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Mid-Atlantic/Southeast skiing (PA, NJ, DC, MD, VA, WV, NC) for 2021-22

marzNC

Angel Diva
While it's still pretty warm around my house, the leaves are starting to turn in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast mountains. Time to start news and discussion for the 2021-22 ski season related to skiing/boarding in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, southern New York, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, or North Carolina.

NC: Sugar, Beech, Appalachian, Cataloochee

VA: Massanutten, Wintergreen, Bryce
MD: Wisp
WV: Snowshoe, Canaan Valley, Timberline, Winterplace

PA, western: Blue Knob, Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, Laurel Mountain
PA, closest to DC: Liberty, Roundtop, Whitetail
PA, eastern: Elk, Montage, Jack Frost, Blue, Camelback, Bear Creek, Big Boulder

NY Catskills: Belleayre, Hunter, Windham, Plattekill

For the Mid-Atlantic discussion for 2020-21, click here.
Notes from Summer 2021 are here.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
For those unfamiliar with skiing in NC, here's a good introduction.

July 2021

Fair to say that without 100% snowmaking, there wouldn't be as many ski areas/resorts left in the NC mountains. However, the high elevation of the mountains near Asheville and Boone allow for good snowmaking weather from early Dec through late Feb. Beech Mountain in NC, the town and the ski area, are over 5000 feet. Cataloochee, Appalachian are small but along with Sugar, they often start snowmaking by early Nov, if not late Oct depending on the long term weather forecast for Nov-Dec. It only takes about 48 hours of 24-hour snowmaking to get the core trails covered.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Wintergreen has a new General Manager. PGRI is moving Jay Gamble from Ragged to Wintergreen. Gamble is originally from SC and learned to ski in NC, so he is familiar with skiing in the southeast. He's been in New England for most of his career in the ski industry, mostly as GM at Mt. Sunapee.

Wintergreen has good terrain, with a couple high-speed lifts and great snowmaking. Staffing has always been a challenge and there was a lot of reliance on J-1 visas. It's an upside-down resort with the base area at the top of the mountain. While I enjoy Highlands (black trails only), that gets very crowded on weekends and closes at 4pm. So even though Wintergreen is slightly closer to my house, I drive a bit farther north and have considered Massanutten my home mountain since around 2005.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Ski Center Ltd. in Gaithersburg is teaming up with Big SNOW. The idea seems to be to encourage people to upgrade their boots and/or skis, then go try them out at Big SNOW in the next couple months. That's exactly what a couple of MidA/northeast Divas have done or will do before the 2021-22 season starts. For those who don't know much about Big SNOW in NJ, check out the summer trip report thread.


Screen Shot 2021-09-15 at 2.47.05 PM.png
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
For folks in the DC area who may have missed this trip report, @TNtoTaos and her ski buddy made the trek from TN to check out Massanutten and the other ski areas on the Indy Pass last season.


Massanutten, Bryce, Canaan Valley, and Blue Knob are the Indy locations in reasonable driving distance from the DC/NoVA area. Bryce is the closest but also the smallest. Great for families with kids just learning to ski.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Just in case there are folks reading this thread who are willing to make a drive to Big SNOW in NJ to make some ski turns indoors, there are a couple Diva meetups planned for weekends in October. If you don't have enough posts to see the Meet On The Hill planning thread, send me a Private Message (envelope icon).

If you haven't heard of Big SNOW, check out the ongoing trip report that was started during the summer.

 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Apparently Timberline in WV doubled the snowmaking infrastructure over the summer! I had an absolute ball last winter riding the new high speed lift. With all the renovations completed on the expanded lodge, will be even better for 2021-22. The slopeside Timberline Mountain Hotel is taking reservations. I think there is a 2-night minimum.
 

Ski Sine Fine

Angel Diva
Apparently Timberline in WV doubled the snowmaking infrastructure over the summer! I had an absolute ball last winter riding the new high speed lift. With all the renovations completed on the expanded lodge, will be even better for 2021-22. The slopeside Timberline Mountain Hotel is taking reservations. I think there is a 2-night minimum.
I’m thinking of taking a couple of mid-week days in January and do Timberline one day and Canaan Valley the next. Haven’t looked at lodging yet, but would love to stay slopeside overnight.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I’m thinking of taking a couple of mid-week days in January and do Timberline one day and Canaan Valley the next. Haven’t looked at lodging yet, but would love to stay slopeside overnight.
The only slopeside lodging for a solo traveler going to ski Timberline is probably the Timberline Motel Hotel. The CV Lodge is quite nice, but you either have to drive a short distance to CV or just a little longer in the other direction to Timberline. Or can take the CV shuttle to CV. But not really sure how often the CV shuttle runs midweek. The CV Lodge has a good restaurant.
 

kmb5662

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Not sure if this is the proper thread for this, but some news for resorts in NEPA...

Montage posted on social media that they are installing new RFID gates. I am hoping that we'll now be able to purchase tickets in advance online and not have to stand in line and/or walk up and down all those stairs (thankfully I have a season pass this year and won't have to worry regardless). I am also interested to see how it affects crowds with it joining the Indy Pass this year.

Vail also announced that they will be installing new lifts at JFBB.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Not sure if this is the proper thread for this, but some news for resorts in NEPA...

Montage posted on social media that they are installing new RFID gates. I am hoping that we'll now be able to purchase tickets in advance online and not have to stand in line and/or walk up and down all those stairs (thankfully I have a season pass this year and won't have to worry regardless). I am also interested to see how it affects crowds with it joining the Indy Pass this year.

Vail also announced that they will be installing new lifts at JFBB.
Thanks for the update! Any news related to skiing in PA is welcome in this thread.

I think there will be more updates for my RFID thread coming up. Won't be too many years before most ski areas have RFID, even small hills like Montage and Massanutten. The cost has probably come down in recent years as the technology became pretty standard.

I don't think you need to worry about a major impact on Montage from the Indy Pass. Indy folks only get two days. Most who buy Indy only ski a few days a season. So it's not as if they are going to showing up every weekend. Also, as day trippers who don't ski that much they may well be renting gear and won't get on snow until 10am and won't last all day.

Do you usually ski Sat or Sun? I'm hoping to get to Montage at the end of an Indy Pass ski safari in late Feb. Will be based in the Berkshires.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Appalachian in Boone is getting ready to host the 24th Annual Preseason Sale and Swap, Oct. 15–24 slopeside at the Alpine Ski Shop. Accepting swap equipment starting on Monday, Sept, 20, 9am-5pm.

You can sell used skis, snowboards, boots, and poles during the event and receive swap credit to use in the Alpine Ski Shop at App.
 

kmb5662

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thanks for the update! Any news related to skiing in PA is welcome in this thread.

I think there will be more updates for my RFID thread coming up. Won't be too many years before most ski areas have RFID, even small hills like Montage and Massanutten. The cost has probably come down in recent years as the technology became pretty standard.

I don't think you need to worry about a major impact on Montage from the Indy Pass. Indy folks only get two days. Most who buy Indy only ski a few days a season. So it's not as if they are going to showing up every weekend. Also, as day trippers who don't ski that much they may well be renting gear and won't get on snow until 10am and won't last all day.

Do you usually ski Sat or Sun? I'm hoping to get to Montage at the end of an Indy Pass ski safari in late Feb. Will be based in the Berkshires.
I ski any day I can! I live in NYC, don't have a car, and work an unusual schedule so it can be a bit tricky getting to the slopes. However, I still managed to ski 20 days last season. :thumbsup:
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I ski any day I can! I live in NYC, don't have a car, and work an unusual schedule so it can be a bit tricky getting to the slopes. However, I still managed to ski 20 days last season. :thumbsup:
Ah, now I remember. I'll be in touch later to talk about how we can ski together at Montage.

@tinymoose and her DH are weekend warriors at Montage. Driving from the Philly area.

The only time I've skied Montage it was early season. They were just starting to groom out the snow on White Lightening. We watched for a bit to see the winch cat in action.

I drive on I-81 thru PA when I drive to the northeast from Raleigh. Stopped by Montage in August to see what was going on. Was surprised to see a Lazy River in front of the main lodge. Curious to see what it looks like covered with snow.

White Lightening, Dec 2017
Montage 16Dec2017 - 5.jpg

Lazy river, August 2021
Montage Aug2021 - 1.jpeg
 

kmb5662

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Looking forward to it! :smile:

Despite growing up in the area, I have never been to Montage in the summer! :noidea:
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Looking forward to it! :smile:

Despite growing up in the area, I have never been to Montage in the summer! :noidea:
My sense is that the summer activities at Montage are relatively new. The technology for the wave pool, water tubing, and lazy river haven't really been around that long. Even at the big timeshare resort near Disney World that my husband first visited in the 1980s, a lazy river wasn't installed until the 1990s.

My home resort, is unusual as a timeshare resort in that the ski slopes were part of the set up from the start in the early 1970s. That was the winter activity, along with a 9-hole golf course in the valley. As Massanutten grew, it was always a 4-season resort. The indoor/outdoor waterpark opened around 2005. Massanutten is celebrating 50 years during the 2021-22 season.
 

kmb5662

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
They have had concerts and festivals there for as long as I can remember during the summers. I am honestly not not sure how long the water park has been there, but I don't recall it being there when I was a young kid.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Looks like the Mountains of Distinction partnerships are holding. Here's the list on the Seven Springs webpage for season passes:
  • Massachusetts: Jiminy Peak, Wachusett
  • New Hampshire: Cranmore
  • New York: Bristol Mountain, Holiday Valley, Ski Windham
  • Vermont: Bromley
 

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