With spring on our doorstep, the ski season is on its way out, but Winterplace ski resort was not going to let that stop them from enjoying the time and snow that is left.
They brought the pond skim back after multiple years of it being gone, and those who attended could not have been more excited.
“It’s my favorite event of the year. So we build a 60 foot pond, and we try to ski and snowboard across it, and then we do kind of a last man standing of who can start the lowest and make it across the pond to win a pair of sweet skis from Elevation Sports down in Beckley,” Josh Faber, the Winterplace general manager said.
This year, over 70 brave riders signed up to face the pond. For the riders that were willing to face the challenge, there were mixed feelings once they set their eyes on that cold dark water.
“It’s intimidating but it’s exciting because you don’t normally have that many people like that down there rooting for you. The excitement is all there and everybody is wanting you to do your best, but it’s also just a spectacle. You get to see all these people doing all this crazy stuff and I came down there, saw everybody and just lit up. It was such a good feeling,” Alec Vigil, a snowboarder said.
Even though there were smiles all around, and many riders made it across dry, plenty were not quite as lucky.
“You know, I didn’t quite make it across, but I hit the water, I skimmed across like two thirds of the way, and then I started veering a little bit, and once you start turning, it’s all over,” Vigil said.
Sink or skim, the riders enjoyed themselves and the revival of the pond skim went off without a hitch, but for those involved, this event meant so much more than just a spectacle.
It was a celebration of the season and a thank you to all the people who came out and supported Winterplace.
Events like these are an awesome and unique way to celebrate what is in our backyard right here in the mountain state and it doesn’t take long until some of us miss waking up to those white wintery mornings.
“I think it’s really fun. I think it’s something all ski areas should do to kick off the season or to end the season, something to make it fun because it is sad when the season ends,” Maddie Faber, one of the spectators said.
