DCSki Newsroom

DCSki looks back at three developments that have reshaped Mid-Atlantic skiing over the past 25 years: the rise of multi-resort passes and corporate ownership, major advances in snowmaking, and substantial investments in lifts, facilities, and year-round resort operations. Together, these changes have influenced where skiers go, how resorts manage unpredictable winters, and how mountains build businesses beyond the ski season.

High-speed detachable chairlifts have transformed the skiing experience, cutting uphill travel times and allowing skiers to spend more time on the slopes. Beginning with early installations at Beech Mountain and Whitetail, this chronological history traces nearly four decades of lift investments across the Mid-Atlantic and surrounding region. Along the way, it explores the arrival of six-passenger chairs, advances in lift technology, and the costs and maintenance considerations that explain why some resorts continue to favor traditional fixed-grip lifts.

DCSki Columnist Jim Kenney looks back on decades of ski road trips across North America, sharing stories of scenic drives, wrong turns, snowstorms, remote highways, memorable meals, unexpected discoveries, and the travel companion who helped make it all possible. From Utah and the Canadian Rockies to the Mid-Atlantic, these firsthand anecdotes reveal the rewards and risks of exploring ski country by car.

DCSki provides a humorous look back at the small frustrations that once shaped a day on the slopes, from snow phones and paper lift tickets to lost friends, folded trail maps, film cameras, fixed-grip lifts, and handwritten driving directions. Modern technology has made skiing easier, but some old routines remain useful, nostalgic, or simply familiar.

DCSki compares Liberty Mountain and Whitetail Resort, two familiar Mid-Atlantic ski areas now under the same ownership and covered by the Epic Pass. Whitetail offers greater vertical, longer runs, and faster laps, while Liberty counters with varied terrain, short steeps, approachable beginner slopes, and a distinct resort feel.

As Colorado ski resorts begin snowmaking amid severe drought conditions, concerns are growing about water withdrawals and their effects on local watersheds. The issue hits close to home for Mid-Atlantic resorts, which depend heavily on machine-made snow.

Doppelmayr has opened a 160,000-square-foot headquarters in Salt Lake City, doubling its U.S. manufacturing footprint and adding domestic production of conical steel lift towers. The facility brings manufacturing, engineering, service, sales, and technician training together, with potential benefits for Mid-Atlantic resorts planning lift replacements or maintaining aging equipment.

A graduate research project by Nicholas Scott Prentice examines how changing winter conditions could affect snowmaking at six Mid-Atlantic ski areas. Analyzing 2005-2025 weather records and projecting conditions through 2040, the study found declines in estimated snowmaking hours, with results varying significantly by location and important limitations in the data.

What if ski resorts could save some of their winter snow for the following fall? Using specialized insulating blankets, a growing number of ski areas are experimenting with snow farming. Colorado’s Snowmass recently preserved 85% of an experimental snow pile through a record-hot summer, then used some of it for an October terrain park. Research in Vermont suggests the technique can also work at lower elevations and in humid climates, raising intriguing possibilities for Mid-Atlantic resorts.

Killington Resort has fired up 165 snowguns across five trails, beginning significant snowmaking operations two weeks earlier than last year as it prepares for the upcoming ski season and November World Cup races.