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Jim Kenney

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Not sure about the future, but here are a few shots from Timberline's past (1/24/16) that show how special the place can be. By the way, JohnL's comparison to Platty is probably the closest for me. I haven't been to B-East.
Old Dominion Glades
t-line old dominion glade.jpeg

Cherry Bowl Glades
t-line cherry bowl glades.jpeg

JohnL again
t-line johnl.jpeg

David
t-line david.jpeg

Jimmy
t-line jimmy.jpeg
 

Johnfmh

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Another update on the water situation. Bottom line: Continue to Boil!
 

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pipestem

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Gotta love this.... "But the other operator who was to finish out the rest of the week, and who had been deer hunting, also pulled out....".

Despite it all, if they can pull this together, and Snow God is kind, I'll be back.
 

JohnL

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Another update on the water situation. Bottom line: Continue to Boil!

Saw that on the T4SR FB page last night. So, Boil Water Notice for about two months (started around Halloween), with a temporary reprieve around Xmas. No guarantees after that.

They are trying to hire a temporary contractor; at this point after a month of hiring futility, they should have the common business sense to realize they 1) need to drastically boost the hourly pay 2) tweak the working conditions or 3) hire someone full time, not on a temp basis. Their reputation as employers seems to be catching up with them.

And they continue to advocate for a rate increase despite successfully petitioning for a management fee increase earlier this year and from the PSC documents, have not resolved allegations of improper transfers to utility affiliates and have not documented unexplained withdrawals from the utility account during the April-June period of this year.

SMH.

If anything, the utility customers should be getting a rebate for lack of legally-acceptable drinking water for a two month period...
 

JohnL

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Gotta love this.... "But the other operator who was to finish out the rest of the week, and who had been deer hunting, also pulled out....".

Despite it all, if they can pull this together, and Snow God is kind, I'll be back.

I no longer trust the Thunderstuck lift - I was on the lift when the tower collapsed several years ago. Despite that, I rode it the lift the past few years, but no mas. (And there are rumors that the Silver Queen lift may be kaput. We'll see on that.) This year, they have had a bunch of tree trimmers from VA doing lift maintenance and snowmaking. I've seen a picture from this week of an ice-berg encased snow gun at the base. They don't even know how to properly work a tower gun.

Without a season pass this year, I'd have to buy a ticket. Ticket lines are generally 10 min to 60 min+. And if they only have one operation lift to the top, weekends will be a mess.

SMH.
 

JohnL

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And I don't trust the lift safety oversight provided by the state of WV or by their insurance company. Borvig, the original manufacturer of the lift that had a tower collapse, had a safety notice back in the mid/late 80's about installing U-bolts on the lift towers. For over two decades the lift was in operation w/o the requested safety repairs.
 

D.B.Cooper

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There is no state aerial lift safety oversight in West Virginia.

https://liftblog.com/2016/03/01/does-your-state-have-a-tramway-board/


And I don't trust the lift safety oversight provided by the state of WV or by their insurance company. Borvig, the original manufacturer of the lift that had a tower collapse, had a safety notice back in the mid/late 80's about installing U-bolts on the lift towers. For over two decades the lift was in operation w/o the requested safety repairs.
 

Slide of Hans

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I saw the magic reference so got interested in T-line.

Can someone explain what the contaminated water has to do with ski area, just boil it down (no pun intended).
 

RichieRich

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Re: taking the kids there...he!! - you've answered the question re taking the Adults there!!! Someone answer me this: is T-line safe?
 
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TS
Dr. Bighair

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I've heard the "queen is dead" and I wouldn't be surprised if the second scheduled opening on Dec. 7th is postponed because the borvig doesn't spin. Personally, I haven't ridden the lifts there since the collapse a few years ago. Probably decent odds on a weekday when there are only a dozen people riding at a time, but on the weekends...no way, you got to be crazy. Ski up ski down is the way to go...almost as fast as riding the lifts anyway
 

The Colonel

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I've heard the "queen is dead" and I wouldn't be surprised if the second scheduled opening on Dec. 7th is postponed because the borvig doesn't spin. Personally, I haven't ridden the lifts there since the collapse a few years ago. Probably decent odds on a weekday when there are only a dozen people riding at a time, but on the weekends...no way, you got to be crazy. Ski up ski down is the way to go...almost as fast as riding the lifts anyway

Go to DCSki.Com the TL Future thread and read the article from the “ Intermountain “ about TL, and then read the comments about the article
The Colonel
 

Kemperski

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Just joined, so first let me thank the folks at Pugski for this forum, the irony that so many people are new here because the local forum was uncomfortable has been appropriately noted ... also Pugski has got it going on. great place, great content, great discussions

I really disagree with the notion that is taking shape here that Timberline is unsafe and no one should ride their lifts. Timberline is a mess, their owners are delusional in their assessments and aspirations but I don't fear their lifts. I was also there the weekend of the tower collapse, maybe I have a tolerance for risk but that is nothing compared to the chance I take alone in the trees at closing.

I cannot speak for the homeowners but as a tourist when T-line opens I'll be there, by far the best lift served tree skiing in the mid atlantic.

I agree that what the place could be is a far cry from where it is and the owners have done a miserable job but stubbornly insist they know what is best despite all evidence to the contrary.

I want the place to succeed, although I think the Hertz family is unsuited to the job and the Valley is suffering from their incompetence
 
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JohnL

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Just joined, so first let me thank the folks at Pugski for this forum, the irony that so many people are new here because the local forum was uncomfortable has been appropriately noted ... also Pugski has got it going on. great place, great content, great discussions

I really disagree with the notion that is taking shape here that Timberline is unsafe and no one should ride their lifts. Timberline is a mess, their owners are delusional in their assessments and aspirations but I don't fear their lifts. I was also there the weekend of the tower collapse, maybe I have a tolerance for risk but that is nothing compared to the chance I take alone in the trees at closing.

I cannot speak for the homeowners but as a tourist when T-line opens I'll be there, by far the best lift served tree skiing in the mid atlantic.

I agree that what the place could be is a far cry from where it is and the owners have done a miserable job but stubbornly insist they know what is best despite all evidence to the contrary.

I want the place to succeed, although I think the Hertz family is unsuited to the job and the Valley is suffering from their incompetence

Trust me, I have a very high tolerance for risk, and skiing CB alone at closing doesn’t even get the needle moving. So does DBH; I’ve bashed the trees with him a time or two.

I guess we’ve seen how “the sausage was made.”
 
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TS
Dr. Bighair

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Believe and do what you want. I shredded the slime 80-90 days a season for about a decade. It's a small operation and not hard to figure out what is or isn't going on. That mountain is fun/best terrain for mid-atlantic; although, I wouldn't necessarily call any of the terrain scary for an experienced skier/boarder, unless it is glazed over with ice. But the infrastructure is antiquated and has reached its breaking point. There has been no money for upkeep for the last 3 years. The mountain operations staff has been completely laid off for the last three summers/off-seasons. No maintenance has been performed out of season...this season has been the most extreme case with "starting back up" just occurring in the last few weeks with a skeleton crew of workers who from all reports have no experience in the ski industry or working on ski infrastructure. The power to the resort was just restored last week.

The lifts have reached their shelf life and have not been maintained for the last few years....it's not a matter of if but when. I've heard the same from folks that work there past and present. I've heard from professional lift technicians in the industry from the area that know that lift that say they wouldn't let their family ride it. I've seen what's been going on there daily for the last few weeks in preparation for the season. I know ski patrollers who refuse to ride first chair to call "code green" in the morning because they don't want to be responsible.

Lift safety--you won't convince me or a lot of other knowledgeable local people otherwise until someone from the resort other than the owners makes public who is inspecting the lifts, what the lift inspection consists of, who is responsible for lift safety at the resort, and who is in charge of running the lifts on a daily basis and incase of an emergency. What I suspect will happen is the owners of the resort will announce on FB a passing lift inspection for the Borvig without any qualification or some circular answers when asked about what an inspection consist of or who performed it and then eventually make up some excuse/lie about not running the silverqueen when they are asked repeatedly about it. I also suspect that the owners announcement of a passing lift "inspection" will satisfy a lot of skiing folks who frequent timberline and they will ride the lifts and then something or nothing tragic might happen.
 
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Thread Starter
TS
Dr. Bighair

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Go to DCSki.Com the TL Future thread and read the article from the “ Intermountain “ about TL, and then read the comments about the article
The Colonel

DC Ski....meh...that site is a watered down local ski hill advertising site. I'd say its a safe bet that the owners of timberline have repeatedly contacted the admin on that site and threatened to sue him for slander and he pandered to their ridiculous threats. That is what they have been doing to a lot of people. That is one of their ways of trying to control the news that is coming out of there. Another is to contact the papers and tv stations and make up their own story that is different than the truth...which can easily be fact checked.

That inter mountain article is a perfect example and is full of total spin and blatant lies by the owners....saying the Dec. 13th PSC hearing was about the BWN and not the embezzlement, saying their neighboring competitor resort, Canaan, lost all their snow last weekend, saying they were choosing not to make snow to not waste power when the truth is they didn't even have power turned on, saying they just came on to the poorly run timberline business scene 2 years ago, etc. They've been calling around to all the news publications trying to spin the PSC story and damage control the fraudulent advertising about recapitalization and the 1 million dollars they claimed they put in snowmaking upgrades. Same thing in the gazette piece and the short tv interview on local channel WBOY the other day....they WBOY interview actually cut Fred segment short as he started to talk about all the snowmaking improvements they have recently made. But the other news sources seem to be just publishing whatever the owners want to make up.
 
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