White Grass in W. Va. gets 150 inches of snow yearly. It's eclectic, cool
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
DAVIS, W. VA. - The oft-repeated story is that commercial airline pilots who skied were flying in the 1950s over West Virginia's mountains, when they enviously discovered a high-altitude bowl that was filled with snow late into the spring.
That bowl, Canaan Valley south of Davis in Tucker County, is home to a very cool crosscountry ski center with a very appropriate name: White Grass, a homemade place with genuine granola attitude.
The 25-year-old center typically gets 150 inches of snow a year. It features a north face of the
Cabin Mountain range so the snow lasts longer and sits at an altitude of 3,200 to 4,400 feet.
It offers about 100 days of skiing per winter on 45 trails that cover more than 50 kilometers
(30 miles) of curving trails on 1,800 acres of privately owned land. About 25 kilometers of trails (15 miles) are regularly groomed with a machine-set track.
The last two years have been good skiing winters: with 200 inches of snow and 120 ski days in 2003-2004 and 238 inches of snow at 138 skiable days the year before, said owner Chip
Chase.
His area sits between two downhill ski areas -- Timberline and Canaan Valley -- and provides access to thousands of acres of publicly owned lands.
It features a rolling topography with tree-lined trails and glades. There are trails and features named Gandalph's Glade, Fern Gully, Double Trouble, Springers Orchard, Yitzah Ravine, Baldy
Glades, Kandahaard Chutes and Blackbird's Wing.
The multipurpose day lodge sits at the base of the hill. You can head out on an array of trails marked green for beginners, blue for intermediates and black for experts.
If you're inclined, you can climb to the top of three mountains-- Cabin Mountain, Bald Knob and Weiss Knob -- and even ski into the adjoining back country of the Dolly Sods Wilderness
Area.
The area offers your basic Nordic skiing, as well as telemark, glade and back country skiing.
Some trails are classified with two degrees of difficulty. That's because it's easier going up than it is coming down. Just remember: what goes up must come down.

For Fairlawn's Bill Kondik and I, two admittedly rusty advanced beginners, the flat trails and even climbing uphill at White Grass were easy.
But going downhill the first day was a white-knuckles adventure. Everyone was safer when I reached the bottom. At one point, I wiped out and one ski continued halfway down the hill and into a creek without me. On another occasion, I went to my butt to slow my descent but I ended up cartwheeling down the hill.
I have to confess we made a big mistake on that first afternoon and ended up on Wild Bill's
Plummet, a very steep intermediate run that was maybe 3 feet wide with big trees on both sides. There was no other way out. Off came the skies and I moved off the trail to descend safely to safer ground. Discretion is the better part of valor.
The downhill runs were a piece of cake for both of us on the second day. All it took was a little practice and a little confidence.
White Grass is a very beautiful place of mountain vistas, countless ski tracks and the everchanging black-and-white world of tree shadows on the white snow.
The trails provide a sense of solitude, especially when you get farther away from the base lodge.
Nordic skiing is also great exercise and provides a great winter workout.
White Grass, once a downhill ski area with a single main hill, features trails that weave in and out of hardwood forests, open meadows and farmland -- with broad open slopes that are perfect for telemark skiing.
It offers a lot of skiing options, even for beginners. For example, you can climb Three Mile
Trail to the top of the mountain and can descend via snowplow turns.
To say that White Grass Touring Center is laid back is an understatement.
The cross-country center is eclectic and colorful -- with lots of character. It's definitely offbeat, maybe even a little 1970s' funky. The center has a definite sense of place and style and a snow-loving karma. It's very cool.
White Grass Ski Touring Center and Cafe, run by Chip Chase and wife Laurie Little, is a lowimpact operation. The lodge recycles everything, proudly uses only $1.49 of electricity a day, airs folk music from a public radio station from Pittsburgh and is heated by a wood-burning stove.
The one-room lodge serves as ski central with people coming in to buy passes, arrange instruction, rent equipment, buy souvenirs, use the bathrooms and purchase snacks.

On weekend nights, it becomes a reservations-only cafe with all-natural meals, complete with live entertainment. Its fare is even featured in its own cookbook.
White Grass has won awards for being a model of sustainable eco-tourism.
It is a simple, no-frills operation, an alternative-styled ski area with an Appalachian charm.
But the operators and their friends who help them know what they are doing, especially in terms of mountain grooming, equipment rental and instruction.
Even White Grass' Web site is different: It's almost a stream of consciousness from Chase, and the high-energy Chipper is a first-rate charmer, salesman and promoter who clearly loves what he is doing.
The heart of the ski area is a 500-acre operating dairy farm owned by local farmer Dr. Randall
Reed. Chase and his family work on the farm in the summer for the right to operate the Nordic center in the winter.
One reason that White Grass has succeeded is that Chase developed a low-tech system that he calls snow farming off Freeland Road east of state Route 32 near the entrance to Canaan
Valley state park.
The center uses portable plastic snow fences on the flat fields near the base to turn two inches of snow into two feet in some areas. That all but assures enough snow on those 5 kilometers
(3 miles) of beginner trails.
But that requires moving fences to catch more snow when it is coming down, moving and packing the snow and then grooming trails. In some cases, the snow simply gets shoveled by hand to get where it's needed most.
That is done simply to maximize the snow at White Grass.
It gets most of its snow when Canadian winds blow from the northwest across the Great
Lakes.
Another task before Nordic skiers can hit the trails is to use a homemade machine to crush the cow pies that might otherwise freeze and turn into winter obstacles.
Chase and two friends in 1979 started a cross-country center on White Grass Knob near
Harrisonburg, Va. Then they heard about the Canaan Valley site, investigated and moved the operation to Davis in 1981.
The best skiing is from mid-January to mid-March at the center, which is 5 ½ hours from
Akron. But its season may open in late November or early December, depending on snow.

Other rules: the faster skier or the one going downhill has the right of way. Do not step in tracks without skis on. Footprints harden into icy holes.
Other tips: Dress in layers. Protect your extremities. Keep an eye on the weather and approaching storms. Avoid skiing too far. Stay on terrain you are capable of handling. Carry water, a compass, snacks and a trail map.
White Grass offers full-moon skis, guided high-country trips, tours of the adjoining Canaan
Valley National Wildlife Refuge, biathlons and special clinics throughout the winter.
It also rents snowshoes and offers instruction. The only rule is that 'shoers must not trek on the groomed portion of the trails.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 30 minutes after dark daily. The trails close at dark.
The daily use fee is $10 for adults and $3 for children.
The daily equipment rental fee is $10 for adults and $5 for children on weekdays and $15 for adults and $5 for children on weekends. The fee for telemark and skating skis is more.
The daily fee for renting snowshoes is $12 a day for adults and $5 for children.
For more information, contact White Grass Touring Center at HC 70, Box 299, Davis, WV
26260; 304-866-4114. You can also visit the Internet site at www.whitegrass.com
.
Canaan Valley's three other cross-country ski facilities:
•
The Blackwater Nordic Center at Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis. It offers 35 kilometers of groomed trails and equipment rental. It also has a 1,500 sled run with a tow rope. Contact
Blackwater Outdoor Adventures at 304-259-5005. The Web site is www.raftboc.com
. For state park information, contact the park at P.O. Drawer 490, Davis, WV 26260; 304-259-5216 or
800-225-5982. The Internet site is www.blackwaterfalls.com
.
•
Canaan Valley Resort and Conference Center, HC 70, Box 330, Davis, WV 26260; 304-866-
4121 or 800-622-4121. It offers 30 kilometers (18 miles) of trails. The Internet site is www.canaanresort.com
.
•
Timberline Ski Area at HC 70, Box 488, Davis, WV 26260; 304-866-4801 or 800-766-9464.
It offers 17 kilometers (10 miles) of trails. You can take a chair lift to the top of Cabin
Mountain and connect to the back country trails of Dolly Sods. The Internet site is www.timberlineresort.com
.
To get to Canaan Valley from Akron, take the Ohio and Pennsylvania turnpikes to Interstate
79. Take I-79 south to Morgantown. Then take I-68 east to McHenry, Md., and U.S. 219. Take that south through Oakland, Md., and then Thomas, W Va. Pick up state Route 32 and follow it south to Davis and White Grass.

For local lodging, call 800-782-2775 or check with the Tucker County Convention & Visitors
Bureau, P.O. Box 565, William Avenue and Fourth Street, Davis, WV 26260; 800-782-2775.
The Internet site is www.canaanvalley.org
. There is also a lodging link on the White Grass
Web site.
For West Virginia snow reports, call 800-225-5982 or check the White Grass link.
There is another cross-country ski center 80 miles to the south: Elk River Touring Center at
Slatyfork. It offers 50 kilometers (30 miles) of trails and access to nearby wild areas.
For more information, contact the center at HC 69, Box 7, Slatyfork, WV 26291; 304-572-
3771 or 866-572-3771. The Internet site is www.ertc.com
.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com