Can Snowmaking Compensate for Climate Change?

I skied Cherokee once around 1990 or 91 The developer was not ski-savvy. Little investment was made in snowmaking or a decent base lodge.
Few trails ever opened. Parking was mid-mtn IIRC. The terrain was poor, flat up top, steep in lower areas. It was close to an interstate, but the elevation wasn't very high and temps were often mild. It closed after just two or three years of operation. Interesting article and comments on Cherokee HERE.

Snowshoe is a pretty interesting mountain, primarily for the large resort development at the top of a nearly 5k foot mtn. The top of Snowshoe has a feel like the base of ski areas out west that start at 5000' or higher. This makes for decent snowmaking conditions. But the ski terrain is not that much better than many mtns closer to Balt-Wash, where I was based. There are only two runs at Snowshoe that have the full 1500' vertical. The majority of the mtn skis much like smaller mtns closer to home, approx 800' vertical. It is about 4.5 hrs from DC and 5 from Balt. Lodging has always been kind of expensive there. I think it draws a fair number of guests from Atlanta, Nashville, Louisville and other points in the Southeast and mid-South, where it offers the best skiing reachable by a 6-8 hr car ride. I skied it in 1983 and 2001 for a few days each time.
 
jamesdeluxe said:
I can't make heads or tails of which sectors in the master plan above aren't currently in operation in the map below other than Hawthorne.
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The two lifts and terrain pod at far right of ChrisC's map are also not yet developed.

James' map captions above are entertaining. I'm sure Snowshoe is one of those places where you "Don't even think about skiing here on a weekend or holiday."

During my first 1999 NASJA meeting at Mammoth I rode the first gondola to the top with the marketing director at Snowshoe. Salivating at the 50 inches of powder, I asked him about the famous January 1996 blizzard that had dumped 3+ feet at Snowshoe. He said, "We groom everything." I responded, "What about the trees?" He said, "You don't understand. We have Southern skiers. We can't let them in there."
 
Tony Crocker said:
James' map captions above are entertaining.
Click to expand...
If I'm not mistaken, Snowshoe appropriated that helpful feature from the British "Where To Ski and Snowboard Worldwide" series (I hadn't seen it elsewhere). The map below is Les Arcs from the 2013 edition. I wonder why they didn't continue the map captions with their transition to books on individual Alps countries in the late 2010s. Glad that Snowshoe took the idea and ran with it on their trail map.

20251010_161737(1).jpg
 
Tony Crocker said:
During my first 1999 NASJA meeting at Mammoth I rode the first gondola to the top with the marketing director at Snowshoe. Salivating at the 50 inches of powder, I asked him about the famous January 1996 blizzard that had dumped 3+ feet at Snowshoe. He said, "We groom everything." I responded, "What about the trees?" He said, "You don't understand. We have Southern skiers. We can't let them in there."
Click to expand...
That attitude about trees has shifted more in recent years under Alterra ownership. Still better tree skiing in the Canaan Valley between Timberline and CV, but there are official glades at Snowshoe now. The Sawmill Glades opened up by 2009 under Intrawest.

Intrawest bought Snowshoe from a corporate owner in 1996. Don't know how long it took to build out the main village.

Fun fact . . . Bill Rock was in charge of Snowshoe for five years under Intrawest before Vail Resorts offered him the job of leading Northstar in 2010. The SkiSoutheast folks like Bill Rock a lot when he was at Snowshoe. The annual SkiSoutheast Summit at Snowshoe in early March was always a good time, with discounted lodging and a free lift ticket, as well as first tracks on Sunday morning. Rock kept moving up within VR's management chain after dealing with Park City/Canyons from 2015-21.
 
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