With temperatures in the 60’s and near 70 degrees last weekend, my 7-year old son, Carter, our friend Lisa S. and I headed up to Liberty last Sunday to enjoy spring skiing in the middle of winter. Admittedly, while others in Washington, D.C. were hiking, biking, gardening and doing other spring-time activities, we could not think of a better way to enjoy the weekend’s mild temperatures and abundant sunshine than playing in the snow!

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones with that thought as the slopes had a fair number of people on them. However, we stayed mostly on the “back side” of the resort where crowds were at minimum. For those not familiar with Liberty Mountain’s layout, there is a “front side” which has the beginner area, the main “green” run from the top, another green run that goes halfway up the resort’s mountain, the terrain park with several adjoining trails, and two more advanced runs. The “back side” is made up entirely of blue and black runs - including the three double-black trails. The line to ride the front side main lift - Alpine Quad - can get very long on busy weekends. But once you got to the back side of the resort, the two quad chairs in back made lift line waits a matter of only a few minutes at any one time. Thanks to this set up, we were able to get in numerous recreational runs without worrying much about long lift lines.

Carter and author resting after the bump run on Upper Eastwind. Photo provided by Jim Chen.

There is no question that Liberty has taken ample advantage of this season’s earlier cold weather. Even after several days of mild temperatures, coverage on all trails was edge to edge (and then some). This combined with the sunny skies and warm weekend temperatures made for near perfect conditions with snow soft enough to make carving very easy. In fact, my 7-year old son even tried out Upper Eastwind, a double-black run that Liberty allows to bump up from top to bottom. We also met up with a friend of my son’s - John - and his family. By taking it easy and letting Carter and John set the pace, we were all still enjoying ourselves right up to the mid part of the afternoon when the reality of the school night forced us to call it a day. There was, after all, school and work to prepare for the next morning.

Carter and John on Lower Eastwind. Photo provided by Jim Chen.

Regardless, thanks to the beautiful weather, Liberty’s excellent snowmaking team and some good friends, we could all say that we made the best of this past weekend’s excellent weather!