About this time a year ago, I wasn’t feeling very motivated to ski in the Mid-Atlantic. Balmy weather and lack of natural snow translated to meager trail offerings at local resorts. “It will get better soon,” I kept telling myself. Yet January whizzed by, and my skis didn’t experience Mid-Atlantic snow until sometime in February.

This winter, as you may have noticed, is turning out a bit different.

Two skiers take in the views at Whitetail on January 8, 2025. Photo by M. Scott Smith.

As I write this on the evening of January 8, 2025, it is 14 degrees outside. My yard is covered in over half a foot of snow that fell just a few days ago. And the long-range forecast shows highs barely eking above freezing.

While this may cause many residents of the Mid-Atlantic to consider fleeing to the Caribbean, local skiers and snowboarders have, of course, been fleeing to their favorite ski areas. I consciously chose not to be one of them this past weekend, knowing that the resorts would be packed. Instead, I waited until Wednesday, hoping for lighter crowds. For my first local turns of the season, I settled on Whitetail Resort, less than an hour drive from my house.

In a typical winter, Whitetail might be pretty empty on a Wednesday. But with so many skiers feeling deprived from the past few mild winters, I was not too surprised to pull up to the parking lot and see quite a few cars there.

It certainly felt like I was arriving at a ski resort; there was ample snow not only on the ski slopes in front of me, but everywhere as far as the eye could see, thanks to the recent snowstorm.

Arriving at Whitetail. Photo by M. Scott Smith.

After making the always-fun trek-in-the-ski-boots from the car to the base area, I clicked into my skis and scooted over to the Whitetail Express high-speed quad. Although the resort was busy for a Wednesday, this never translated into long lines, with waits never lasting more than a minute or two.

That first lift ride up was a bit chilly. Temperatures in the 20s and occasional wind gusts made for a cold day, and made me glad that I had layered up.

My first run was Limelight, one of my favorites at Whitetail. The intermediate trail follows the Whitetail Express quad down to the base area. While Limelight isn’t as wide as it used to be (evergreens have been planted on the left half of the trail as you look up the mountain), it still provides for some fun turns and a great view of the base area and valley below.

A snowy view from the top of Whitetail. Photo by M. Scott Smith.

The snow conditions were excellent - really, some of the best conditions in years. There were occasional patches of ice on Limelight (undoubtedly due to crowds in recent days), but plenty of packed powder to make turns in.

Next, I worked my way over to the expert terrain, taking the lift back to the top and then skiing down Angel Drop to Drop In. Angel Drop always has some of the best snow conditions at Whitetail, but it’s also the busiest trail, sometimes reminding me of the Beltway with skiers, instead of cars, whizzing by.

You can leave that traffic behind when you dip down Drop In to the base of the Expert’s Choice quad. It serves the expert terrain at Whitetail: double-black Bold Decision, often-moguled Exhibition, and Far Side.

Whitetail is starting to show its age in some ways. I couldn’t help but notice that the towers on the Expert’s Choice and Easy Rider chairlifts are in desperate need of a new paint job; years of skiers (rudely) poking at the towers with their poles have resulted in scratches, peeling paint, and rust showing through.

I sampled Bold Decision and Far Side, but skipped the moguls on Exhibition as I could see patches of ice glistening between the moguls on my lift ride up, and my knees just weren’t feeling it.

Far Side is one of the least trafficked trails at Whitetail, and also one of the most interesting. Photo by M. Scott Smith.

The packed powder conditions on Bold Decision and Far Side were great - in fact, I would dare say they could be described as “western,” rivaling the kind of snow you might expect to find in Colorado. There were even a few stray flakes of snow from passing clouds.

After getting some laps in, I made my way back to the intermediate terrain at Whitetail to sample Fanciful and Homerun. They were great too: packed powder with only occasional glimpses of hardpack in skied-away areas. I also did one ride up the Easy Rider quad to test out beginner trail Sidewinder, which had opened in recent days. There are some fun roller-coastery areas to play on along the left side of the trail as you head down.

Snow Dancer is the last major trail at Whitetail that has not yet opened for the season. Photo by M. Scott Smith.

Virtually all terrain at Whitetail is now open. The only glaring omission was Snow Dancer, the intermediate between Fanciful and Limelight. Oddly, it hasn’t opened yet, and it wasn’t obvious that any major attempts were being made to open it. It doesn’t have the fancy newer yellow TechnoAlpin snow guns, and I wondered if there was some kind of issue with snowmaking on that particular slope. I do hope Whitetail focuses on opening it soon as it will help absorb the crowds that are likely to descend upon the resort in the coming weeks.

After a couple hours and feeling my fingers and toes begin to numb from the cold, I was comfortable calling it a day, grateful to have experienced some of the best conditions I’ve seen in the Mid-Atlantic in years.

Every time I visit Whitetail, I find myself reflecting on changes that have occurred at the resort since it opened in 1991.

Back then, it was the new kid on the block, modeling itself after the posh Deer Valley Resort in Utah and trying to differentiate itself from other Mid-Atlantic ski areas. To prevent overcrowding, the resort limited how many lift tickets it sold per day. (And this was before on-line tickets; although rare, there was a possibility you would be turned away by the General Manager at the entrance to the parking lot on the busiest weekend days.)

Whitetail no longer offers a staffed ski check station, causing many guests to leave their skis and boards on the ground. Photo by M. Scott Smith.

After arriving and parking, you could catch a free shuttle to haul you (and your gear) to the main entrance. If you wanted to take a break from skiing, there was a free ski check: You could grab a bite to eat without worrying about your skis walking away. Whitetail was open daily until 10 p.m. (making it easy to get in some after-work turns); now, it is only open until 9 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, closing at 5 p.m. on Mondays through Wednesdays.

Some of the extra touches at Whitetail are now gone; the free ski check has been gone for several seasons now, and the trail map has also shrunk with the removal of the Ledgewood beginner trail, which barely lasted a decade after debuting in 2010. More recently, Whitetail has removed the Jib Junction Double lift, which provided a shorter trip for park goers to reach the top of the Jib Junction terrain park.

Prime conditions on Upper Angel Drop. Photo by M. Scott Smith.

One of the best changes to Whitetail in recent years is in the form of the Epic Pass, versions of which cover not only Whitetail and its neighboring Pennsylvania ski areas, but also dozens of resorts across the country, including top-rated Colorado resorts such as Vail and Beaver Creek. This provides a great value for skiers who want to sample multiple Mid-Atlantic resorts and also make a trip or two to New England or western ski areas each winter.

And Whitetail continues to offer some of the best skiing close to Washington, D.C., with a generous vertical (935 feet), easy access off of I-70, a high-speed quad, and friendly employees.

The strengths of Whitetail really shine when the ski area is blessed with low temperatures (allowing it to utilize its state-of-the-art snowmaking system) and natural snow.

If your skis haven’t gotten a lot of use the past couple years, now’s the time to dust them off and bring them out of storage. With continued cold temperatures in January, snow conditions should remain prime at Whitetail and all Mid-Atlantic areas for the for(ski)able future.