They say all the ski area upgrades will be completed for this upcoming season...hope so!

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201205310194

Fishnski - do you know how long it took this project to go from intial idea to construction? I was wondering how long this project took in comparison to Laurel Mtn.

No simple answer...first effort was to try to get the improvements funded by a new resort contract management team...in return for a long term lease. No one stepped forward.
So plan B was hatched...and frankly seemed to move forward quite quickly it seems to me.
According to the Canaan Lodge folks when last I spoke with them, the new lodge rooms are supposed to be ready this coming ski season. Time will tell.
The Colonel

Canaan plan was was funded in 2010 when the West Virginia Economic Development Authority authorized a bond issue to pay for the project. The budget was around $25 million with $9 million slated for on hill improvements.

Laurel's $6.5 million was authorized in 2008.

Things at the lodge were well uderway on apr. 24, when i stayed there for my local season ending powder day.

Now; what are they going to do to improve the slopes? The place has a lot of potential.

kinda vague but this is the best we have i guess..

"The state also is spending an additional $8.6 million on ski area improvements - chair lift renovations, a tubing park, shooting range, building repairs, a new snowmaking system and "people movers" to transport guests from the resort's parking lot to the Bear Paw ski lodge and lifts at the bottom of the ski slopes.

"It will get people up the hill a lot faster and with a lot less exertion," Caplinger said.

The state has awarded all remaining construction contracts, except for ski lift renovations, Caplinger said. The last contract should be signed "any day now," he said.

"We will be finishing up all of the essential ski area improvements prior to the upcoming ski season," Caplinger said. "There will be no disruptions."

There Better not be!!!..LOL...The redesigning of the mountain itself...moving lifts and lodges and adding and changing the slope layout...which is what it needs...might happen as im being wheeled into an assisted living area...or Hospice

That's what I thought.

100% of that money should go to improve snowmaking. However, it is nice to hear they are moving the tubing park so prosperity and that pitch will now be legally skiable again.

When Jim K talked with the ski area manager about the upgrades, improved snowmaking was on the list.
See Jim's article about the Feb 10 DCSki weekend at Timberline and Canaan. Lots of details about the ski area upgrades.
The Colonel

I'll be in the area nextweek and will try to get the real picture. Sorry, folks. It's not what they say it's what they are actually doing. Each are different.