SNOWSHOE, West Virginia — Christmas comes a few days early at Snowshoe Mountain, as the resort is set to debut the first of three new trails for the 2007-2008 season. Sawmill, located skier’s right of the Widowmaker slope and Soaring Eagle Express lift, and the middle of the three new trails, will open for the first time Friday, December 21. A 10am ceremony will include a ribbon cutting with Snowshoe Mountain President and COO Bill Rock, Sawmill Village Project Architect and Developer Tom Tretheway and Ed Galford, VP of Mountain Operations for Snowshoe Mountain, who served as the trails’ designer.

The trail is marked for expert skiers, and is a long, challenging run, similar to Widowmaker, a long-time favorite of Snowshoe regulars. Sawmill measures 2790′ and has a vertical drop of 630′. The trail will be serviced by the Soaring Eagle lift, a high-speed quad the mountain added last season.

“This is going to be a special day for Snowshoe and our guests,” said Bill Rock of the trail’s debut. “This is the most significant addition of expert terrain in at least five years at the resort, and it marks a clear improvement in the skiing experience at Snowshoe. A very special thanks goes out to our friends at Sawmill Village and Snowshoe’s Mountain Operations Crew, without whom this day wouldn’t be happening.”

Sawmill is one of three new trails that were added to the South Mountain area this summer. Sawmill Glades and Camp 99, the two additional trails, will open as weather and snowmaking permit. The trails were a cooperative venture with Snowshoe’s new Sawmill Village neighborhood. Sawmill Village’s developers invested nearly one million dollars for the construction of the three new trails, which will provide ski-in/ski-out access to the gated community.

“We feel that it is critical to provide our home owners an experience that warrants their desire to build custom home packages at the top of Snowshoe Mountain Resort,” says Tom Tretheway. “By forming the partnership, we feel our development will continue to grow along side of Snowshoe and everyone will benefit in terms of increased resort infrastructure, such as trails, snowmaking, lifts and events.”