West Virginia. Wild and… well, wild fits the description perfectly. The sheer abundance of nature, endless hiking trails, and the continuous stream of mountain tops makes West Virginia one of the most beautiful places in America. My most recent experience in WV was at the mountain-top resort, Snowshoe.
WHY WE WENT:
My birthday is at the end of the year, and my wonderful boyfriend gave me a nice shiny new pair of snowboard bindings in preparation for our New Year’s trip to the mountains. The trip included myself, and five guys. If you want to hear about what that was like, you can listen to my podcast recapping the events. I share embarrassing stories of our strange New Years Eve outing.
WHAT WE DID:
It’s an “upside down mountain.” I really loved this lay-out. Instead of the usual resort on bottom, ski-lifts to top design, everything from lodging to grocery to other attractions were on top of the mountain. With that being said, I would encourage taking certain precautions like having a vehicle that can handle steep inclines in winter weather. We traveled in a Jeep Compass and I felt a little nervous in the blizzard-type weather, however our friends made it through the mountains in the same weather in a Nissan sedan. We’re not sure how they made it, but they did, if that gives you hope for your sedan.
The slopes and lifts were widely spread out. I am still a beginner when it comes to snowboarding, so the abundance of green trails were great. Even the blue trails were manageable because the mountain face was wide enough to have long and winding trails. The far more experienced guys I was with enjoyed the runs, but were disappointed that the only weren’t too impressed with the features of the park as they were done with it in only a few runs. However, they were really impressed by the Black Diamond trails. Snowshoe is known for one Black Diamond trail in particular that is over a mile long! That trail is called Cupid’s Cup and is located in the Western Territory of the Mountain. Snowshoe also claims to have the most trails open at a single time in the southeast region or the next day’s lift pass is free. Seemingly, to ensure they don’t have to give out any of those free lift passes, they were constantly making fresh snow on trails for every level of snow-goer.
WHERE WE STAYED:
We stayed in Snowshoe’s Silver Creek Lodge which has its own lift for more park features, as well as multiple trails, and a tubing area. The large building we stayed in was a hotel/condo crossover. There were restaurants and stores as well as pools and a spa. We had the whole hotel experience from checking in a desk to grabbing a luggage cart. However the rooms were condo-like suites. Including a master bedroom, a (tiny) balcony, fireplace, living room, full kitchen, second bedroom, and another bathroom. The kitchen really helped cutting down on eating-out costs. We brought a ton of snacks and food to cook ourselves. The only issue we ran into with the lodging was shower temperature. After a long day on the slopes, accommodating six hot showers can be tough. Unfortunately two people had to endure a freezing cold rinse off.
the grotto grind 
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