It looks like my best chance for skiing this season is going to be Sunday President's Day Weekend. I imagine that's one of the most crowded days of the season.
Given what I'm seeing in terms of trails open, it looks like I'm headed more than anything else. I was kind of hoping for Blue Knob, but it's going to have to really make some progress in the next two weeks.
As a rule, I generally like to get 1000 feet of vertical, but a part of me is yearning for Camelback because of the Nile Mile. It's been 7 years since I was last there and I just love that run. It just seems like it'd be very crowded.
I'd appreciate any insight from more frequent skiers than me on what to expect crowd-wise. Ski areas I'm considering include Montage (haven't skied it in 20 years and that was only for a night), Elk and other Pocono places.
FWIW, I'm an intermediate skier with 21 year old boots and rented skis.
Don't know where you live, but someone posted a truism on here earlier today. Least crowded places around DC on any given weekend are Canaan Valley ski area, Bryce, and the expert chair at Massanutten. I would agree.
I skied Massanutten three years ago and absolutely loved those expert runs. It was the best Saturday of 2014, I'm sure, coming just after the Pitchers & Catchers Day storm.
I'm in Alexandria, but I think I'm headed to Pennsylvania because a friend from Harrisburg is going to join me. If he bails, I might be willing to go to Wintergreen if they have snow since friend from Charlotte *might* be up for the trip as well. Half the adventure is figuring out who is coming along.
Canaan has 800 feet of vertical, right?
Happy 2017!
I hope everybody is having a great ski season! I am also planning on skiing Presidents' Day Weekend and was wondering about the crowds at Wintergreen vs. Wisp and the Snowtime Inc resorts. My girlfriend is a beginner who can ski all of the greens at Wisp. I am an intermediate skier who enjoy blue cruisers and the occasional black diamond trails to increase my skills. I have never skied at Wintergreen so I don't know what to expect in terms of the trails and the crowds. We have also skied at the Snowtime Inc resorts on weekends and thought the crowds were unbearable, especially the frontside of Liberty and Whitetail. We did enjoy Wisp yesterday and I have found that Sunday is really good in avoiding the crowds (perhaps Super Bowl Sunday helped too.)
I am trying to avoid the crowd to make sure my girlfriend can have a good day on the slopes and we are thinking of skiing Sunday and Monday. Any and all advice on how to best avoid crowds, which trails to check out, would be welcomed!
Darwin
I would wager Saturday will be busier than Sunday most places.
skiobsessed wrote:
Happy 2017!
I hope everybody is having a great ski season! I am also planning on skiing Presidents' Day Weekend and was wondering about the crowds at Wintergreen vs. Wisp and the Snowtime Inc resorts. My girlfriend is a beginner who can ski all of the greens at Wisp. I am an intermediate skier who enjoy blue cruisers and the occasional black diamond trails to increase my skills. I have never skied at Wintergreen so I don't know what to expect in terms of the trails and the crowds. We have also skied at the Snowtime Inc resorts on weekends and thought the crowds were unbearable, especially the frontside of Liberty and Whitetail. We did enjoy Wisp yesterday and I have found that Sunday is really good in avoiding the crowds (perhaps Super Bowl Sunday helped too.)I am trying to avoid the crowd to make sure my girlfriend can have a good day on the slopes and we are thinking of skiing Sunday and Monday. Any and all advice on how to best avoid crowds, which trails to check out, would be welcomed!
Darwin
Never been to Wisp but I would imagine it would be less crowded than Wintergreen because more driving is involved for most people.
At Massanutten, on a holiday weekend Sunday is the busiest day. That's because it's a timeshare resort and many people don't check in until Sat. Monday is usually less busy. Sun-Mon is a good idea. If you GF is comfortable on the easiest blue at Mnut, you two can ride Lift 5 together and she can get off at mid-staion and wait a few minutes for you to come down from the top.
If you are staying overnight, consider getting a lift ticket that includes night skiing. Get there early in the morning, at least 30 min before the lifts start up. Ski until it gets crowded, but good to stop for an early lunch in any case. Find something else to do until 2:30 or 3:00. Then ski into the lights as long as you like. At Mnut, if you buy a multi-day 8-hour lift ticket then night skiing on both days are included.
I started a new thread - Poconos snowmaking after Presidents Day since I may have to wait postpone.
It's going to be so warm Presidents day weekend that I am sure crowds are going to be lighter than usual everywhere. This season has been rough for the resorts.
I dunno, I particulary love downhill skiing in warmer temps! Soft hero snow, and comfortable lift rides are pretty sweet in my book!
ParkCrewDrew wrote:
It's going to be so warm Presidents day weekend that I am sure crowds are going to be lighter than usual everywhere. This season has been rough for the resorts.
chaga wrote:
I dunno, I particulary love downhill skiing in warmer temps! Soft hero snow, and comfortable lift rides are pretty sweet in my book!
ParkCrewDrew wrote:
It's going to be so warm Presidents day weekend that I am sure crowds are going to be lighter than usual everywhere. This season has been rough for the resorts.
Have to agree. I routinely get stuck skiing in single digit temps, blasting wind, flat light where you can't see moguls, boilerplate ice, or fog so thick you're constantly agraid of skiing into a tree.
Yes, the preference would be for high 20's, no wind, and a ton of natural snow. But as long as there's good coverage, give me a mid 40's day with soft, melting snow anytime.
My guess is anywhere locally you go this weekend is going to be mush. Each warm spell we've had (and we have a big one this weekend even at Wisp where it will be in the low 50s) has really done much more of a number on the trails this year than in other years from what I can recall. No place has really built up a huge base and most places have very narrow coverage side to side compared to what they normally can do. On the web cams you can see when the trails at Wisp quickly lose snow (as with so many others even snowshoe) when it warms up. One guess as to why this year is normally the thick bases go through periods of melting during the day and hard freezes at night and become very solid under the top layers of snow, but this year that is not happening at most places on many of the trails. Places have done an incredible job making snow when they can and getting trails open, but I fear that this season is going to end with a jolt with the last couple of good skiing days coming up tomorrow and Friday at places like Liberty, Whitetail, etc..
I normally avoid President's day weekend, but with the forecasted warmth next week I think the family and I will probably head out to massanutten this saturday for an evening session.
I have to bail on skiing on Sunday and hope that there will be enough cold on future weekends to make it happen. :(
I'm still wondering how long places like Camelback and Montage make snow.
Good thing that Massanutten could make snow at night last week before the holiday weekend. The open trails are clearly deep enough to make it through the holiday weekend. Pretty much side to side coverage on Upper Showtime, Paradice, and DJ. Difference from MLK weekend is that it's all groomed flat. Not enough extra snow for any snow whale contours or bumps. Relatively good spring conditions though. By the evening, nothing was sticky. In fact, the folks who were enjoying Southern Comfort were the novice skiers who like to go a little fast.
Hoping that some people decide not to hit the slopes on Sunday because they think it will be too warm.
WHITETAIL was nice from about 8 am to 10 am. After that, the snow got really grabby and inconsistent. If you wanted to do laps on Exhibition after that, though, that was a good call. Really no people to speak of for a Saturday morning.
Sunday at Massanutten turned out to be a very good day for skiing. Far fewer people than usual. I think many people thought it would be too warm and decided to do something else. Although children's ski classes and beginner clinics were pretty busy. Snow was good all morning. Paradice was very good after about 30 min of sun. Got a bit too soft and slow from lunch time to 3:00 or so on the lower slopes. After that Upper Showtime, Paradice, and DJ were quite fun. I left around 6:00 and the snow was much better than Sat night. I think partially because fewer were around to create piles of snow. Paradice has a few thin areas showing. We'll see how it looks in the morning.
