WIntergreen by turkey day?
September 25, 2005
I am going to wintergreen with the family this year for Thanksgiving and was wondering if they are normally open by then (by open i mean at least an intermediate that is skiable). Last year i was there the same weekend and there was nothing but i know last year was a late winter. I know they claim they will be open by that weekend but i am always skeptical about resorts claiming to be "open" and having one 150 vert. green slope "open." Any ideas?
Wintergreen will be a great place to spend Thanksgiving weekend, but it's highly unlikely that there will be any skiing. Snowshoe and Wisp try to be at least minimally open that weekend, but most years it's just one or two green slopes (at best). And those are places that are almost always 12-15 degrees cooler than the DC area. Granted, the top of Wintergreen is at a pretty high elevation, but you're far more likely to be playing golf or hiking than to be skiing.
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Wintergreen will be a great place to spend Thanksgiving weekend, but it's highly unlikely that there will be any skiing. Snowshoe and Wisp try to be at least minimally open that weekend, but most years it's just one or two green slopes (at best). And those are places that are almost always 12-15 degrees cooler than the DC area. Granted, the top of Wintergreen is at a pretty high elevation, but you're far more likely to be playing golf or hiking than to be skiing.
If my memory is correct, I don't think any Mid-Atlantic resort (with the possible exception of Whitegrass and maybe Sugar) has nailed a Thanksgiving Opening since 2001. In 2000, Snowshoe opened with 31 trails, which was big! From a quick search of the DCSki archives, it appears that some resorts opened for Thanksgiving in 99 and 97, but warm weather seems to have plagued the early season since 2001.
Does anyone else have any Turkey day ski memories from this region to share?
In 01 I skied springs ,the 15th Of nov, with all of front face open. In 03 Hidden Valley was open in late nov and i skied on my birthday(the 26th).
Hey John, I've got 11/23/2000 at 7 Springs, it was Thanksgiving, moons lined up i guess.............and 11/27/2002 at snowshoe
langley, how'd u entertain yourself last year?
My dad bro and i went and hit some balls at the driving range, went swimming, went to their ski patrol ski swap (great deals!!) and dreamed of skiing the run behing the condo we rented that had 1000' vert and a nice slope to it! It was alot of fun even w/o snow but some early season skiing would make it much more fun! Pray for a pre-thanksgiving storm/cold snap!!!!!!
Also, tow years ago i stayed at a neighbor's house in wisp for the same weekend and it snowed 8 inches the day after thanksgiving and the temp never got over 22! I ended up skiing their green that was open ($5 for a lift ticket since only that one run was open) for an hr or two and that was alot of fun. But the sleeding on the side yard of the house we were staying at was definately the highlight of that weekend!
If you want to ski on turkeyday on the east coast I suggest Kmart. They usually have the best early season conditions in the east. Strangely they dont have any turkey day specials on their site but here is one that I have found.
Linky
I can remember a few "day after Thanksgiving" trips. The most recent (and the one I have proof of), November 29, 2002 at 7 Springs. They had North Face slope and all the front face open after a few days of intense snowmaking.
Picture taken about half way down North Face:
http://www.leacar.com/11292002_7sp.jpg
I have family in Massachusetts and for the last few years we have done "dawn patrol" at Wachusett on Thanksgiving morning; skin up at 7:00 take a run or two and then go back to my bro & sister in law's and gorge myself without guilt.
I skiied with my family last Thanksgiving (2004) at Hunter and Windham in New York. It was worth the trip.
