The four Kenney kids kick off the New Year at Virginia’s Bryce Mountain.

I took my family skiing and snowboarding at Bryce Mountain Ski Area on January 1, 2001. We had a great time on a half day schedule, 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. ($30 adults, $27 juniors 6-12). The skies were partly cloudy with minimal wind and the temperature was about 30-35 degrees Fahrenheit.

100% of Bryce’s terrain was open. By 4:30 p.m. the trail surface had turned a little hard in a few spots, but in general the man-made snow conditions were very good. There were only 1-2 inches of natural snow on the ground around the ski area, but the recent superb snowmaking conditions had the area in mid-season form.

The New Year’s Day crowd was very small. We never saw more than about 15-20 people in line at the main double chairlift and there was no crowding on the trails either. This has been my experience on other trips to this small but pleasant ski area in recent years. However, the lift attendant said New Year’s Eve was much busier.

It was our first day on the slopes this season and we all had a good time working some of the kinks out. We enjoyed testing our balance on several nice machine made jumps built by management on two trails. My son used Bryce’s two very benign beginner lifts to get a successful start on his first-ever day of snowboarding.