Since moving to Charlottesville 20 years ago I have essentially switched back and forth between Wintergreen and Massanutten as my weekly, 1 hour away ski areas. But the last few seasons I have been going to Massanutten due to their commitment to snowmaking, terrain expansion, and relative lack of crowds. Will Wintergreen respond to the Massanutten improvements with improvements of their own? Massanutten is currently 100% open (including the new runs) while Wintergreen's Highlands area (a very fun area) currently has basically just the Upper Cliffhanger/Lower Wild Turkey route open. 

Wintergreen is not well. I have been a pass holder for 20 years, and while there have been many ups and downs, the skiing experience has gone downhill rapidly since PGR purchased the resort. Jim Justice invested in snowmaking when he owned the resort, and at the time it was sorely needed. PGR needs to double again Wintergreen's snowmaking ability if they want to survive. Warm weather notwithstanding, the snow making is poor, the snow quality when they do make snow is poor, and their grooming leaves much to be desired.

I was there on Wednesday, and it was beyond me why they haven't made more snow on the Highlands trails during this cold weather snap, and they are only now getting the rest of Tyro and Big Acorn open. Upper Wild Turkey was covered in a very water-rich glacier due to what I can only imagine as being some problem with the snow machines. They claim to be able to make three feet of snow on a trail in one cold night....so do it!

Now with the warm weather setting in again next week, they won't get much else open on the Highlands side until deeper into February. And will they even bother that late into the season?

Massanutten and Timberline are hitting it out of the ballpark, and this has not gone unnoticed. This may be my last year at Wintergreen in favor of an extra 10 minute drive to Massanutten. I'm not going to spend money on a ski area that is barely even trying.