My family and I will be visiting Canaan Valley next weekend for the first time and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what to expect. I've only been snow skiing once before and that was in Breckenridge. We are staying at the State Park Resort. Any comments or helpful tips would be greatly appreciated.

Did you check out CV resort profile on this website? you can also read a trip report i filed from Jan. I stayed same place you are going to. bring swim suit and ice skates. A relative of mine went same place also about 2 weeks ago and had a good time. CV ski area is not very crowded and you can also ski Timberline. Entire scope of CV ski area probably the size of terrain served by one small lift at Breck, Co; no town to speak of at CV, pretty remote W Va mountain area. But at tops of CV and Timberline ski areas you'll see some evergreen forested areas that remind me of Co.

Thanks for the info. and words of encouragement. I have been worried about the weather because it looks like CV is getting some rain. What does that do to the skiing conditions?

I just went skiing at Canaan Valley this past weekend (2/18 - 2/21) and the skiing was 'okay', considering that it poured all day Friday. Sat. the conditions were the worst I have seen in awhile - very icy and lots of granular packs and very poor visibilty. Sunday was much better because the rain had turned snow and coated everything and it had also cleared up quite a bit. Monday we skied Timberline instead and were very pleased with the resort - much more than Canaan Valley. The difference is Canaan is a State Park and Timberline is a private resort so, in general we thought Timberline was run a bit more professionally; the lodge was a lot nicer, etc. I think the conditions at either resort will be pretty good if the rain stays away. Hope that helps!

I agree the lodge is better, but I would stop there! Even though CV is state run, the slopes were in much better conditions than Timberline. Timberline is in a state of financial dispair, its my understanding from some of the locals that Uncle Sam had to claim some grooming equip. this fall to pay off tax debt. As well as, Timberline has had to sell a good portion of property generate some cash for this season. I hearing this third hand, but seems to be true based on the lack of grooming this weekend. Please understand that I love both Timberline and CV, and the weather played a big role in last weeks conditions, its my opinion that CV had the better slopes. My suggestion is to try both and form an opinion for yourself!!

Have fun!!

I think Renee said elsewhere that she is going for a whole week. If she is a good enough skier to want a wider variety of terrain she might do the (one hour?) drive over to Snowshoe one day and check it out as well. Of CV and Timberline, I prefer CV because the terrain is a little more varied and stretched out. Timberline is fine, but I find it a smidge repetitive because most the the trails (except Salamander) parallel each other and plunge straight down the hill, kind of like Whitetail.

Jim has a great idea!! And to add to that thought, Wisp is less than an hour to the north!!

Thanks to all for the information. I am looking forward to hitting the slopes.