Hi, I'm a dad with two young boys (ages 7 & 9) and the three of us are avid skiers. We live in Ashburn, VA and we're looking for other families to ski with, go on local trips with, etc. Does anyone know of any ski clubs or groups that do this sort of thing? Or, if not, if anyone's interested in coordinating a trip or two, please let me know. Thx.

Welcome to DCSKI!

Based on the ages of your kids, you should be interested in this: 4th & 5th Graders ski for free in PA

My family would be interested in meeting up with you. Where do you typically ski?

We typically ski at WISP, Tline, or CVR. We stay away from the local Snowtime resorts, as they are not family friendly.

When it comes to ski trips, we're not big planners. So if you're willing to make plans at the last minute, count us in.

Not sure I would agree on the Snowtime comment. My now 10 year old begged not to go back to the Wisp ski school, but never complained about lessons at Liberty or WT. But they are crowded on weekends! Can't comment on the schools at TL or CV. But for sure, Wisp, TL and CV are all solid family resorts.

I'll jump in on the ski schools. My boys are now 15 and 12, they went to ski school back when they were 7 and 4 for a few years. They went to Whitetail, liberty, and Timberline. Plus a several out west. Timberlines ski school was great. Very good with the kids and really imporved their skills. They had fun and learned. The nice thing about learning at TLine is there are less people on the slopes. Very important for a kid learning and gaining confidence.

How are $53 weekend and $45 weekday rates for 6-12yr olds kid/family friendly?

Need rentals for the kiddies? There only $42/day. Need a helmet its only $12/day....... Rates

We typically don't take lessons at WISP, we're partial to Tline instructors.

Tline instructors are Da Bomb!!

I think it may be unfair to quote those rates without some context. $200 bucks for a family of 6 and you can cut those rates almost in half and get free ticket potential and also not have to drive for 3 hours. Not trying to pick sides, but none of these places are bargains, except for perhaps CV.

You're right I need to put things into the proper context.

Junior lift ticket rates at WISP are $39/weekend day (vs $51)and $34/weekday (vs $45). Most weekdays, you can get an adult extended day ticket (9am-9pm) for $21.

The individual advantage card at Whitetail is $119 and the WISP card is $79. Even with the Advantage card, WISP's lift tickets are still less than Whitetail.

I prefer to drive the extra distance to WISP, because of the cost savings (I can bring an extra kid to WISP for the same $), more natural snowfall (250" vs 20"), more variety in the terrain, and of course WISP has MSBC.

Yes yes MSBC would tip the scales for many comparisons of resorts here.

I think before North Camp Wisp was not that great for the kids. Possum and Wisp trails would have been on my list of most dangerous trails in America, and the beginner area was too small and steep with no dedicated chair lift. With North Camp, there is more options for the beginner but the runs are short, except Big Dipper, and you still have a goofy layout if you are starting from the base lodge.

I guess I view Wisp as a destination rather than a day trip, although it certainly works for this.

Also to be fair, with snowtime, you do have three mountains instead of one.


I assume the 250 inches is a typo, as I think Wisp is lucky to make 100 inches in a normal year.

I live in Leesburg and have 2 kids (3.5 and 6) and we have found that Liberty and Roundtop are the best deals for us mainly because we can get the family advantage card and go up in the evenings during the week without too much problem. Liberty is great becuase the drive is only about an hour which is doable during the week. Roundtop is about 1.5 which makes it a hike mid week, but great for the weekends. Roundtop is a lot less crowded than liberty on the weekends.

During the week there is not much of a crowd and the drive is not too bad from leesburg if you leave early. Much past 4:30 and 15 north gets crowded till the 340 split. For weekend trips timberline is great, but it is a drive.

KeithT - 250" was voluntary typo (didn't want to get the boys from the Valley all worked up ), WISP was claiming something like 265" last season.

Brad - Welcome to DCSki, I'm glad you and the kids are getting out and hitting the slopes.

You can't beat T-line instructors and ski school. I have a 5 year old and 10 year old and not only did they learn how to ski exceptionally well, they had an incredibly fun time doing it. It is easy to see that these instructors truly care about the kids and I can vouch as a "frequent ski school student" myself that the instructors are great with kids and adults. So so so many fun options for the kids in Canaan Valley.

One of the best ski schools is the Junior Development classes at Liberty. It's all day for 6 saturdays each weekend. Same instructor each week so they get to know your child. I love the program, plus it allows me to ski all day while my daughter is in her lesson.

One plus is that the late season classes usually start to empty out. Last season I spent two whole saturdays with my daughter and her instructor just tagging along. The instructor taught her and threw in some pointers for dad as well. I improved my bump skiing dramatically!

J. Galvin
skiwedge.com