Just had this post pop up on facebook.
An indoor/outdoor snowsports park being proposed for the Heritage Farm adventure park
Is it real or hype? Who knows? I never expected the snow tubing to open at Harpers Ferry. It does sounds pie in the sky though. I could see that area being able to support a snowflex outdoor area akin to Liberty University's hill, but an indoor run?
Took a look around the Heritage Farm website. The growth of the place has been slow and deliberate. Opened in the 1990s after the property was purchased in the 1970s. The educational farm stuff came first. The activities such as zip lines and high ropes were added later. The Bike Park construction started after 25 years of operation, partially with funding from a local foundation. The season is May through early November (closed last half of August). Only open Thu-Sat in Sep and Oct. Different types of season passes exist.
The "artist rendering" on the homepage shows a big barn next to a short slope with a bend next to a few tubing runs. Looks like magic carpet.
The shape of the slope reminds me of the Liberty outdoor slope in Lynchburg, VA. The slope at Liberty isn't snow, it's a plastic surface with water misters. Liberty opened in 2009. There are a couple of tubing lanes too. I checked it out one summer. Tubing was more fun than the skiing, but was possible to figure out how to get enough speed to make turns. No chairlift, just a short magic carpet on the teaching slope and a poma for the main slope. Open year round for public use and used for Liberty University PE classes.
Heritage Farm could have snowmaking inside the barn for snowplay. Would be a variation on what Ober Mountain provides based on outdoor snowmaking during the winter season. Ober Gatlinburg (recently renamed by new owner) opened in 1962.
