Dr. Thomas Brigham (also credited for creating Beech and Sugar) founded the ski resort in 1974 with nine slopes and three chair lifts. By the 1979-1980 ski season, Snowshoe had one additional lift and a total of 20 trails.
Snowshoe ran into financial troubles in 1979, forcing Brigham to sell the resort to attorney and ex-coal mine operator, S. Franklin Burford.
Snowshoe continued to expand in the 1980s, building 650 condos. In 1984, however, the resort again suffered financial difficulties. Skier visits went from a high of 253,000 in 1982 to only 115,000 visits during the 1984-1985 season forcing the resort into chapter 7 liquidation.
In 1987 the resort was sold to Ski Venture, a consortium of banks that managed the resort until 1990. That year a Japanese firm, Tokyo Tower Development purchased the resort and made significant improvements to the facility including the nationally recognized Hawthorne Valley Golf Course and the acquisition of neighboring Silver Creek Resort.
In 1996 the resort was sold to Intrawest, a Canadian firm that owns numerous resorts throughout North America. To date Intrawest has invested over 70 million dollars in the resort in the form of new high speed detachable lifts, new slopes and snowmaking, new mountain home complexes and a mountaintop village including retail shops and restaurants.
Much of this information comes from a general hsitory of skiing in WV found here:
http://www.wvagency.com/wvoutdoors/skiing/skihistorystory.html
