We decided to stay at the Canaan Valley Resort & Conference Center. It reminds me of the Inn at Snowshoe. They have clean rooms, an indoor heated pool, indoor hot tub, sauna, gift shop & food - they also have cabins for larger groups. Since Canaan doesn't have any slopeside lodging this is about as close as it gets (across the road). There is a shuttle that runs from the hotel every 20 mins, but parking is ample during the week. Kind of hard to beat $49 pppn for a room that includes the next days liftie! They get ya with the food though... breakfast at the hotel was $$, so tomorrow will be somewhere else. The eatery at the slopes appeared to have a reasonably priced breakfast so keep that in mind & they had reasonably priced lunch items too.
The morning started off bluebird & WINDY! Packed powder would best describe a few areas, but windblown with a few icy spots could be found as well. The recent warm temps have not been good to some of the side trails, but the main runs have plenty. Noon was mashed potatoes & then BOOM, it started snowing! It wasn't enough to make a huge difference today but definitely looking foward to tomorrow at Timberline
We hit the hot tub & then got ready for some dinner. Probably an inch of accumulation during that short time. Feeling adventurous & not wanting another pricey hotel meal, we set out for Davis. Started to reconsider leaving the cozy confides of the resort but keep on going. It was starting to get dark, the snow was still coming down pretty hard, the roads were covered... yada yada, but we headed on out anyways. The roads weren't too bad but visibility was awful. Got a little concerned when we arrived to Davis looking like a ghost town (yeah, things close up early during the week). But the Blackwater Brewing Co was open for business & Mon. is $1/oz steak night... they've got some pretty good brew too. The drive back was even worse! Had to stop a few times when I couldn't see the hood due to blowing snow. Made it back to the hotel though and will try to wrap up this rambling with a few pics:
The deer like hanging out on the volleyball court outside our room:
Rockstar parking of course:
Simple grooming:
Maybe 1 more lane in case the Captn shows up:
Gravity - yep, that helps acceleration:
No lift line :>)
Here's Canaan - it's where you get your rentals, lift tickets, food & locker room:
It started to snow after lunch... and hasn't let up yet (10:45pm EST)
Canaan gets two thumbs up for laid back vibe. We hit it on an off weather pattern, so not going to fault them there. The terrain is shorter than I had envisioned, but this place is definitely worth a visit.
