12-year-old girl dies in ski accident

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Hawes Spencer

emergency A Virginia Beach girl on a spring break trip with her parents and three brothers lost her life March 5 in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia medical center after a ski accident at Snowshoe. According to media reports, the victim was Laila Serpe, a seventh-grader at Cape Henry Collegiate School. “She skied right off that mountain and straight to heaven,” her mother was quoted as saying.

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Patroller dies in Squaw avalanche

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Hawes Spencer

avalanchebackcountryA veteran ski patroller at California’s Squaw Valley resort, who was performing avalanche control work, died in an avalanche March 3, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

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Condo pricing gets aggressive

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Hawes Spencer
Other condos like this one at Soaring Eagle are selling for 50% more.

Other condos like this one at Soaring Eagle are selling for 50% more.

At first, it might look like a misprint, a swanky 2BR condo listed for sale at $329,000 at Snowshoe’s luxe Soaring Eagle Lodge amid a pair of other 2BRs, each asking at least $166,000 (i.e. 50%) more. Over in the nearly-as-new Expedition Station building, there’s a 2BR+den listed for $299,000. If memory serves, that’s at least $100,000 less than such things in Expedition Station were priced just a year ago. Meanwhile, at Allegheney Springs, which always seems to have at least 20 units for sale (never a good sign), there’s a 3BR for $390,000 or about $100K less than a couple of the 2BR units currently listed. And even venerable Whistlepunk is feeling the pricing pressure. There, a 2BR listed by Spruce Realty can be yours for $210,500, again about $100K off the going rate a year or so ago for similar units.

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Intrawest feels the heat in Hawaii

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Hawes Spencer

snowshoe-hawaiiSnowshoe’s owner, Intrawest, is on the receiving end of a spate of lawsuits for a development that isn’t going the way some would-be buyers would have preferred, according to The Maui News. About eight percent of the buyers in phase one of the Honua Kai development on Kaanapali’s North Beach would like to bail, according to the News.

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Jiminy’s turbine discussed by CNN, AP

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Hawes Spencer

snowsoe-jiminyturbine The wind turbine at Jiminy Peak, Massachusetts, is getting some ink these days. Unlike the Associated Press story, which glossed over the bat kills, CNN’s report discussed this controversial aspect of wind energy.

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Local sewer plan gets national diss

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Hawes Spencer

snowshoe-sewer-stockA plan to upgrade the sewage system for Snowshoe Resort got a big hard slam from columnist Ted Williams in FlyRod & Reel magazine. It seems the $23+ million state- and federally-funded project wants to take part of the historic Sharp family farm. Worse for the environment, it wants to run steep pipes amid sensitive karst caves through which groundwater runs and where a spill— the author alleges— could be catastrophic. That column from last April got the attention of the state’s director of Natural Resources who declared that the governor won’t allow such environmental degradation. Three years ago, when this long-brewing plan was getting revealed, the Sierra Club issued a similarly blistering appraisal. A group called 8 Rivers Safe Development has lent its expertise to the situation, but the discussion and debate continue, as the Pocahontas Times reports.

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Roanoke TV ‘caster explains all the snow

Posted on February 28, 2009 by Hawes Spencer
WSLS meteorologist Jeff Haniewich explains storm patterns

WSLS meteorologist Jeff Haniewich explains storm patterns

A Roanoke television meteorologist explains how Snowshoe has been robbing Virginia of snowfall all season. In the report, Snowshoe’s communications manager, Laura Parquette, appears on camera to say that this has been the biggest October-to-January snowfall in 13 years

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Snowshoe’s having a really snowy year

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Hawes Spencer
Snowy times at Snowshoe

Snowy times at Snowshoe

It’s been a snowy year at Snowshoe. According to the official site, there have been 183 inches so far. That’s more than the annual average, and there’s still a month of winter left.

All 60 trails are open, and the average base is 56 inches. This is all pretty amazing, especially when one stops to consider that the traditional thing that drives humans to the slopes of Eastern resorts is snow in their hometown. And Eastern hometowns haven’t had a lot of snowfall this year.

Snowshoe began this season with an unprecedented November three-foot natural snowfall, and resort officials gleefully moved up the opening date for skiing and snowboarding to Friday, November 21.

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Snowboarder dies in tree well

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Hawes Spencer

snowshoe-snowboarder A teenage girl snowboarding at California’s Dodge Ridge Ski Resort likely suffocated after falling into a tree well, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News.

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Remember the founder, Doc Brigham

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Hawes Spencer
Doc Brigham remembered in High Country Press

Doc Brigham remembered in High Country Press

Thomas A. “Doc” Brigham, the man who started Snowshoe Mountain Resort, is fondly remembered by friends and associates in High Country Press, a northwest North Carolina newspaper.

Now commemorated at Snowshoe by the naming of the main transportation center, on the edge of the Village, Brigham, who died November 25 in Birmingham, literally put Snowshoe on the map.

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