This place sounds like it is in a different galaxy than Vail (where Chilean snow bunnies hand you a tissue as you clump into the mountaintop lodge for $26 raclette).
Old school. Stalag 13, "ski ör die!!"
Oh yes, Timberline is not the place for needledicks.
I believe however, they have the best natural conditions in the mid-atlantic given the western exposure and altitude.
Imref and I were comparing notes on the "bunkhouse", which is where they put scouting and other youth groups for exceptionally inexpensive weekends. Ours slept 30, bunks triple stacked so that you couldn't even sit upright, no furniture at all other than a couple of 7" wide wooden benches. Primitive heating systems that seem to have only one setting - full blast. Two toilets prone to clogging. And the smells that emerge after 3 days of teenage sweatiness can only be described as vaguely organic in nature. Generally great skiing balanced by terrible food and stark accommodations that are slightly upgraded from staying in a tent.
It does get cold as crap up there though. 3 winters past when I was there it was 18F BELOW zero at first light, though warmed up to a balmy +18 by afternoon.
We're going in a few weeks, but having paid our dues we have 4 adult couples staying in a large house adjacent to the slopes, and are going to take pity on our 11th and 12th graders and let them crash in the basement rather than subject them to the indignity of the bunkhouse for a 5th or 6th time.
We will eat and drink VERY well. Some of us prefer cross country skiing anyway, and Canaan Valley has great options for that.
