Mountaineers in the Pros: Week 13

Geno Smith

Rasul Douglas

Beanie Bishop and Zach Frazier

Colton McKivitz

David Long Jr.

Bye Weeks

SNOWSHOE, W.Va.—- Ski season in the mountain state is getting ready to begin with two resorts opening Thursday morning.

WV Ski Area Association’s Joe Stevens says that the season will open early for Snowshoe and Timberline.

“They’re going to be dropping the ropes at 9 o’clock and getting the season underway,” Stevens said Tuesday on Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval.

The first snowfall of the season came last week, and Stevens said that it helped with two things.

“It did a couple of things, first off it got people thinking about winter, they stopped cutting the grass and they started getting their skis and snowboards ready, because they can see on the webcams, the snowing and the snowmaking going on at the resort, so it really amped up the anticipation of the season coming,” Stevens said. “But what it also did is it cooled off the ground.”

The snow that they received allowed the snowmakers to make the snow because the snow machines require a temperature below 28 degrees.

He says while some skiers will be from the mountain state, the majority will come from one major state.

“Well, this time of year when we’re getting into the holiday season, a lot of them with be coming from Florida,” he said. “And a lot of times it will be the first snow they’ve actually ever seen.”

However, he also mentioned that they’ll see people come in from Washington D.C., Virginia and North Carolina.

And more resorts will be opening their season later in December, with Winterplace in Raleigh County opening the 14th and Canaan Valley in Tucker County opening the 21st.

To see the most up-to-date reports on the conditions of the ski mountains and to see the snowmaking process you can visit West Virginia’s ski resort website here.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Numbers released by the West Virginia Parkways Authority Tuesday show the West Virginia Turnpike exceeded expectations throughout the busy Thanksgiving week.

The Parkways Authority say that the total number of transactions was 754,405, nearly 40,000 more than the 715,000 transactions expected, which still would have been the busiest week of the year.

Wednesday, November 27, and Sunday, December 1, finished as the busiest days of the week on the Turnpike, as the two accounted for over 55% of the Thanksgiving week transactions.

As expected, the least traveled day of the week was Thanksgiving Day on Thursday. Despite being the lowest of the week, Thursday saw 67,724 transactions, which was around 200 more than expected.

Right before the holiday rush, a Pay by Plate option was introduced for the Turnpike, which allowed motorists to drive through the EZ Pass Lane and have their plate scanned. They could then go back and pay the toll on the Turnpike’s website.

West Virginia Parkways Authority Executive Director Jeff Miller says the new system was vital for the most hectic travel week of the year.

“We had more travel than was expected, which is a great thing, and we pushed cars through the toll facilities better than we have ever done in the past, and all thanks to our new tolling system,” Miller said.

Those who utilized the Toll by Plate option will have 30 days from the date to pay the toll.