Hey up there, what is going on at Timberline? No intriguing or disturbing updates on the website or facebook. Short video of snowmaking. Opening date is like Dec 14 or something. Any other news at all ?
Timberline is so done no one even complains here anymore.
When beginning our annual multi family gathering house search a couple weeks ago the person we talked to who rents an Air BnB at Timberline off Winterset by the base warned us NOT to rent their house this spring because they fear the resort is 50/50 at best to survive the season and be open next February. Due to wife getting laid off I'm out of ski trips of the overnight varity and the rest of the group has opted to try something farther north this season.. Canan Valley would be in play if they had lodging on the slopes instead of shuttle bus logistics.. Folks with smaller kids still need ski in ski out to make the effort worthwhile. Also better for day trip folks to drop in for lunch when the group base is right off the ski trail instead of a couple blocks away shuttle bus land.
pagamony wrote:
Hey up there, what is going on at Timberline? No intriguing or disturbing updates on the website or facebook. Short video of snowmaking. Opening date is like Dec 14 or something. Any other news at all ?
The FB snow making video appears to be from 11 months ago.
As best I can tell, there is not much activity going on at the area; skeleton staff. I don’t think they’ve done any snowmaking yet. Lots of equipment still in parking lot as of a few days ago. I believe Timbers is still closed.
As Tom posted, people have stopped caring about the place as long as it remains under current mis-ownership. I am in year three of the #notsoawesomepass; if I get any turns there this year, it will be a bonus.
Timberline Resort is gearing up for the winter season and recently held a second job fair to hire seasonal staff for this winter. Over the past several months the resort has been performing lift maintenance and line work, and the Ski Patrol has been conducting Outdoor Emergency Care coursework. The resort has set a tentative opening date of December 14 and likely will not begin making snow until early December, conditions permitting.
Sounds like CV and Tline are on the same schedule, more or less. According to Scott's news article in early Nov, CV plans to open on Dec. 15.
Let's hope they don't have to rely on a lot of snowmaking, bring on the big storms with big snow! early and often!
I've seen it stated Timberline plans to make snow - when possible - starting tonight (11.25.17). The guns have been positioned on White Lightening, so hope springs eternal. Canaan has made snow to the top, althought skimpy at best. Enough to poach a few turns.
There was a window of decent snowmaking most of last week. Until next weekend, looks marginal to impossible to make snow in The Valley.
Over the past several (marginal) winters including the start of this one, all local areas have to be prepared and make snow every opportunity they can. Otherwise, you end up like last year where IIRC, T-Line had only three trails down from the top. And per their website they are charging $92 for a single day (discounts for multi-day) over Xmas, MLK and Prez. More power to them if people come and pay those prices.
Whitetail is charging $82 for a weekend extended day ticket. Wow! Tslime is more expensive than Whitetail.
JohnL wrote:
And per their website they are charging $92 for a single day (discounts for multi-day) over Xmas, MLK and Prez. More power to them if people come and pay those prices.
JohnL wrote:
And per their website they are charging $92 for a single day (discounts for multi-day) over Xmas, MLK and Prez. More power to them if people come and pay those prices.
That ticket price is probably the result of their projected costs plus an "acceptible margin" divided by average walk up ticket window purchases past two or three seasons..
We need this amount of revenues... divided by the number of people we expect to walk up and pay us (tickets sold) over the season=$92.00
JohnL wrote:
There was a window of decent snowmaking most of last week. Until next weekend, looks marginal to impossible to make snow in The Valley.
Over the past several (marginal) winters including the start of this one, all local areas have to be prepared and make snow every opportunity they can. Otherwise, you end up like last year where IIRC, T-Line had only three trails down from the top. And per their website they are charging $92 for a single day (discounts for multi-day) over Xmas, MLK and Prez. More power to them if people come and pay those prices.
I can't quite see straight at the moment, but it looks to me that you can expect to pay $92 for a Saturday or Sunday during the entire regular season. Talk about quite the mark up this year. Can't imagine that someone would shell out that kind of dough such a crappy product that they put out. As for me, I spent a shade over a weekend's worth of skiing at Timberline for 2 (yeah, that's right) season passes at Snowshoe for this year...
Per their website, $92 for any - not just Holiday - single main season weekend day (8 to 9), but they close Sunday’s at 4:30. Huh?
Main season starts Dec 26th and ends Mar 11.
JohnL wrote:
Main season starts Dec 26th and ends Mar 11.
$92 to ski with snow blasting you in the face on 3 or 4 open trails. Sounds like a steal...
Dr. Dave, we crossed posted and I agree with your bleary-eyed reading.
If you buy a two day ticket, you get down to 65-70 per day.
They just make it too easy....
If recent posts are correct then TLine has gone Big Time, lift ticket prices that is!!!!!! Now if only the skiing experience could go Big Time?!! Not gonna happen unless TL has spent millions improving their snowmaking and lifts and ski lodge improvements, and kept this quiet as a surprise! Wonder what the scouts will be paying for a weekend of skiing?
Where are you all finding lift ticket Rice’s for TL? Their current web site is essentially useless?
A few points:
- Lift ticket pricing for Timberline is found at http://www.timberlineresort.com/tickets.php. If you visit Timberline's web site and click "Plan Your Trip", you'll see the link to "Tickets & Passes". Colonel: their web site doesn't seem useless to me -- it shares exactly the same structure as just about every other ski resort web site I've seen and it took me about 3 seconds to find the lift ticket pricing.
- Timberline is primarily a destination resort, and like other destination resorts, I would guess that most guests are purchasing multi-day tickets. The Country Roads Weekend Pass (Friday 4:30 p.m. through Sunday at 4:30 p.m.) is $139, which substantially undercuts Snowshoe Mountain's 3-day ticket price of $237.60. The 1-day weekend/holiday ticket pricing at Snowshoe is $99, which is higher than Timberline's $92. The 2-day weekend ticket at Timberline is $130 ($65 / day), while Snowshoe doesn't even offer a 2-day ticket. You may argue that Snowshoe and Timberline are not on the same playing field, but within West Virginia, they are the two resorts most closely in competition with each other for destination visits.
- The above 1-day ticket prices are the highest prices one would pay; there are various discounts available. (For example, college students can purchase a 1-day lift ticket at Timberline any day of the season for $25 except for Saturday of President's Day Weekend, and January 28 and 29.) There are early and late season discounts, etc.
- Thankfully, there is plenty of competition in the Mid-Atlantic region, so it's possible to shop around if you feel Timberline doesn't offer competitive 1-day weekend/holiday lift ticket pricing. For example, the most expensive 1-day lift ticket at nearby Canaan Valley Resort is $78 on holiday weekends, while the 1-day holiday ticket at Seven Springs is $89.
- The continued bashing of Timberline from a small set of readers really has gotten old. We get it -- Timberline can do no right to some of you. It's certainly fair to discuss lift ticket pricing at local resorts, but let's leave words like "TSlime" and other unfounded rumors out of it.
Timberline has such great terrain and is in a beautiful location in Canaan Valley with lots of housing options for groups with any number and price level of rental homes available. If anyone would ever truly invest in the mountain with upgraded snowmaking capability, faster/higher capacity lifts and lodge upgrades it could become a great resort especially with the ease of getting there now that corridor H is open. Have made so many great trips to Timberline over the years, but after our last one two years ago (after the lift incident that shut down the main lift) I am really hesitant to go there again for anything more than a day trip.
Wow, prices have really gone up.
Before I had a Snowshoe pass I used to try to ski there midweek once or twice a year. I liked heading there because it was cheap and wasn't crowded. I seem to remember prices being in the mid-$30s. Now it's $72 midweek.
I'm not a basher, I love the mountain, but it needs some love. I'd ditch my Snowshoe pass in a heartbeat if they could consistently cover the mountain and upgraded to a high speed lift.
I get the quaint old school feel, but when I'm driving a few hours to ski I want to ski, not sit more. Alta has a similar quaint old school feel and they have high speed lifts. A high speed lift isn't going to wreck the place. I think it'd do the opposite, it'd attract bigger crowds.
I used to prefer Timberline over Blue Knob, similar terrain, similar vertical, but Blue Knob has been able to keep the mountain covered in recent years. With the warmer winters this is vital.
If I owned Timberline I'd put in a single quad high speed lift. I'd expand the parking lot and build a restaurant at the top of the mountain (a la Creekside Cafe at Snowbird by Gadzoom) with big windows and a nice menu.
Yes the competition is nice so the pricing strategy will be tested. Just to be accurate the normal weekend price at CV is $68 and holiday weekend price is $78. They have many discounts as well. Timberline opted for simplicity and has a weekend one day pass price of $92 regardless of the weekend.
Both resorts offer significant discounts for early and late season. Timberline has late season starting March 13 to closing. However, if I'm not mistaken they haven't been staying open that late in the last few years as they have closed the mountain for other non-skiing events. Perhaps this year they have cancelled that and plan on staying open.
Since pricing seems to be the topic here I just heard about this program on the lift at Snowshoe over the weekend. What a great idea - way to go PA!!! I think this would be a great promotion at almost any mountain as it gets a new generation of skiers and is certain to add additional revenue from their siblings that aren't of the correct age and from their parents.
http://visitpa.com/articles/kids-4th-and-5th-grade-ski-free-winter-pennsylvania
Scott wrote:
A few points:
- The continued bashing of Timberline from a small set of readers really has gotten old. We get it -- Timberline can do no right to some of you. It's certainly fair to discuss lift ticket pricing at local resorts, but let's leave words like "TSlime" and other unfounded rumors out of it.
I'm also not a big fan of name calling, however, the "unfounded rumors" and other bashing seems to be coming from those on this forum who have spent the most time and money actually skiing ( or trying to ski) at Timberline this decade. Objetive data like their credit rating and whether or not they've paid their utility bills on time is a pretty relevant detail for folks interested in investing in a ski vacation or realty near there. It should also be noted that there are quite a few more "rumors" from current and former t-line employees who are members here that are only shared via PMs and kept from the main forum visibility. We're trying to give benefit if doubt where possible but history and facts don't make it easy.
oddballstocks wrote:
Wow, prices have really gone up.
Before I had a Snowshoe pass I used to try to ski there midweek once or twice a year. I liked heading there because it was cheap and wasn't crowded. I seem to remember prices being in the mid-$30s. Now it's $72 midweek.
I'm not a basher, I love the mountain, but it needs some love. I'd ditch my Snowshoe pass in a heartbeat if they could consistently cover the mountain and upgraded to a high speed lift.
I get the quaint old school feel, but when I'm driving a few hours to ski I want to ski, not sit more. Alta has a similar quaint old school feel and they have high speed lifts. A high speed lift isn't going to wreck the place. I think it'd do the opposite, it'd attract bigger crowds.
I used to prefer Timberline over Blue Knob, similar terrain, similar vertical, but Blue Knob has been able to keep the mountain covered in recent years. With the warmer winters this is vital.
If I owned Timberline I'd put in a single quad high speed lift. I'd expand the parking lot and build a restaurant at the top of the mountain (a la Creekside Cafe at Snowbird by Gadzoom) with big windows and a nice menu.
It just seems like prices are going up but the skiing experience is going down - they are asking people to pay more for less. Other resorts are increasing prices, but are also increasing snowmaking capability, and blowing more often to lengthen the season or make more terrain available or both. It's just disappointing to have such a great ski area squandered. I haven't taken my family there in years; I don't want to plan a vacation there because I don't know what will be open, even mid-season. That's not picking on Timberline, it's just reality.
Scott wrote:
A few points:
- Lift ticket pricing for Timberline is found at http://www.timberlineresort.com/tickets.php. If you visit Timberline's web site and click "Plan Your Trip", you'll see the link to "Tickets & Passes". Colonel: their web site doesn't seem useless to me -- it shares exactly the same structure as just about every other ski resort web site I've seen and it took me about 3 seconds to find the lift ticket pricing.
- Timberline is primarily a destination resort, and like other destination resorts, I would guess that most guests are purchasing multi-day tickets. The Country Roads Weekend Pass (Friday 4:30 p.m. through Sunday at 4:30 p.m.) is $139, which substantially undercuts Snowshoe Mountain's 3-day ticket price of $237.60. The 1-day weekend/holiday ticket pricing at Snowshoe is $99, which is higher than Timberline's $92. The 2-day weekend ticket at Timberline is $130 ($65 / day), while Snowshoe doesn't even offer a 2-day ticket. You may argue that Snowshoe and Timberline are not on the same playing field, but within West Virginia, they are the two resorts most closely in competition with each other for destination visits.
- The above 1-day ticket prices are the highest prices one would pay; there are various discounts available. (For example, college students can purchase a 1-day lift ticket at Timberline any day of the season for $25 except for Saturday of President's Day Weekend, and January 28 and 29.) There are early and late season discounts, etc.
- Thankfully, there is plenty of competition in the Mid-Atlantic region, so it's possible to shop around if you feel Timberline doesn't offer competitive 1-day weekend/holiday lift ticket pricing. For example, the most expensive 1-day lift ticket at nearby Canaan Valley Resort is $78 on holiday weekends, while the 1-day holiday ticket at Seven Springs is $89.
- The continued bashing of Timberline from a small set of readers really has gotten old. We get it -- Timberline can do no right to some of you. It's certainly fair to discuss lift ticket pricing at local resorts, but let's leave words like "TSlime" and other unfounded rumors out of it.
Colonel, Timberline has made some upgrades to their website and it is more user friendly than it has ever been. Actually viewing the ticket rates is way easier than it has been in year's past.
Scott, I'm a "local" per say. I live just a little less than 2 hours door to door from Timberline. So for me, I'm most interested in that single day lift ticket. Timberline has always been a more affordable option in the past for me. Now it seems they're trying to compete with bigger resorts with their price but not with the actual product they're putting out. As someone who's been skiing there regularly for almost 15 years, I can assure you that the quality of their product is not what it was 10 years ago when I skied almost 50 days there. For me it's not as much about bashing Timberline as it is about voicing my frustration with the place.
Timberline is just adjusting their rates to the dynamic pricing strategy the rest of the industry has been moving to in the past ten years. Similar to full fare airline ticket, walk up rates set the bar and then various discounts are available. Get used to it- hope you aren't paying $164 at the window on your next trip to Vail!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-25/ski-lift-cost-becomes-moving-target-as-dynamic-prices-hit-slopes
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-promise-and-perils-of-dynamic-pricing/
RodneyBD wrote:
Timberline is just adjusting their rates to the dynamic pricing strategy the rest of the industry has been moving to in the past ten years. Similar to full fare airline ticket, walk up rates set the bar and then various discounts are available. Get used to it- hope you aren't paying $164 at the window on your next trip to Vail!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-25/ski-lift-cost-becomes-moving-target-as-dynamic-prices-hit-slopes
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-promise-and-perils-of-dynamic-pricing/
I haven’t been to Vail in a year or so, but last time I was there they had more than three open slopes and several high speed lifts. If the terrain justified it no one would have any problems.
Hello all, this is my first post. Given how much I and now my family have enjoyed Timberline over the years I wanted to weigh in. I live in Indiana and a favorite winter trip for my family is to visit the mountains of West Virginia. We do a lot more than ski, but skiing is an important part of the trip and Timberline has been our favorite place to ski. We may be a slightly different customer than hard-core skiers. We are on vacation to relax as well as enjoy a good skiing experience.
Timberline needs to find it’s value proposition. I get it, it’s tough operating a ski resort profitably when the weather won’t cooperate, when it’s expensive to make snow only to have it melt, when 30 people may show up on a mid-week day, and in a capital-intensive business when a state owned resort with state sponsored investment is only a couple miles away.
The surest way out of business; however, is to squeeze both ends of value by raising prices and lowering services. Someone may walk up and pay that price, but will they be happy enough to come back, or is it more likely they’ll feel taken advantage of?
From my perspective here are a few things operationally Timberline can do today to show they are a destination resort earning this price.
Get the webcam up. Ideally keep it up all year, but at the very least, when November gets here and people start dreaming of their ski vacation they need a picture to go along with it. If they don’t have the resources to run a webcam they’ll not convince skiers they have the resources to run a destination resort.
Once Thanksgiving get’s here until all the terrain is open, they need to make snow at every single opportunity, even if the weather report says it may melt. Weather forecasts change, but this shows customers that Timberline is committed to doing everything in their control to make the customer experience the best it can be. Yes, it’s expensive if the snow melts, but that was an investment not in snow, but in their reputation. When someone shows up and there are only five runs open, they’ll be on Timberline’s side commiserating about the weather and not saying “I guess we’ll have to go to Snowshoe from now on because management isn’t committed to being open.” Get the customers on your side. I can’t recall the last time Timberline had all terrain open at the same time.
Season pass holders are paying customers, so Timberline needs to be open midweek even when the weather is challenging and there aren’t lots of customers. I live too far away to be a season pass holder, but if I lived in the area and felt like once they had my money I was now only an expense and not an asset I would hesitate getting a season pass. Season pass holders need as many skiable days as possible with as much terrain as possible. This is the entire value of a season pass. If weather doesn’t cooperate and it’s outside of Timberline’s control, then the pass holders are on their side. If it could have been better but wasn’t, then Timberline has taken money but not delivered the highest quality product.
Pricing. I don’t think pricing is as important an issue as providing a good experience is. Just make sure that price and experience align. If it’s not a very good experience it better be cheap, and if it’s more expensive than anything around it better be the best.
Slow lifts. They are what they are. Load the chairs full. If the wait is more than a few minutes also run the Silver Queen lift. Replacing lifts is such a large expense compared to the other issues I raised that they would need comfortable profitability before being able to attract investors (or loans) to make lift upgrades a possibility. Nobody’s going to invest without usurious terms, though, if a business isn’t doing everything it can operationally to be top notch. Get the rest of your house in order and then lift upgrades may be an option.
I am a business person, but have no experience operating a ski area, so these are obviously my opinions. I’m sure there are other prescriptions for success that would help. I have gone to timberline many times since the early 1990’s and the path it’s on doesn’t leave me with a lot of confidence I’ll be enjoying trips there with my Grandkids someday. I don’t want Timberline to close and I don’t think those that are accused of bashing Timberline want that either. Everyone recognizes that losing a place with great terrain and lots of potential is bad for all of us and the activities we enjoy. There’s just a lot of frustration. When we get out of our car and walk up we need to know that the product we’ll experience is the best that could be delivered for the price we’re paying. When management routinely delivers on that, there will be lots more people who trust they can plan vacations ahead of time or purchase season passes. I hope nobody takes this as me bashing T-line. It's still my favorite place to go, and I hope its around for many more years.
Indianaskier wrote:
Hello all, this is my first post. Given how much I and now my family have enjoyed Timberline over the years I wanted to weigh in. I live in Indiana and a favorite winter trip for my family is to visit the mountains of West Virginia. We do a lot more than ski, but skiing is an important part of the trip and Timberline has been our favorite place to ski. We may be a slightly different customer than hard-core skiers. We are on vacation to relax as well as enjoy a good skiing experience.
Timberline needs to find it’s value proposition. I get it, it’s tough operating a ski resort profitably when the weather won’t cooperate, when it’s expensive to make snow only to have it melt, when 30 people may show up on a mid-week day, and in a capital-intensive business when a state owned resort with state sponsored investment is only a couple miles away.
The surest way out of business; however, is to squeeze both ends of value by raising prices and lowering services. Someone may walk up and pay that price, but will they be happy enough to come back, or is it more likely they’ll feel taken advantage of?
From my perspective here are a few things operationally Timberline can do today to show they are a destination resort earning this price.
Get the webcam up. Ideally keep it up all year, but at the very least, when November gets here and people start dreaming of their ski vacation they need a picture to go along with it. If they don’t have the resources to run a webcam they’ll not convince skiers they have the resources to run a destination resort.
Once Thanksgiving get’s here until all the terrain is open, they need to make snow at every single opportunity, even if the weather report says it may melt. Weather forecasts change, but this shows customers that Timberline is committed to doing everything in their control to make the customer experience the best it can be. Yes, it’s expensive if the snow melts, but that was an investment not in snow, but in their reputation. When someone shows up and there are only five runs open, they’ll be on Timberline’s side commiserating about the weather and not saying “I guess we’ll have to go to Snowshoe from now on because management isn’t committed to being open.” Get the customers on your side. I can’t recall the last time Timberline had all terrain open at the same time.
Season pass holders are paying customers, so Timberline needs to be open midweek even when the weather is challenging and there aren’t lots of customers. I live too far away to be a season pass holder, but if I lived in the area and felt like once they had my money I was now only an expense and not an asset I would hesitate getting a season pass. Season pass holders need as many skiable days as possible with as much terrain as possible. This is the entire value of a season pass. If weather doesn’t cooperate and it’s outside of Timberline’s control, then the pass holders are on their side. If it could have been better but wasn’t, then Timberline has taken money but not delivered the highest quality product.
Pricing. I don’t think pricing is as important an issue as providing a good experience is. Just make sure that price and experience align. If it’s not a very good experience it better be cheap, and if it’s more expensive than anything around it better be the best.
Slow lifts. They are what they are. Load the chairs full. If the wait is more than a few minutes also run the Silver Queen lift. Replacing lifts is such a large expense compared to the other issues I raised that they would need comfortable profitability before being able to attract investors (or loans) to make lift upgrades a possibility. Nobody’s going to invest without usurious terms, though, if a business isn’t doing everything it can operationally to be top notch. Get the rest of your house in order and then lift upgrades may be an option.
I am a business person, but have no experience operating a ski area, so these are obviously my opinions. I’m sure there are other prescriptions for success that would help. I have gone to timberline many times since the early 1990’s and the path it’s on doesn’t leave me with a lot of confidence I’ll be enjoying trips there with my Grandkids someday. I don’t want Timberline to close and I don’t think those that are accused of bashing Timberline want that either. Everyone recognizes that losing a place with great terrain and lots of potential is bad for all of us and the activities we enjoy. There’s just a lot of frustration. When we get out of our car and walk up we need to know that the product we’ll experience is the best that could be delivered for the price we’re paying. When management routinely delivers on that, there will be lots more people who trust they can plan vacations ahead of time or purchase season passes. I hope nobody takes this as me bashing T-line. It's still my favorite place to go, and I hope its around for many more years.
Great first post! Welcome to DCSki. Timberline is a great place, the Canaan valley itself is such a unique and beautiful area.
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