Qualla: Canaan Valley Resort State Park

Canaan Valley Resort State Park: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ruberhelios, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1950 and 1951, members of the Washington Ski Club listened to pilots' reports about a particular slope in eastern West Virginia. The Canaan Valley side of Cabin Mountain held its snow remarkably well - sometimes into April, sometimes later. The reason was straightforward: the slope faced away from direct sunlight enough that midwinter accumulation simply did not melt off the way it did on other Allegheny ridges. By 1954, the club had signed a ten-year lease with local landowners and started cutting runs about a quarter mile long with a 300-foot vertical drop. It became the first commercial ski establishment south of the Mason-Dixon line. The Cabin Mountain Ski Area would not last - it closed in 1962 - but it kicked off something larger. Today, Canaan Valley Resort sits nearby on the slopes of Weiss Knob, and West Virginia has a full ski industry.

Image: Ruberhelios | CC BY-SA 4.0

Canaan Valley Resort State Park: The Highest Valley East of the Mississippi

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant), CC BY-SA 2.5. Canaan Valley itself is the highest valley of its size east of the Mississippi River, sitting at about 3,200 feet. The flat bottom is bizarrely flat for the eastern United States - more like a high western valley than typical Appalachian terrain. That flatness, combined with the ...

Image: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) | CC BY-SA 2.5

Canaan Valley Resort State Park: From Weiss Knob to the State Park

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY 2.5. Sarah Maude Thompson Kaemmerling granted 3,149 acres to the state in the 1950s for the formation of a state park. In 1957, the state made its first land acquisition specifically with an eye toward developing a ski industry in West Virginia. The Cabin Mountain Ski Area continued o...

Image: CC BY 2.5

Canaan Valley Resort State Park: The Mountain Today

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant), CC BY-SA 2.5. Canaan Valley Resort offers 47 ski trails, a terrain park, and a snow tubing area. A chairlift and magic carpet serve the beginner area on the right side of the mountain. Beyond that beginner terrain and the single green trail running from summit to base, the rest of the mountain...

Image: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) | CC BY-SA 2.5

Canaan Valley Resort State Park: Three Lives Lost in 1988

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant), CC BY-SA 2.5. On Sunday, February 14, 1988 - Valentine's Day - a midday explosion and fire in a maintenance building at Canaan Valley Resort killed three men. They had been attending an air compressor for the snowmaking system. The building also contained several drums of chemicals. The blast ...

Image: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) | CC BY-SA 2.5

Canaan Valley Resort State Park: More Than the Slopes

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant), CC BY-SA 2.5. Canaan Valley today sits within a cluster of protected lands. The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1994, protects much of the high-elevation wetland complex around the resort. White Grass Ski Touring Center, just up the road, operates one of the largest cros...

Image: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) | CC BY-SA 2.5