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Mid-Atlantic/SE skiing (PA, NJ, DC, MD, VA, WV, NC) for 2018-19

marzNC

Angel Diva
I'm looking at weather forecasts for PA, NY, and MA more for driving to Boston in the next few days than for skiing, but finding that OpenSnow is the easiest way to see where the snow is going to be falling . . . and potentially making the highways a bit of a mess. The Poconos are expecting 5-6 inches tonight. Whitetail, Liberty, and Roundtop will see snow too.

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tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Massanutten and Wintergreen will be open until March 17. After that, will really depend on the weather.

Any PA ski areas staying open past mid-March? @tinymoose , @AltaEgo , @Marigee ?

I haven't heard any closing announcements yet so for now, yes. It will all depend on weather and how many guests they're still getting.

ETA: I would say on average skiing here will often go until end of March/first of April.
 

Peaheartsmama

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Week before last my instructor at Camelback said that they have stopped making snow but are expecting a couple storms to keep them open for another 6 weeks... so that should take them into early April as in previous years.
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
Liberty today was great. It was very windy in the front and I spent most of the time in the back of the mountain, now that I am familiar with the blue runs there. And I came down Upper Heavenly! I am really happy with my progress. I could ski in control! Even if I had to stop every so often to reset. When I get super comfy on the blues, then I can think about Upper Blue Streak again :becky:
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Liberty today was great. It was very windy in the front and I spent most of the time in the back of the mountain, now that I am familiar with the blue runs there. And I came down Upper Heavenly! I am really happy with my progress. I could ski in control! Even if I had to stop every so often to reset. When I get super comfy on the blues, then I can think about Upper Blue Streak again :becky:
Sounds like the lessons and mileage is adding up in a good way! A steady progression is much better than getting "over terrained" and naturally developing defensive bad habits.
 

Marigee

Angel Diva
Whitetail will definitely be open until mid-March. I think there is enough snow to last until the end of March, but in the past SnowTime has closed 2 of its resorts and left 1 open to cut costs. Whether Peak Resorts will do the same is anyone’s guess.
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
The Peak Pass offerings that apply to Whitetail, Liberty, and Roundtop have been announced. Definitely a change from the Snowtime pass options.
I am not happy. The unlimited pass is $150 more than the 18/19 Snowtime pass. It’s already barely breaking even, and only that because I bought the pass back in Spring 2018 so was able to use it 4 times before the season ended. Plus the days I went this season it’s only now breaking even over buying the advantage card. And no more advantage card! There is the Traveller pass for $329 but only good for M-F with blackouts during Xmas and President’s Day. Even though I ski mostly Mondays, not sure I want to limit myself. When the day is free, I want to go, regardless! But that might be the most economical. I am not happy.:frown:
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
And why no military discount for the Peak pass? Both Ikon and Epic have military options. (I know, I know I should be thankful instead of whining.)
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I am not happy. The unlimited pass is $150 more than the 18/19 Snowtime pass. It’s already barely breaking even, and only that because I bought the pass back in Spring 2018 so was able to use it 4 times before the season ended. Plus the days I went this season it’s only now breaking even over buying the advantage card. And no more advantage card! There is the Traveller pass for $329 but only good for M-F with blackouts during Xmas and President’s Day. Even though I ski mostly Mondays, not sure I want to limit myself. When the day is free, I want to go, regardless! But that might be the most economical. I am not happy.:frown:
Plenty of discussion over on DCSki about the changes for the former Snowtime locations. I know of one person who went ahead and got the Traveller pass. Thinking that making the drive north to Hunter or Mt. Snow will be a fun adventure even if only go one time.

The Snowtime deal was unusual. A carry-over from how the founder and long time owner wanted to do things. It says something that he chose to sell to Peak, and not Vail or Alterra.

For comparison, the Massanutten Special Value Pass is $235 and good Sun-Fri, as well as Sat after 4:00. The break even point for the Massanutten Full Pass is 7 days, assuming mostly skiing weekends. Of course, it's farther away for most folks who day trips from DC. One reason I drove past Wintergreen from central NC is that there is no season pass that includes Saturdays for people who do not own a condo at Wintergreen.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Just drove thru northern VA and PA on I-81. Certainly looks and feels like winter. Temps were in the low 30s in VA and in the 20s by the time I got to eastern PA in the late afternoon. Snow everywhere in PA. But the highway was nice and dry. I was thinking of starting to drive north on Monday, but didn't seem like that was going to be a good idea.

The slopes at Montage looked good from the highway.
 

HikenSki

Angel Diva
We picked up the Snowshoe Ridiculous pass again for next year. Going twice for 3-4 days pays for itself, especially if you have a weekend day in there or a holiday period. We've gone at least twice the last four years. We've been skiing at Whitetail a bit this year and were hoping they'd do the Advantage pass again. Bummed all there is is the Peak Pass as we have no plans to visit elsewhere with our very busy schedules leaving only long weekends or an occasional 3-4 days midweek. My brother drives up from FL for our Feb trip to Snowshoe every year. It's got the acreage for a multi day visit. He's not gonna venture to the small PA hills for 3-4 days or bother with driving to resorts further north. If he's gonna fly he will fly out west and we would join him. Looks like it will be window prices for us for resorts within a few hours from us. It does make me wonder how families will afford to ski as often with their kids without this benefit. It wouldn't surprise me if the number of passes drops or there are fewer skiers next season if folks opt for Ikon or Epic when they compare costs and options. Will they offer advanced purchase multi day ticket options?

We have friends who live in Pittsburgh and we've been wanting to get up there to check out Seven Springs since they've offered up a free place for the night. We are headed to Wisp this Monday to finish out the season for two days (hard to beat $112 for two 2-day passes). Really excited with the conditions right now as it did not look good a few weeks ago!
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
So the only away mountain under Peak Resorts I might be interested in is Hunter, where I learned to ski eons ago and where my brother lives less than an hour away. Lo and behold, Hunter has a free Peak Military Card that gives 25% discount weekends and 40% discount weekdays. So even if I want to ski Hunter, the Peak unlimited pass still doesn’t make sense. I’m leaning toward the Traveller pass or just do the window price. Interestingly, the FAQ on Peak’s website talks about additional (local) discounts possible for the Snowtime resorts come Fall. Probably waiting to see how many current Snowtime Passholders get the Peak pass.
 

HikenSki

Angel Diva
I’m leaning toward the Traveller pass or just do the window price. Interestingly, the FAQ on Peak’s website talks about additional (local) discounts possible for the Snowtime resorts come Fall. Probably waiting to see how many current Snowtime Passholders get the Peak pass.
Sure hope they come up with some local resort discount. Otherwise, we will just pay window prices as we have been doing now and spread out dollars around to many resorts. Really wish Timberline wasn't having their financial issues. I really enjoyed the trails there years ago and would love to go back now that I am a much better skier and can tackle those more advanced trails. The traveler pass sounds tempting but while I can easily take off a Monday or Friday and put in a few hours over the weekend, my husband is less able to do so on short notice. I enjoy skiing alone on occasion when I am looking for different terrain than my husband but to always go alone loses some appeal.
 

HikenSki

Angel Diva
Interestingly, the FAQ on Peak’s website talks about additional (local) discounts possible for the Snowtime resorts come Fall. Probably waiting to see how many current Snowtime Passholders get the Peak pass.
Oh boy, Whitetail and Liberty posted about the Peak Pass on their Facebook pages. LOTS of very upset people not wanting to spend $$$ when they don't have the means or want to travel to other resorts. Not knowing what the window prices will be for next season, it's hard to figure out what is the best option for multiple visits.
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
Oh boy, Whitetail and Liberty posted about the Peak Pass on their Facebook pages. LOTS of very upset people not wanting to spend $$$ when they don't have the means or want to travel to other resorts. Not knowing what the window prices will be for next season, it's hard to figure out what is the best option for multiple visits.
Yup. Count me in as one of those who are only interested in a local pass. I have time for two week-long ski trips between December and April 15th, and I go west for that. In Feb & March my skiing is all local day trips.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
We have friends who live in Pittsburgh and we've been wanting to get up there to check out Seven Springs since they've offered up a free place for the night.
The folks I know in the Pittsburgh area have been going to Laurel Mountain for bargain skiing. I think @alison wong checked it out a few weeks ago.

Hopefully Blue Knob will be in better shape next season. The new owners are keep finding infrastructure issues with the snowmaking system. It's a fun little place with few people when there is enough snow coverage. Relatively inexpensive slopeside lodging if have a group big enough for long weekend in a house.

But agree that from FL it makes more sense to fly west than drive to to ski in PA.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
The traveler pass sounds tempting but while I can easily take off a Monday or Friday and put in a few hours over the weekend, my husband is less able to do so on short notice. I enjoy skiing alone on occasion when I am looking for different terrain than my husband but to always go alone loses some appeal.
Perhaps start a separate thread to see if there are other Divas who would also consider the Traveler Pass for skiing at Whitetail, Liberty, or Roundtop on a Monday or Friday?
 

HikenSki

Angel Diva
Hubs and I got back from two days at Wisp in Western Maryland. Monday was warm with very soft snow, slushy conditions. My new Alluvit 88s shined in the stuff, though I do wish they were a tad stiffer in the tip to deflect just a little less when hitting the dense piles. I kept thinking back to how much fun I had on the stiffer Kore W 93s I demoed in the same conditions last month. Hardly anyone was there both days, so we never waited at the lifts and we mostly had trails to ourselves to make fun fast long turns and play around. Yesterday, we woke to mid-20s and very hard snow, so out came the carvers (Quattro 8.0ca's). Nothing like washboard snow for a fun foot massage. Fortunately, the sun warmed up the snow by noon and we could find untouched surfy snow to play around on. Am I odd to get enjoyment from seeing beautiful arcs down the side of a run??? :-D The cold temps kept things from getting too soft yesterday and I was having a blast down many of the blue runs on the north side. With few people there, we never really had to worry about the trails getting bumped up. Got to really work on my technique and angulation with the snow being super controllable. Very glad I had my warm weather wax on. Hubs and I both commented how much we've improved this year, thanks to the indoor ski lessons to get us started for the season, the Whitetail Womens Day for me, and the great advice on this forum. So bummed the season is coming to a close. May have one last shot at Snowshoe on the 22nd, but we will see.
 

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