At a time when ski resorts are expanding and diversifying activities to accommodate the maturing baby boomer crowd and its echo boom children in order to be more family-friendly and appealing year-round, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort recently did the reverse and broadened its already successful spring, summer and fall business by including winter snow sports. At heart, Nemacolin Woodlands, named for a Delaware native American chief, is a spa. In fact, according to Town and Country magazine, it is one of the top 10 spas in the United States. But Nemacolin is also an example of a resort with activities to suit every person during every season.
“The only thing we don’t have at Nemacolin Woodlands is the ocean…But we’re working on it,” says Joe Hardy, founder of 84 Lumber and the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in western Pennsylvania. Resort amenities include two 18-hole golf courses (one designed by Pete Dye), a golf instruction academy, an equestrian center, a polo field, a virtual-reality center, a climbing wall, a shopping plaza and, now, a place to ski, snowboard and cross-country ski.
When Hardy purchased the resort in 1987, it was a hunting lodge on 1,000 acres of land in the Laurel Highlands. Under his ownership and his daughter Maggie’s management, the original lodge was expanded into a destination resort and spa where, after a day of golfing, hiking, horseback riding or skiing, guests can relax in a mudbath or succumb to a full-body massage in the 20,000-foot spa. The ski area, called Mystic Mountain, was added in December of 1995 to “ensure the resort’s place as a year-round destination,” according to Karen Forsythe, public relations director at the resort.
Although the ski area is no Vail—a 300-foot vertical drop, five beginner, intermediate and advanced trails, 25 skiable acres and a 2,030 top elevation—no expense was spared to make it a classy operation. For starters, the trails are 100 percent covered by snowmaking using HKD tower snowguns (a four-nozzle air/water system). At maximum capacity, the system converts 1,500 gallons of water per minute. A Garaventa/CTEC fixed quad and an O’Connor handle tow give the area a 2,000-people-per-hour capacity, and each of the five trails is fully lit for 100 percent night skiing.
At the base—the mountain is inverted so it is actually at the peak—there is a 20,000-square-foot lodge that houses a rental shop, retail shop, ski school, ski patrol, ticket offices and a cafeteria and bar. The bar boasts a mechanical bull for those who didn’t get enough bruises on the slopes and there’s a hot tub outside the base lodge for those guests who prefer to relax instead.
Because the area opened late last season (mid-December 1995), skier visit numbers are difficult to calculate. According to Saeed Assadzandi, director of ski operations, the clientele was about 40 percent resort guests and 60 percent from neighboring towns within a 30- to 45-mile radius. The cost is the same for each—$12 for adults and $8 for children during midweek days and nights. Rates go to $19 and $12 on weekends and holidays. Approximately 1,600 lessons were given during the 1996-95 partial season, 80 percent to guests and 20 percent to non-guests. The main appeal for guests is a program called Kid’s Klub, in which parents can relax in the spa while the kids are whisked away for the day to learn to ski or snowboard.
In its first full season of operation, Nemacolin estimates that skier visits numbered 12,000 during the 1996-97 winter. The area also attracted local school and church groups, as well as local Boy Scout troops. With only 11 to 12 inches of snowfall, it is hard for Nemacolin to estimate what numbers could have been, but with snowmaking the area was able to offer locals a place to play in the winter and resort guests an alternative activity.
As a trial, the management at Nemacolin said they were pleased with the program. “Clients, after discovering the ski program in winter 1995-96, said they would come back again in 1996-97 because of it…and they did,” said Assadzandi. In fact, Nemacolin is planning to put together additional packages focusing on skiing and snowboarding to draw more families. “Because of the popularity among the locals, we are also hoping to get some more area school and church organizations to start skiing and/or snowboarding programs with us,” Assadzandi said. With the terrain divided between green, blue and black, there is room to excel.
Nemacolin Woodlands resort has proved that being everything to everybody can work. While the new ski area is important to management, it is no more important than all the other amenities at the resort. Each of the resort’s offerings is carefully designed to provide guests options and opportunities no matter the time of year.
