Where does a kid from Virginia Beach, Virginia, go snowboarding? You guessed it, he heads west. But how far do you need to go? Well, for me, it was about 300 miles away and a five-and-a-half-hour drive with no easy way in and no easy way out, but it sure was worth it when you got there. Tucked into an undisturbed area of the southern Appalachian Mountains where your phone loses almost all service and requires you to truly live in the moment lies Snowshoe Mountain Resort, West Virginia, a true diamond in the rough, boasting 250 acres of skiable terrain, 14 lifts, four terrain parks, and an astonishing 175 inches of snowfall annually.
Snowshoe became the mountain I spent the most time at and where I got a taste for fresh powder. The area’s atypical cold weather for a southern region allows it to run its ski season from late November to mid-April. Unlike most resorts, Snowshoe built their lodging and community at the top of Pocahontas County’s 4,848-foot Cheat Mountain because of the surrounding Monongahela National forests, making it worth staying a few days. Snowshoe is also surprisingly the only resort in the mid-Atlantic region on the IKON pass.
The mountain is dispersed into three zones, with Snowshoe Basin being the main domain. Snowshoe Basin features six of the 14 lifts, 41 trails, and two terrain parks, meaning you can often find yourself waiting in long lines on the weekend. However, if you figure out an excuse to tell your boss in the middle of the week to skip work, you’ll have this place for yourself.
Next is the Western Territory, across the top of the hill to the backside of the mountain, with only advanced terrain containing one lift and two trails, both 1.5 miles long with 1,500 feet of vertical drop. On days when Snowshoe Basin may be packed, you’ll find a much thinner crowd in the Western Territory, no matter the day.
Lastly, Silvercreek is my personal favorite; just a short shuttle ride away, you can find 17 trails, two terrain parks, and the only section of Snowshoe with night riding.
Silver Creek terrain holds my best memories at Snowshoe. You can night ride until 9 p.m. or until you can’t feel your feet, which might happen sooner than you think, with the average winter temperature sitting at 25° Fahrenheit. My friend’s dad, with whom I would take trips to Snowshoe, would never let us leave time on the ticket, so we always stayed until closing anyway — cold feet or not. Silver Creek was perfect for me and my buddies in terms of park progression. It features a small to medium park, where you could learn the ropes, and one slope over, which was a medium to large park perfect for taking tricks to the next level. We would often leave Snowshoe Basin a little early and head to Silver Creek to try and ride with no crowds and untouched snow. I can recall the feeling of actually scoring what we had pictured in our heads. This zone is also where I gained the confidence to try jumps and rails because the crowd was so thin, and there was no one to watch me spazz and windmill over a five-foot gap or catch my edge on a flat bar practically in the ground. Despite the long, remote, curving roads to the resort and the freezing night riding, Snowshoe is and always will be one of my favorite mountains and will always be home to some of my most profound snowboarding memories.
