Timberline Mountain — Hotel in Davis

While I have been back to the Canaan Valley area several times in the past few years, it had been almost 10 years since I had been skiing here. New ownership has done a fantastic job with facility upgrades and snow making capability. I skied at Canaan Valley on Thursday when temps were in the mid 50s and it was pretty bad, in fact most of the open trails should have been closed and they had hardly any base at all except on Gravity. Came to Timberline the next day expecting similar conditions and was blown away that they were almost fully open(only 2 trails closed that they were actively working on and were open by midday) and also had great base snow almost everywhere on the mountain.

The new 6-pack lift is incredible, gets you to the top pretty fast even if the gate area is a bit of a fiasco when it gets busy. Twister was a new trail for me that wound up being my favorite of the day and as someone who has been skiing Canaan since the early 90s, Salamander was as fun and nostalgic as it always was. I've always felt Timberline was the best mountain in WV and even on the East Coast, at least from all the places I've skied in the area and it was better than I had remembered it with all the new upgrades. They have 2 terrain/jump parks now and a newer beginner area with a carpet lift where the kids and newbies can learn the basics. Plenty of seating area inside the food court and outside on the deck if it's warm and a fairly nice gift/ski shop downstairs that has a limited selection of items in case you forget any of your gear. Can't speak to the rentals since I have my own gear. Food court is a bit pricey, $12 for 3 bottled waters, but they also didn't seem to mind people bringing in their own food and drink. We grilled some brats in the parking lot and posted up in the lodge area with chips and guac and some beers we brought with us and they were fine with it. Many others brought in outside food/drink and it wasn't a problem. They have a really nice bar area upstairs with a good selection of beer and liquor.

Overall great experience, lift tickets are a bit pricey(the new RFID system is pretty cool though and you can reload your tickets cheaper online, buy multiple day passes and also get credits back if you don't ski a full day, etc.), but that's an issue everywhere right now and you can tell the ownership is putting the money back into the mountain. Even heard some whispers from the locals that they are trying to buy Canaan Valley Ski area from the state so they can upgrade it as well and make Canaan one of the premier ski locations on the East Coast. Would love to see that because it's clear the state isn't that interested in putting any money or upgrades into their ski area. Timberline meanwhile seems to be reinvigorated(and has done wonders for the local economy which was slumping the last few times I've been up) and you wouldn't know that it had been pouring rain and in the 50s-60s for several weeks with the quality of the trails.

Edit: 3/12/2023

Back again for another 2-day trip. Conditions were fantastic, they do an amazing job keeping the trails open even in rough conditions that have Canaan and other places closed. Wanted to add something to the prior review that I sadly noticed this time out and that is the weekends are getting so crowded it's dangerous. Lots of first timers/beginners out on trails they have no business being on, throngs of people stopping in the middle of the trails and in high speed areas. We saw 5 people get taken off the mountain on the prior Saturday visit and this time saw another 4, including a serious injury where they had to close a portion of a trail to clean up blood. So if you are looking to go, try for a weekday when there is less of a crowd and it's much safer. The weekend crowds are getting dangerous and sadly it doesn't seem like Ski Patrol does a good job of keeping people from stopping in dangerous...

I live in NC but my family is from WV and grew up skiing in the valley so when this place re-opened I was excited to give it a try. We had typical "mid-atlantic" weather while we were there, mid thirties when we arrived the first day, rained 2" the next day and then temperatures dropped into the teens the day we skied. Most of the snow covered roads and areas turned to a complete sheet of ice so I was somewhat concerned about conditions, however TL did a great job of grooming and conditions were a non issue. I did take issue with their grooming plan though, because of the rain, they waited and did a delayed groom on the mountain, but they started East and worked their way West. So when we got to the top of the lift your two options were Salamander and White Lightning. What this resulted in was a lot of intermediate skiers bombing and falling down an overcrowded white lightning, it felt unsafe. I would recommend the resort in the future groom based on trail rating instead of moving north to south based on logistics. The mountain also has a bit of a quirky layout, the trail map is somewhat misleading as the smaller quad does not reach far up the mountain. I believe this leads most beginners to use the main 6 person lift so they can access Salamander which is a really great trail for beginners. Because of this, you probably have about 90% of mountain traffic funneled through this lift, with beginners and experts on the same lift which on other mountains I typically try to avoid. The lift is extremely fast though, so it handles crowds well, and if there were no crowds you could probably do 4 to 6 laps an hour if you wanted. The cafeteria was decent, nothing special but nothing to complain about, the one singing employee cooking hamburgers was entertaining though. They have no facilities or portable restrooms on the summit so your only option is to use the single hole restrooms at the lodge which can form a long line. I would recommend the resort replace those immediately with group restrooms. Single hole restrooms at a busy ski resort is just kind of crazy. Not a huge fan of the pricing, supposed to be a "family" owned place but I don't feel like this is encouraged by their model. No week day or half day lift tickets are sold and there is only a small discount for kids under 12. Probably good for them but bad for a family that takes 1 to 2 trips a year. A family of 4 will likely spend over $600 on lift tickets for two days which is kind of unreal to me. If the pricing was a little less I would probably be less picky on some of the items above. Also, the refusal to join the Indy pass also just kind of rubs me the wrong way. Almost like they feel they are better than the other indendent resorts. Overall, I will still vacation with my family in the valley, but if the snow is good, I'm probably going to stick with Canaan. If the snow is not good, I may or may not...

I went for the full experience and stayed at the hotel just at the base of the mountain at Timberline. Our surprisingly well furnished and well-kept room had a balcony that directly overlooked a trail. I could literally ski from the top of the mountain right to my room! Additionally, the lifts were about 10 meters from my room so it was a short walk up a snow bank, a quick strap on of the skis and voila, you're skiing. You can just park the car and forget it and avoid any type of lines if you buy your lift tickets in advance as I did when I checked in.

I just returned from a trip (last weekend of March) and ALL of the trails were open including the famous Salamander. I would say the green trails have some steep bits which make them challenging for beginners but certainly doable. The beginner slope is fun and great for kids starting out and the the instructors are amazing. My wife was on the lifts in under 2 hours from having never skied before.

Even though the resort itself looks beautiful on the inside, as the other reviews have noted, it needs a renovation. It's not Aspen in other words but the resort makes up for it with a cozy feel and the staff go out of their way to make you feel welcome. They offered heavy discounts due to the inclement weather (rain) and my 5 year old got free lift tickets (I believe that applies to all those 5 and under but don't quote me). The hotel has obviously been renovated so I would consider that to be fully up-to-date with modern standards including a nice jacuzzi in the room.

But it's all about the skiing isn't it? Indeed, the trails are wonderful and challenging. The 2 mile Salamander is beautiful and worth it even for pros just for the views. I did a few blues that were nice and wide and they have plenty of forest tracks which are great fun. I noticed the black diamonds looked terrifying so I'm sure that appeals to the extremists.

Overall, the place had such a warm and family-like feel. The food at the restaurants was great and can best be described as "country cookin" with plenty of variations. We had a lasagne that was seriously delicious and I even surprised the cook with my compliment. My little girl was always pampered and most importantly, everything seemed to be run in a safe manner. I highly...