The father of southern skiing, Dr. Thomas H. “Doc” Brigham, below, standing among the snow-covered trees at one of his beloved ski resorts – Snowshoe. Above, a glimpse into the past at Snowshoe, abuzz with skiers ready to hit the slopes.
Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Tt all began with an airplane ride.
On April 12, 1973, Dr. Thomas H. “Doc” Brigham took flight over Cheat Mountain and saw a large tract of terrain covered in a blanket of snow.
While most people would see land, formerly owned by West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, which was logged from 1901 to 1960. Brigham saw potential. He saw a ski resort where winter sports could continue into spring.
Thus began the saga of Snowshoe Mountain Resort. In May 1973, construction began with slopes, lifts, snow machine pipes, lodging and Snowshoe Drive.
There from the very beginning was Phil Lindsey, who still works at the resort as a mechanic.
“I laid the first piece of snowmaking pipe in the ground for Snowshoe,” he said. “I helped get the slopes ready. I was the first groomer they had, but back then they were called call snow firming.”
While Lindsey was helping get the slopes ready, Mark Poore was just learning about the resort and making his way to the mountain with his girlfriend – now wife – Alice.
Poore has been an athlete since high school – racing bicycles and mountain bikes. He’s also a ski instructor and was a ski instructor in Rappahannock County, Virginia, when he first learned about this new resort.
“I heard about this place, Snowshoe, a new ski area and it was going to open in 1974,” he said. “My roommate, my girlfriend and other roommates – there were six of us – jumped in this VW van and we drove over to Slaty Fork and got to Cass.”
At Cass, the group asked for directions to the new resort and no one knew what they were talking about, but did say there was a lot of activity going up the mountain on Cass road.
“We drove over Cass Road, which was Rt. 66 and dirt, and found the office in Pauline Galford’s house right there on the corner of 66 and 219,” Poore said. “I talked to the ski school director and said I wanted to teach skiing. Tom Brigham – who started Snowshoe – came up and he was just excited that six people came out to look at this ski area that wasn’t even complete.”
Brigham invited the group to ride with him to the top of the mountain and they got a behind- the-scenes look at the construction and what was soon to be a ski resort.
“We jumped in his Wagoneer and drove up six miles of dirt road,” Poore recalled.
“Shaver’s Centre was under construction at the time, but getting near complete, so he toured us through there.”
After touring the building, the group walked out to the slopes and were impressed with what they saw.
“When we got back home, I applied for a job with the ski school instructor,” Poore said.
Snowshoe officially opened with a rope drop December 19, 1974, with several slopes open to the public.
Months later, Poore went through the process of getting certified through the Canadian Ski Instructor Alliance program but was not offered the job.
Despite this, Poore and his friends still managed to enjoy the weekend with some skiing.
After skiing Skidder slope, Poore said they were asked if they wanted to ski Ballhooter slope.
“A bunch of us were the first ones to ever ski Ballhooter,” he said. “We went down there and rode the lift. Later that day, I found out that the only reason they let us ski Ballhooter was that they hadn’t load tested the lift yet.
“Normally when they do that, they get feedbags and fill them with sand and put them on the seats to create the load to do a load test – so you might say we were the sandbags that day,” he added, laughing.
Poore returned to his farmhouse in Pennsylvania and worked at Blue Knob for three more years before he got a call from a friend at Snowshoe. Poore had been planning to go to Oregon for the winter, but his friend said there were new directors of the ski school at Snowshoe and he was needed.
“Alice and I drove down, and I said, ‘let’s give it a whirl,’” he said. “We ended up living in Overlook and in a one-bedroom apartment with a Murphy bed. We lived there with two dogs and five people. We slept on the Murphy bed in the living room, and it was great.”
The couple later found their own place, first at a farmhouse at the Elk River Touring Center and then on Locust Glen.
Both worked at Snowshoe and continued to enjoy the slopes in their free time.
“That’s all I wanted to do was ski,” Poore said. “We’ve skied all over.”
The first decade of operation was a struggle for Snowshoe and bankruptcy was filed twice before stabilizing in the mid-1980s.
Around this time, Silver Creek Resort opened just down the mountain, adding to the struggle, giving Snowshoe a bit of competition.
The new resort opened in 1983 and several Snowshoe employees, including Lindsey and Poore, worked there before returning to Snowshoe.
“I went to Silver Creek in ‘83 as their groomer,” Lindsey said. “I became their shop manager for vehicle maintenance. Then Snowshoe bought us out.”
“I went to work in Silver Creek in ‘84 – it was their first year,” Poore said. “I worked there for three years.”
After regaining its footing in the mid-80s, Snowshoe not only recovered from its struggle, but was able to buy Silver Creek in 1992.
Both men returned to Snowshoe, with Lindsey taking back his spot in vehicle mechanics, where he still works to this day.
“I’ve enjoyed working here,” he said. “It feels pretty good [to be part of the history]. It’s eye-opening to come to the top of this mountain nowadays.”
Poore went back to ski school, but he had his sights set on something from his past that he wanted to bring to the mountain – biking.
Poore used to road bike along Route 219, but found articles in biking magazines about mountain bikes and thought those would be a great addition to Snowshoe.
“I just started riding mountain bikes everywhere here on dirt roads and deer trails and kind of making my own way,” he said. “Then some other people got a few mountain bikes, and we started doing a little bit of riding together.”
From there, Gil Willis, owner of Elk River Touring Center, and Poore talked about the future of mountain biking here, and Willis bought a rental fleet for visitors to take out on the trails.
Resort
When the snow is gone and it’s time for spring and summer sports, Snowshoe Mountain Resort attracts mountain bikers from all over the world. They traverse the trails of the Snowshoe Highland Ride Center which has a silver designation from the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA).
By 1990, Poore was approached by Danny Seme and B.J. Hungate and asked to start a mountain biking program at the resort. Poore worked for Paul Hudson, who operated the bike shop.
“I was the only employee,” he said. “I had an S10. I’d throw blankets over the sides and shuttle people up the mountain and put up a closed sign saying we’d be back in thirty minutes. Did it the second year and, man, the numbers really grew.
“Then snowshoe said, ‘we want to do this, and we want to do it right,’ so they had me order bikes and hired a couple extra people,” he continued. “We started cutting trails and the rest is kind of history.”
Adding mountain biking was one of the many ways the mountain went from being a winter resort to a year-round destination. Mountain biking grew to be as popular, if not more popular, than skiing through the years.
By 2017, the resort hosted its first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. The event has returned every year since.
In 2019, Pocahontas County became a bronze ride center through the International Mountain Biking Association – IMBA. Known as the Snowshoe Highlands Area Ride Center, it quickly became a silver ride center and is working toward a gold designation.
Entering the new millennium under the ownership of Intrawest, Snowshoe continued to grow and saw the addition of The Village, which not only hosted condos in Rimfire, Highland House, Allegheny Springs, Seneca and Expedition Station, but also retail shops and restaurants.
This is where president and COO Patti Duncan got her start at the resort. In 2000, she was the director of retail and rentals.
“I helped build the commercial village with all the commercial shops,” she said. “We kind of call it the downtown of Snowshoe. It’s the center of Snowshoe with all the shops and restaurants and the outdoor gatherings with fire pits. It’s a special place when it’s lit up in the winter. It just looks like a wonderland.”
The Village added to the year-round fun with shopping, dining and activities taking place in the “square” for guests and locals to enjoy.
With the success of The Village, Duncan was soon given directorship of outdoor adventures and events. It wasn’t long before she moved up the ranks to Vice President of Resort Operations in 2015.
By 2018, Duncan was named the first female president and COO of the resort.
“I was floored that they chose a woman,” she said, “But through hard work and dedication, and I had the right mentor which was Frank DeBerry. He was the former president and COO of Snowshoe. Working with him and gaining all of that knowledge and having him have confidence in me that I could do it.
“It’s been challenging but rewarding.”
It was also around that time that Intrawest was purchased by Aspen and KSL which also purchased Mammoth and Squaw Valley. All those resorts were combined to form Alterra Mountain Company.
With new ownership and a new President/COO, things were going really well for the resort. Then in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a halt.
Snowshoe followed the federal guidelines and closed until it was safe to welcome back employees and guests.
“Nobody really knew what COVID was and how impactful it was going to be,” Duncan said. “We thought it was going to be a short stint.”
Being an outdoor recreation resort, it was easier for Snowshoe to ease back into business once the mandated shutdown was lifted. When word got out that the resort was open again for skiers in the winter and mountain bikers in the summer, the flood gates opened, and people flocked to the mountain.
“It was probably two of our busiest years once we were able to open back up,” Duncan said. “We abided by all the guidelines and made sure that we opened in a safe manner. Everybody wanted to come to ski or mountain bike. That was their way of getting outside and being safe.
“People just wanted to be outside, and rightfully so,” she added. “I did, too.”
Reflecting on her 24 years at Snowshoe and the past 50 years of the resort as a whole, Duncan said she is excited for what lies ahead.
“The future is so bright with Alterra, it’s almost scary because we have been through times of watching every penny and who’s going to be our new owner,” she said. “I’ve been through three of those, I believe.
“The confidence in having a great company be our leader,” she continued. “We are so connected, and we have so much team play. We’re just committed as a united team. We work with them every day.”
Although the corporate office is in Colorado, Duncan said Snowshoe is still its own entity with its West Virginia charm.
“They believe in us that we’re staying in the right guidelines for the people in our region and our visitors to make sure that we don’t lose who we are,” she said.
Yes, Snowshoe has great snowmaking abilities, wonderful lodging, shopping and restaurants, and, of course, slopes, trails and more for outdoor enthusiasts, but at the end of the day, what makes the mountain special, are the people.
“That’s what is so great about Snowshoe,” Duncan said. “We have so many people with longevity here. There are so many people who have been here fifty years, forty, thirty and twenty-five.
“We have tons of people that this was their first job and they’re still here,” she continued. “It’s a family, and we’re all one big community here. Our employees and community are first. They’re the backbone.”
