-7009, or (304) 799-4636.
This concert is part of the 2004-05 Performance Series sponsored by the Pocahontas County Opera House Foundation with financial assistance through a grant from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts. Financial support is also provided by Pocahontas County Drama, Fairs and Festivals. ‡
West Virginia events, locales top magazine's 'Reader's Choice' list
Readers of Blue Ridge Outdoors, an outdoors magazine that covers people, events and destinations throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, chose a variety of West Virginia offerings for the publication's 2004 "Reader's Choice Awards."
Readers chose from four categories: Athletes, Destinations, Happenings and Trail Mix, and West Virginia connections were present in each.
Topping the list and their categories were:
Other West Virginia connections selected as runner-up included the Upper Gauley and New Rivers (Best Paddling Rivers), Glade Creek (Best Swimming Hole) and Wild Zone on Snowshoe Mountain (Most Likely Spot To Flip Over Your Handlebars). ‡
In celebration of Mountain Times 3rd year online,
we thought you'd like to review the earlier postings.
Feb. 2002 |
March 2002 |
Apr. 2002 |
May 2002 |
June 2002
Jan. 2003 |
Feb. 2003 |
March 2003 |
Apr. 2003 |
May 2003 |
June 2003
Jan. 2004 |
Feb. 2004 |
March 2004
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April 2004
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May 2004
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June 2004
July 2002 |
Aug. 2002 |
Sept. 2002 |
Oct. 2002 |
Nov. 2002
July 2003 |
Aug. 2003 |
Sept. 2003 |
Oct. 2003 |
Nov. 2003 |
Dec. 2003
July 2004
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August 2004
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Sept. 2004
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Oct. 2004
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Nov. 2004 |
Dec. 2004
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P.O. Box 7 Slaty Fork, WV 26291 on Rt. 219, about 1 mile south of Rt. 66 intersection. |
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