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Winterplace in West Virginia has bumped up its opening by a week and will now drop the ropes this weekend. Pretty good opening weekend deal, too: Lift ticket, rental and a lesson for $29.95. That's good for both Saturday and Sunday.

Winterplace has been making snow for several weeks. Saturday, you'll get a chance to try it out.

Just how good a deal that is is hard to say at this point. While Winterplace says it will open, it hasn't indicated how much terrain will be available this weekend. (It does report, though, that its tubing run will not open this weekend.) The area will close next week, then reopen for daily skiing Dec. 13.

Though it's in West Virginia, Winterplace is a four-hour drive from the Triangle, all on divided highway (the resort is literally one minute off of I-77). The resort's proximity makes it popular with local skiers and riders, especially those on the novice end. Eighty-five percent of the resort's trails fall in the beginner or intermediate category and it only has a 603-foot vertical drop — the elevation change from the highest skiable point on the mountain to the lowest. Most comparably sized ski areas in the Southeast have a vertical drop closer to 1,000 feet.

I'll report back when Winterplace announces how much of the mountain will be open this weekend.