Timberline Four Seasons Resort

Boasting an average annual snowfall of 180−200in of natural snow, 40 trails, an alpine summit of 4,268 feet, 1000 ft of vertical excitement, and the best glades skiing south of Vermont! Timberline is definitely the place to go to for skiing/​snowboarding in the Mid-​Atlantic region! Timberline has been my home mountain for the past four years and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the area after a big storm dumps snow! Located in a real skiers environment in Canaan Valley at a high elevation, a liberal in-​bounds policy, and temperatures 10 – 15 degrees lower than the DC area make this a real legit ski resort destination! Closer resorts to DC receive less than 50in of snow per year and have really crowded trails. Timberline bucks that trend!
THE MOUNTAIN: Featuring the longest trail in the South, 2 miles, is the Beginner Salamander trail which meanders through the alpine environment of Dolly Sods Wilderness area. In addition to Salamander, there are over 10 other short green trails to enjoy. For those that want to take it up a notch, Timberline features three fantastic & long Intermediate trails (Almost Heaven, Dew Drop, and Twister) from the summit to the base of the mountain. Where Timberline really excels is in its offerings of Advanced & Expert trails and glades! The center part of the mountain features groomed Advanced and Expert trails of White Lightning, Thunderstruck, and the Drop where you can pick up some great speed and let it rip down the mountain. The Expert trails of Thunderdraft, Silver Streak, and Off the Wall are all ungroomed for most of the season and are intended to create moguls and whale formations (Off the Wall trail) to challenge expert skiers. With 5 listed glade areas, and two more glades in the works for this season, get pumped for some serious action when a good snow base forms in the woods! The lower part of the mountain offers the Pearly Glades, a good introduction to glade skiing at a low pitch. The upper part of the mountain offers the Parkway Glades, Just Beachy Glades, Glade Runner, and the Cherry Bowl Glade. The Parkway and Just Beachy Glades are adjacent to the Upper Dew Drop and Upper Almost Heaven trails, respectively. Glade Runner can be accessed from the Upper White Lightning and Thunderdraft trails. Cherry Bowl is accessed from Upper Salamander is an excellent true double black glade and should only be skied when there is a sufficient snow base on the ground and in groups.
IMPROVEMENTS: 1) Now with the new Corridor H Highway, it’s made access to Timberline now just 3 hrs from the DC/​NOVA area! Head west on Interstate 66, south on Interstate 81 for about 2 miles, then head west on Route ⁴⁸⁄₅₅ (starts as a two lane road for 10 miles then opens up into a smooth sailing four lane highway) out to the Davis/​Canaan Valley area. 2) Timberline has made major improvements to their snowmaking for the ²⁰¹⁵⁄₂₀₁₆ season to open up terrain earlier by implementing new water pipes and adding 20 more Snowlogic guns increasing their snowmaking capacity 30% more than last year! 3) Two new glade areas are in the works for this year! Get ready to make those quick turns and bring out your serious skis! 4) A second terrain park is in the works to open up this year so get ready to catch some air and ride some rails! –Some people complain about the lift lines and the slowness of the lifts but I bypass that by taking a weekday off from work and skiing on a mountain where I can cruise in solitude! Hopefully in time the lift will be improved at my fav resort!
ACCOMODATIONS: For large groups, look into renting a house nearby at Timberline 4 Seasons Realty (
)For small groups, look into renting a slopeside room at Timberline (
). For those looking to save cash and don’t mind the 15 min drive, the Alpine Lodge offers rooms for about $ 60 (
). For those die hard skiers that don’t mind roughing it so as to save more money in their budget for more lift tickets ($ 25 a night), the Purple Fiddle in Thomas WV (17min drive) has a hostel with numerous rooms and is located on premises of the Purple Fiddle Bar (
).
RESTAURANTS AND NIGHTLIFE:
Timberline has a good restaurant on site called the Fireside Grill and also offers live music. The nearby towns of Davis & Thomas offer some great options such as Hellbenders Burritos, Sirianni’s Café for excellent pizza, Blackwater Brewing Co. for a some great microbrews and pub fare, and The Flying Pigs for a delicious breakfast to start your next ski day! The Purple Fiddle is an excellent pub for nightlife, great local micro brews (some for just $ 3!), and live music. It’s wild & wonderful out here in WV and you have to experience it for yourself!

This place is the best kept secret in the eastern United States… It has great conditions and always seems to have fresh powder and groomed trails. It’s not a huge resort but certainly offers plenty of challenging intermediate and advanced trails. It also has the longest beginner trail in the eastern US; it’s a 2 mile long run called Salamander. It’s a fun trail and the longest I’ve seen in this region! The lodge and facilities are not very luxurious or posh but I don’t go there to hang out in the lodge because the slopes are AWESOME! The owners just started an initiative to raise money for improvements and sustainability. This is great news and you can score a fantastic deal on lift tickets, stay and play packages, season passes and more… Check it out:
. we love this place and can’t wait to get back there this weekend!!!

Got a great deal off of Groupon for two nights, plus all-​day lift and ski rentals. Note on «ski rentals.» Bring your own board, or it’s extra for snowboard rentals. Discrimination of snowboarders are still largely upon us. Great staff, easy check-​in and check-​out. Lifts could be faster, but trails are happily long and eventful. I had thought early morning sessions would be great, right after everything has been groomed, but the thing about grooming make everything flat. I want the super soft snow pluff!

Had an awesome time skiing here over the weekend! Super short lines, well groomed slopes, and decent enough ski lodge. And because it had been a while, I took a tune-​up lesson with Terri, who was great! Lift tickets weren’t bad at all and the night skiing of course is always awesome. If you’re staying in one of the homes up the hill from the resort, just know that the parking lot of the resort itself is well-​groomed, but the subdivision, which is not related to the resort I believe, is not once you get past the first few homes. Also, there’s a place called Ski Barn down the street that has less expensive rentals if you’re looking to save a few dollars.

Wish I could give this a 2.5 — but 2 it is.
Went skiing on MLK weekend. On Saturday one of the two main chair lifts was down for hours, creating 30-​minute queues at the remaining chair lift. Then the morning of the next day, the same lift was down for hours, creating monster queues again (took an hour to get to the top, ski down, and get back in line). When I asked the status, they said that they had called the electrician hours ago and were waiting for him to arrive.
Maybe this is just me but if I owned the place and I knew I had electrical problems, I would pay the electrician to spend the whole day there, even if it meant he just sat there drinking coffee. Instead, they charged higher holiday weekend rates and then half-a**ed the operation.
But that aside, Timberline has good runs (and ultimately that is what matters) and their ski school is great. Both my young son and I got great lessons. But the rest of the place is run down. There is visible rust on the chair lift towers, the bathrooms are just a step up from rotting plywood walls, the food is terrible and overpriced, etc. Moreover, they just don’t have enough lift capacity — they really need a high speed quad.
One final thing — cell signals at Timberline is nonexistent for many carriers, and their free wifi is so slow that it is practically useless. So if you go, expect to be off-​line the whole time (not always a bad thing, but you should know).
After our bad experience, my son and I went skiing just down the road at Canaan Valley that Monday and it was nigh-​and-​day. if Breckenridge in Colorado is a Marriott, then Canaan Valley is a Courtyard Inn by Marriott, and Timberline is a Red Roof Inn. Canaan was clean, had great runs, didn’t have crazy lift lines, and had amazingly good snow.
After these two experiences, we will be going to Canaan from now on.

A little resort with nice runs. This is no Vail, but it gives you what you need; snow to ski on! Salamander run is the longest on the east coast. This is my second year going there and the slopes are not crowded at all. The lodge is junky and in need of updating, but I can overlook that.

The kids and I went skiing for the first time ever with my son’s boy scout troop. We decided to take the ski lesson because we needed to learn the ropes. There were several ski instructors for our large group (15 – 18). All the instructors but one were great. Even though there were some people, like me, who didn’t feel prepared, she just rushed along. The instructor who stayed with me asked her if we could teach a few extra stuff to the people who were not too sure, and she just ignored her.
What resulted was that while some of us ended up hating skiing (like my son), others learned to like it (like me). At first, I was mortiifed, but then with my ski instructor’s patience, I learned to enjoy it. I found out later that that ski instructor I said wasn’t very nice told my son after he crashed that if he couldn’t learn to stop, then he just needed to take his skis off. I understand that she has to deal with a lot of people, but how is that going to help a first timer?
The skiing was fun and the people at the rental place were very nice. They were very receptive to everyone, and really tried their best.
Overall it was a nice experience. If you are a first timer, like me, then I hope you have an instructor who has the patience to teach you instead of telling you to just quit.

This is a review of the god awful pub, restaurant, bar or whatever they are trying to make of the space referred to as «timbers pub»
Horrible! If I could give them a zero star, I would.
Do not eat here unless you want greasy food, stale burger buns, chips from the bottom of the bag because they don’t want to turn the French fry cooker on… and…TV remote doesn’t work, so may get stuck watching Chanel 2, which proudly displays what is on the other Chanel’s, rubbing your face in the fact that can’t watch tv here!
Run, don’t go in, eat somewhere else.

Timberline is good, definitely the best of the two options for downhill in the area. Unfortunately I only got a chance to ski two hills that were open due to the lack of early season snow this year.
The lifts, two old and slow triples, could use some work, they seem to have decent snowmaking though. Unfortunately again it was 45 degrees out the day I went (December 30^th 2011). Holiday rates were in effect, so the value wasn’t so gr