Anyone looking for a way to rise above the winter blues will find two uplifting options at Adventures on the Gorge in Southern West Virginia. This year-round adventure resort offers a winter-season zip line that transports travelers through a hemlock forest of ancient trees and a catwalk underneath the New River Gorge Bridge that provides harnessed-in adventurers with a bird’s-eye view of the New River Gorge National River.
Both adventures are offered daily throughout the winter season, and they are a favorite daytime pastime among guests staying in the resort’s cozy cabins. They are also popular post-meeting stress-busters for participants in small-group meetings at the resort’s new Lookout Post conference center.
“You don’t have to be an acrobatic skier to enjoy the exhilaration of getting your feet off the ground in a breathtaking winter setting,” said Dave Arnold, co-founder and senior vice president of public relations and strategic partnerships for Adventures on the Gorge. “With proper clothing and an adventurous attitude, nearly anyone can enjoy these spirit-lifting winter-season activities.”
TreeTops Canopy Tours
The half-day TreeTops Zip Line Canopy Tour includes 10 zip lines, platforms high in the trees, five sky bridges, two short hikes and a rappel back to the ground from the final platform. When one of the platform trees was damaged in a 2015 storm, the resort took that opportunity to rebuild sky bridges and reconfigure some of the zip lines, making them faster and with wider corridors than their predecessors.
The tour is priced at $79 for adults during the winter season. The minimum age to experience the zip line is 10, and the resort offers special pricing for young people ages 10 to 12 when accompanied by a paying adult. The resort also offers special rates for qualified non-profit groups.
A portion of the fees for the tour are invested in an ongoing effort to vaccinate endangered hemlock trees against the damaging effects of the invasive Woolly Adelgid, which has been decimating hemlock forests throughout the region as winters grow warmer.
Bridge Walk
The Bridge Walk situated 25 feet underneath the surface of the famous New River Gorge Bridge along U.S. Route 19 allows travelers to see the New River Gorge National River just like the birds do. They are also treated to an up-close look at the architecture of the 896-foot-high bridge, one of the longest steel arch bridges in the world and the longest in North America. Travelers are harnessed to a wire-and-pulley system as they stroll along a 24-inch steel catwalk in the company of an interpretive guide who discusses the cultural and natural history of the region and the architecture of the bridge. Completed in 1977, the 3,030-foot-long bridge is crossed by more than 16,200 vehicles daily.
Available daily throughout the winter, the tour is priced at $69 per person. Minimum age is 10.
Cozy Cabins
Adventures on the Gorge offers a variety of cabin options ranging from multi-bedroom Deluxe Cabins with private hot tubs, fireplaces and fully equipped kitchens to more simply furnished Sportsman Cabins with small-but-efficient kitchens and bathrooms. There are also luxury private homes available for rent.
