Canaan Valley offers down-home downhill fun

CANAAN VALLEY, W.Va. -- Why would southwestern Pennsylvania skiers by-pass past such well-developed, downhill resorts as Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, Mystic Rock and Wisp to sample the slopes of this state park in the mountains of eastern West Virginia?

Perhaps it's the altitude.

Set on the edge of the vast Monongahela National Forest near Seneca Rocks and Dolly Sods, the 15-mile-long Canaan Valley (pronounced Ka NANE), at 3,200 feet above sea level, claims to be the highest valley east of the Rockies.

Relatively remote from major cities, especially in winter, the Canaan Valley was worked hard for many decades, clear cut and strip-mined. Its touristic charms weren't discovered until after World War II. Some years later, groups of Washington, D.C., area skiers started to pioneer their way up the mountain sides looking for downhill challenges.

With Weiss Mountain peaking out at 4,280 feet, the folks who laid out the first slopes down its northern face in the early 1970s managed to take advantage of 850 feet of that vertical drop, ranking the slopes at Canaan Valley Resort and Conference Center high among Tri-State ski areas.

Over the past three decades, more than 80 acres for skiing have been carved out of Weiss Mountain's forested flanks. The main slope areas are serviced by two chair lifts, a two-year-old, four-person lift (or quad), and a triple, which roughly parallel each other to the top. Another triple chair runs up the beginners' slopes, with a rope tow in the tubing area. Ten of the runs are lighted for night skiing.

The resort's longest run, named Dark Side of the Moon, stretches more than a mile of skiing out of that vertical drop, but most of its 33 other runs are considerably shorter. Although the valley averages 150 inches of the natural snow each winter (nearly 250 inches last year), Canaan's snow guns can reach 85 percent of its skiing surfaces.

As my two sons and I discovered over Martin Luther King weekend, that snow-making ability is important when Mother Nature proves capricious. But more than altitude, acreage or even access, Canaan's biggest attraction is attitude.

Precisely because it is something of a rarity, a full scale ski area with a four-season resort lodge set in a state park, Canaan's development has been carefully controlled and relatively restrained.

Although a variety of other accommodation options are sprinkled throughout the valley, including small inns, condo complexes and vacation houses, the Canaan ski area has no high-rise hotels or slope-side condos. The only places to stay in the park itself are situated in and around the lodge, a free, one-mile shuttle-bus ride away.

That combination of distance and state park restraint has created a slope of a different slant.

Rather than the high energy that bubbles constantly in and around so many ski areas these days, the resort features little glitzy organized nightlife and a lack of urgency, which I've found fosters relaxation and a sense of play. Even when a lift would pause for a skier who mismanaged a takeoff or landing, there was no impatience. What you see is what there is.

The two-year-old Bear Paw Lodge at the base of the mountain is simple and sufficient, a relatively inexpensive cafeteria and large, clean lunch room filled with tables and chatting families. For skiers desiring stronger libations and large-screen TVs, there's Weiss Haus lounge, but even there no one seemed to be overdoing it.

The prevailing atmosphere is definitely G-rated and family-oriented, not a destination for confirmed party hounds, unless, of course, they bring their own party.

However, for skiers seeking an uncomplicated, down-home atmosphere with plenty of downhill challenges, Canaan fills the bill. Even on that busy holiday weekend, the lift lines were short and the patrons unfailingly polite, even the snowboarders.

The lodge's 250 rooms are in five two-story multi-unit buildings, which lie on each end of its conference center, where, in addition to a large dining room and snack bar, there's an indoor pool with a sauna and whirlpool, a work-out room, a video arcade and a gift shop. Ten tree-named meeting rooms, four of which can accommodate up to 200 people in theater-style seating, complete the conference center package. Twenty-three cabins with fireplaces and two, three, or four bedrooms are nestled in the nearby woods and can be rented by the night or week. There's an outdoor skating rink and cross-country ski center and, in less snowy seasons, an 18-hole golf course.

I was pleasantly surprised by our room, which cost just $136 per holiday weekend night, a relative bargain for three people. While hardly plush, it was clean, comfortable and sufficient for our needs, featuring two double beds, a large TV with the full gamut of satellite channels and plenty of heat. The shower was hot and strong, the vanity area had a hair dryer, a nice selection of herbal soaps and shampoos, and there was complimentary coffee.

Perhaps most important, there was no loud, late-night carousing, even though the lodge was filled with various school and church groups. To be sure, there was much merriment, but no gallivanting. In fact, several deer hung around on the snow-covered volleyball court below our room all weekend, graciously accepting food handouts.

We generally opted for the easy and affordable Aspen Dining Room in the main lodge. The breakfast buffet line offered the usual array of pancakes, French toast, omelet bar, fried potatoes and steamed grits, ample fuel for a day on the slopes. The dinner menu featured a variety of more involved dishes, from well-prepared trout to thick steaks and chops, simply but graciously served in front of the large windows fronting the snow-covered valley.

That view was of particular interest that Saturday night. The natural snow had been sparse when we arrived the previous evening, but thanks to the efforts of the snow-making crews, we spent an enjoyable Saturday exploring the slopes, where two-thirds of the runs were open for business.

The skiing was decent, even if the view was obscured by a thickening mist. With no lines to speak of, we were able to ski down and right onto the lifts virtually every time, making it easy to get in a lot of runs from top to bottom. (One odd note, however, is the placement of the two lower lift stations, which require everyone to make a short uphill trudge from the Bear Paw base lodge and Weiss Haus.)

By late afternoon, the weather had changed. After a brief window of clearing, which finally let us appreciate the broad view of the valley from the top of the mountain, icy snow began to fall or, more exactly, to blow sideways.

That made the skiing more problematic. Having covered all of the available mountain several times, we decided to pack it in a bit earlier than we might have otherwise done, retiring to our room for a bit of serious Bear boy bonding. The flakes were falling furiously and starting to pile up when we turned in for the night, dreaming of finding fresh powder in the morning.

What a disappointment it was to awake the next morning to a steady drip of rain, which had melted away all the new coverage outside our window. The rain had stopped by the time we had finished a leisurely breakfast, so we decided to see what the slopes were like.

To our surprise, though damp, the slopes were still covered with sufficient base to get from top to bottom with no difficulty. After we had made a dozen runs, however, wind-driven sleet began falling, which shortened our day on the slopes and canceled a plan to check out the trails at the White Grass Cross Country Ski touring center a few miles away. Instead, we retreated to our room to watch the NFC championship game.

Fortunately, we were able to get a chance to visit White Grass for dinner later that day. A warm refuge on a frigid night, the little lodge is the epitome of down-home hospitality, cozy, comfortable, unpretentious, but with a buffet line of natural food entrees that were as interesting as they were delicious. Its affable owners, Chip Chase and Laurie Little, have been maintaining the trails and serving up home cooking for more than 20 years.

Although by no means did I get to experience all the wintry pleasures the Canaan Valley has to offer, their infectious enthusiasm definitely left me with a desire to come back for a second helping, and not only the food at White Grass, or even its cross-country trails. There are many ways to enjoy wintertime in the valley.