History
In 1950 and 1951, members of the Washington Ski Club identified the Canaan Valley side of Cabin Mountain as an opportune place for ski development, based on pilots' reports. Because of its protection from the sun, snow on that side of the mountain often remains until April or later.
The club began slope development in the early 1950s, signing a ten year operational lease with local landowners in 1954. Their slope, named Cabin Mountain Ski Area, featured two rope tows on 40 acres (0.16 km2) of terrain stretching from route 32 to a height of 3,600 feet (1,100 m). Runs extended .25 miles (400 m) down a slope with a vertical drop of 300 feet (91 m). It was the first commercial ski establishment south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The ski area closed in 1962.
In 1955, University of Virginia School of Law student Robert Barton established Weiss Knob Ski Area, climbing the slope of Weiss Knob above the Cabin Mountain site to a height of 3,900 feet (1,200 m). It featured 60 acres (0.24 km2) of terrain serviced by a t-bar as well as three rope tows. This site was acquired by the state of West Virginia in 1959, so Barton reopened "Weiss Knob Ski Area" at a new site on Cabin Mountain's Bald Knob. Opening in fall 1959, the new site featured four rope tows and the first snowmaking equipment in West Virginia; in its first season, 412 inches (10.5 m) of snow fell, burying the equipment and closing the facility for the year. The resort remained open until 1970, when the impending opening of Canaan Valley Resort prompted Barton to go out of business. This new ski area was actually a redevelopment of the original Weiss Knob site; the second Weiss Knob site would be re-opened as the second home of White Grass Ski Touring Center in 1981.
In 1957, the state of West Virginia made its first land acquisition with an eye toward further developing a ski industry in West Virginia. Sarah Maude Thompson Kaemmerling granted 3,149 acres (12.74 km2) to the state in the 1950s for the formation of a state park with the stipulation that the state make a matching 3,000-acre (12 km2) acquisition. The state would go on to claim more than 30 properties between 1964 and 1970. It was not until 1971, however, that the Canaan Valley Resort State Park was established centering on the ski slopes at the southern end of the Valley. In 1972, an 18 hole golf course was also constructed there. The lodge at Canaan Valley Resort State Park Lodge opened in 1977.
The park has been very successful and several private ski operations have opened nearby and in other parts of the state as well.
Read more about this topic: Canaan Valley Resort State Park
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