Marcus and I will be skiing what's left of Seven Springs this Saturday 3/27. We might even ski free at Hidden Valley the next day (canned food donation or $10.00). Anybody else gonna be there?

I am closing out my season with the 1st week of April at Vail/Beaver Creek, so I will miss the last weekend. I must say this has been one of the best ski seasons, from a conditions standpoint, that I have experienced here in the Mid-Atlantic banana belt. This is the first time I have ever had to shovel out my 1st floor windows! They were almost entirely coverd. The amount of snow we received at HV was incredible. Well in excess of 230". It's going to be some time before we have another winter like this, I believe.
Next year, hopefully, we may have new ski terrain at HV AND ... we may be skiing on 900+ feet of vertical at Laurel Mountain. Thus we have something great to look forward too.

LHC - I hope to be buying you a beer at the Laurel Mountain Lodge next December!

Rob, you are a true diehard!!!

Snowsmith, I have heard nothing about Laurel. Some people in the Village are convinced it will open this year; however, I am not one of them. We'll see. I wish Seven Springs or the state would make some sort of announcement before the end of June whether or not they are going to try to open Laurel this upcoming year.

Oh, by the way, my wife & I had a Miller Lite with the CEO of Buncher a couple of weeks ago at Glaciers. He was very upbeat about the future of HV. He also told me one or two things about Laurel that I can't divulge, but I am convinced to this day that Laurel would have been opened in 08-09 by Buncher if it weren't for the dunderheads at the state.

Anyone heard anything about Laurel, even a rumor?

Did the CEO have any news on the Outback area expansion? Are they looking to have that in place next season?

Any other news you can divulge from your conversation?

Not really anything real newsworthy. We spoke about all of the improvements to the entire resort; TB's very proud of the all of the hard work his people have done to bring HV back. They are very committed to keep improving HV. I can only assume that they are getting some ROI.

I believe Leo, in another thread, has stated that Scott Bender has relayed to several people that they plan on opening the Outback area this year. I didn't bring that subject up with TB.

We talked at length about the upcoming golf season and every time I speak to him, I gush about the quality of the course and the beautiful vistas that the golf course presents. Now that ski season is over for most mortals, I would encourage DCSkiers to play a round of golf at HV on a clear, sunny day. Take a camera if you do.

In addition, I've heard that HV has booked somewhere near 60 weddings for this coming season --- keeping the 4-Seasons units, as well as units they manage on top of the hill, at near full occupancy during weekends for the spring/summer/fall season. This compares to nearly no weddings the last summer of Kettler and the first summer of Buncher --- substantial and admirable progress in a short period of time.