WV wilderness photographer Jonathan Jessup has written a very informative article on the Roaring Plains, the area where Mount Porte Crayon resides, in this month's Highlands Voice.

http://wvhc.drw.net/VoiceMay04.pdf

The article provides some very interesting information on the mountain's weather, and ecology. For example, he discovered that MPC summit receives an average of 180 inches of snow a year--more snow than the Canaan Valley gets. This is because clouds hover over the area for long periods of time. However, before everyone gets too excited, Jessup also points out that the winds on the mountain are a force factor of 5--the highest in the state. In short, a lot of snow may fall on MPC but winds generally blow it off. In any event, it's an interesting article and the result of a lot of hard research

That's a wonderful article, as is the entire newsletter... It points out, however, the extremely sensitive ecological status of Mt Porte Crayon. I would say that with several threatened species in the highlands, that having a ski area built in THAT mountain has as a snowball's chance in hell unless Haliburton becomes the contractor . Nice to think of a 3000+ ft vertical, eh?