What is typically the least busy day of MLK weekend? With my advantage pass I was thinking of heading to Liberty for a day. Also thought about trying to go one of the less popular resorts to avoid some level of the crowds, although that will certainly cost more and who knows what the conditions will be like (how much is open, etc.). Was thinking about Blue Knob or Hidden Valley. Although crowds at HV may be just as bad and BK just has very little open at the moment, and not sure how much they'll have by weekend.

....up here in valley the least crowded, "relatively", is going to be Monday...folks usually pull out Monday morning or die-hards at noon to get back for work the next day...either way its gonna be a junk show here in valley---t-line has lined up/is giving it away to some ungodly number of groups, I heard rumors of possibly 2000 + skiers total, and there will likely only be 3 trails from top...canaan will likely be zoo as well---I believe they only have one trail from top open...if these valley resorts wanna make money and be customer oriented they will focus on blowin' minimal coverage, inches, on a couple trails the next few nights to get some more terrain open...what are the chances of that???

T-line and Canaan are too far away for a day trip for me anyways. So, won't be going to those. Mostly looking at Whitetail, Liberty, Blue Knob, or Hidden Valley.

Gonna be a rodeo. Kicking myself for missing last weekend. Sat/Sun, ski 8 to 1, then start drinking instead of skiing. Mon may not be too bad.

To the OP, usually one of the days of a 3-day weekend is not as crowded @ the Snowtime areas. Seems to be a bit random as to which one. I'd guess Sun or Mon. Best bet, get there early and be skiing by 8:30 at Whitetail and 8? at Liberty.

But you'll get a lot more for your money next weekend.

For the closer in (i.e. Snowtime) resorts, my bet is Monday will be the busiest. Inauguration Days tend to be that way. That same thought of 'I'll get out of town' is shared by many others. But even more, there will be a couple/few nights of good snowmaking to return the snowpack. Not gonna have that on Saturday. I see a lot of folks awaiting the final day...

But best advice of all is JohnL's above: Get there early! Can have the whole mountain until 10 or 10:30. ..most of here tend to know that already of course!

honestly, I will be really surprised if any of the snowtime properties have decent conditions given the forecast and certainly not worth buying a ticket for. Tomorrow night and Sunday night are the only viable options for snowmaking assuming the don't have an 'inversion' that prohibits them from making snow. You are better off heading further west.

@finsout Given the conditions??? It might snow in DC, I think the conditions in Whitetail/Liberty are just fine. They've got temps to make snow almost every day for the next 10 days, and I believe it was the same story sunday-wednesday. So, actually, the conditions should be pretty darn good compared to the last 2 weeks.

@JohnL yea, I'll be up at Snowshoe next weekend, which should be fun! But still would like to get a day in this weekend.

conditions are good now?? hardly. I thought it was this weekend not next. it should be good then as long as they commit to make snow and not just spot blow. of three, you best bet is roundtop on sunday morning early

Didn't mean good, but they have snowmaking weather and have had snowmaking weather this week and will over next few days. Guess it depends how ready they want to be for this weekend.

its going to be close. these places have too many 'inversions' where they can't/won't blow so I would not expect a serious effort. Weather wise Monday is the best day but I would still go west.

west as in... where? tline and SS are a really tough day trip for me.

depends on what you like, SS is great for freestyle. 3 hours for me but worth it. if you just want t make turns then id go roundtop. they are blowing now and if they can go til tomorrow morning it should be good for that.

Tuesday

Backside of Liberty (from 8-12 AM) should be pretty nice on Sat or Sun. They're still blowing snow as of 1 PM today.

It looks like Roundtop may have Ramrod open from the top tomorrow or Sunday and that trail usually doesn't get too much traffic, even when Roundtop is really busy. I'm thinking of heading up there Sunday afternoon/evening.

I know it will be less crowded at 8am, but I am just not able to get up early enough to make it by 8am. I find that things usually clear out at night at these places as well.

I agree with JohnL that the conditions should be good on the backside of Liberty as well. I'd head over to Liberty, but I find the backside can get really crowded with skiers who shouldn't be there. While Liberty is the most convenient of the Snowtime resorts, Whitetail and Roundtop have a better layout for keeping beginners and low level intermediates away from advanced terrain.

Monday will be the least busy day. It always is. Non government workers often don't have that day off. Believe it or not, we have some of those in DC.

What about hidden Valley? No thoughts on it? They have 21 trails open, and a good amount of blacks open

I went up to Roundtop yesterday afternoon and the slopes around 4pm. I was surprised by how uncrowded the place was. I'd say it was maybe atypical weekend crowd, but no more. I never waited more than 4 chairs to go up a lift that was only once or twice on the Minuteman quad. The Exhibition and Ramrod lifts had no lines and you could ski right on.

As for conditions, they were as good as you can expect with the weather we've had lately. The snow was decent when I first got there, but quickly deteriorated as it turned to evening and snow got skied off of the slopes, leaving an icy bottom layer on some trails. The headwall of Ramrod in particular was hard as a rock snow that you more skidded own than turned.

Still I had a lot of fun, and got to work a little bit on my bump skiing on upper Lafayatte.