My friends and I (4 people total) went to WISP for a day trip two Sundays ago (3/9). Although we had a late start and didn't arrive at the resort until 10:30 am, we were really surprised to find the resort almost empty! There was hardly any liftlines on the frontside of the mountain. Chair 2 and Chair 3 were so empty that the lifties didn't even bother to scan our tickets. In fact, on a blue bird day with pretty good snow conditions, we pretty much skied onto all the chairlifts.
Since one of our friends is a beginner, we headed over to North Camp to connect "Happy Camper-Backbone Pass-Big Dipper" for one long meandering green run. This took us to Chair 7 and we were able to ski "Aces Run" and "Whip Saw", fun blue trails that hold great snow for most of the day. I have to say that my personal favorite trail on the whole resort is "Aces Run". Our beginner friend connected "Ridge Run-Big Dipper" to continually work on her skills on the green trails. We were enjoying the sun and skiing so much that our smiles never left our faces during our time at North Camp.
We decided to head over back to the frontside to try the black trails, "The Face" or "Squirrel Cage". Unfortunately, "The Face" was closed for a race and our friend had some trouble with green "WISP Trail" so we decided to stick with the group. Instead, we took "Grouse Way-Boulder Run" to go back to Chair 2 and Chair 3. We discovered that this part of the mountain had a lot more skier traffic and the conditions didn't hold up as nicely. In fact, the narrow trail towards the end of Boulder Run by the mountain coaster was a bit too choppy for my taste.
Overall, we had a great time at WISP. WISP really isn't suitable for a day trip from DC, but we had so much fun that we didn't really care. In fact, when given a choice between stopping for food or just ski until dinner, we decided to skip eating all day and dine at the Mountain State Brewing Company for their flatbread. It was my favorite ski day of the season so far!
Great things about WISP:
We usually hit Wisp 1 - 2 X a season and always seem to enjoy it. I hope they continue that swap with Snowshoe.
I always enjoy skiing WISP. Most years, the family and I get to ski/ride at WISP 5-6 days a year, plus I get another 5-10 ski sessions that are "business" related. Lots of different terrain and you can spread out if it gets crowded. Plus it gets a lot of snow that the low land resorts don't get and over the years, I've had some epic powder days there. I've day tripped it from NOVA on numerous occasions. Its basically all interstate and I can make it to WISP in 2hrs 45minutes.
With the openning of Corridor H, I can now make it to Tline in less time.
Anything under or at 3 hours is suitable for a day trip to me (which includes Wisp, Timberline, Blue Knob.)
Wisp has some nice snow and a few decent pitches (Devils Drop in particular), but it is severely lacking in vertical and the large flat section at the top of the mountain can really interrupt runs. But it does have distinct sections (which take a bit to get to), so it ski a bit bigger than it's challenged vertical.
Just my two cents.
