best ski resort within 5 hours of washington dc

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aaron12345

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What do you guys think is the best ski resort within 5 hours of washington dc? My criteria is good slopes (realitvly difficult) and smallish lift lines. Something relativly inexpensive would be good too, as I'm going to be skiing every second I get so I don't really care that much about amenities. I'm finally getting the parents to take a trip this winter further than wintergreen (dad skis a little, mom doesn't). So now I'm figuring out where to go!
 
Never skied there but I've heard very good things about west virginia. Especially showshoe and timberline. If your going to venture up into PA, the best skiing in my opinion is at Elk Mountain but thats quite a ways for you. I've never skied the western pa resorts so he can't say much about them. I'm thinking west virginia is gonna be your best option and should give you very good skiing and the shortest drive.
 
aaron12345":yx3t8awg said:
What do you guys think is the best ski resort within 5 hours of washington dc? My criteria is good slopes (realitvly difficult) and smallish lift lines. Something relativly inexpensive would be good too
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Hmmm...five hours puts you nearly, but not quite, at the promised land. Five hours would allow you to reach most of PA, and all of the ski resorts in WV, MD and VA. Add only 2 more hours, though, and you can reach southern VT and all of NYS's Catskill Mountains. See the maps attached below -- the blue lines denote a 5-hour driving radius from DC except for the last one, which shows 7 hours. Each ski resort is listed with their web address.

Within the 5-hour zone, folks whose opinions I respect speak highly of both Timberline in WV and, to a greater degree, Blue Knob in PA. Bump it up to 7 hours and you can reach places like Plattekill, Hunter, Windham, and Belleayre in NY and Mount Snow, Stratton, Bromley and Magic Mountain in Vermont (those blue links will lead you to recent stories with video at our magazine).
 

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I thought 5 hours of driving from DC got you to around the NYC area. Especially considering all the damn traffic on I-95... most of central VT would be about 9 hours away then... The Catskills would probably be the most accessible good skiing from DC outside of WV.

Sven
 
sven":32hgoxvz said:
I thought 5 hours of driving from DC got you to around the NYC area. Especially considering all the damn traffic on I-95... most of central VT would be about 9 hours away then... The Catskills would probably be the most accessible good skiing from DC outside of WV.

Sven
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Nah. My wife drives every week to and from Philly every week for work, and Philly is 1.5 to 2 hours from DC. It takes her 3h40m to reach Albany via I-95.
 
Thanks! Plane ride - not an option (I wish) because that's a bit pricy. In general would people say between W. VA, PA, and NY (Catskalles) that NY is the best. If you could choose anywhere in NY where would it be? If you could choose anywhere in either W. VA or PA what would you guys choose? Thanks!
 
aaron12345":24qp7kg7 said:
Plane ride - not an option (I wish) because that's a bit pricy.
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Not necessarily. If you shop the specials and fare sales, you should be able to get a flight to SLC for just under $200 round-trip, and you've got 3 departure airports to choose from (BWI, Reagan National, and Dulles) to get the best deal. Let's say that to ski in the east you drive your vehicle at an average (highway and secondary road average) of 60 mph. Five hours each way is 10 hours round-trip. That's 600 miles. Say your vehicle averages 20 mpg. At $2.00/gallon (a conservative estimate, at least here in NYS) that's $60 just in gas, not to mention tolls and wear/tear and depreciation on the vehicle. At $0.35/mile for all of those items, that's $210 in vehicle expense for a single daytrip, more than the cost of the airline ticket.

Stay in the Salt Lake Valley rather than at Alta, and you're only 20 minutes away, yet you can get a decent room for $50/night. The city's mass transit system routes will bring you right to the lifts at Snowbird, Alta, Brighton, and Solitude so you don't need a car. Eat at Boston Market of <gasp> Mickie D's. Stop at a supermarket for groceries to brown-bag your lunches. Now factor in the cheaper lift tickets, and how much are you spending? You could easily do a dirtbag trip to Utah for $75/day for skiing, lodging and food per person if 3 people go, plus $200 for the airfare. That brings a 3-day trip to Utah in at $425 per person including airfare, lodging, ground transportation, skiing and food.

Go to the websites of each of those 3 airport authorities and see which airlines service them. Then go to the SLC International Airport website and see which airlines service there. See which airlines match both lists. (Hint: Southwest flies from BWI to SLC, and SLC is a hub for both Southwest and Delta.) Now, go to the websites of each of those airlines on your short list and sign up for their fare sale email notifications. Once those start coming in, watch them like a hawk.

You're 16. You've got a part-time job, right? You ought to be able to squirrel away $425 for the trip of your dreams.
 
Marc is 100% correct. I recall making this suggestion to some of you easterners last season, particularly with respect to spring breaks. Marc laid out the math in more detail. I really don't get why Utah does barely over 3 million skier visits per season. Alta's skier visits have DECLINED 20+% since the mid-1990's. That's probably why they built the base-to-Germania high speed quad this summer.

I'm doing LAX - JFK for $217 round trip a week from now, and getting Delta mileage for it. Any city serviced by Southwest or Jet Blue will have reasonable airfares from most of the airlines.
 
Thanks for the tips! This year since I get drivers license about a month after when we're going to go skiing (my school has 2 days teacher workday + 1 day skipping + weekend == 5 days aka NO LIFT LINES :) west coast isn't an option because in the car ride $200 in gas for 6 people (family + 2 freinds) is alot less expensive than $200 x 6. However that is a great point and next year when I can go without parents thats what me and my freinds will probably do. It's interesting how I would have never thought of it like that until you pointed it out.
 
Having lived in NJ for 20 years... I don't think you can make the southern vermont resorts in 7 hours from Falls Church, VA. However you could make Vernon Valley (only worth it during the week), Belleayre, Windham or Hunter...and the smaller resorts in that area...also the Berkshire resorts. I thought the Poconos were somewhat lacking in vertical so I didn't ski there the last 10 years but...from Falls Church it would probably be worth checking out Montage or Elk Mountain. They'd be around the 4.5 or 5 hour mark but I don't they are too far. I only skied Montage but given the choice between driving almost 2 hours to ski in the Poconos and almost two hours to ski in the Catskills I went with the Catskills.

What about some of the North Carolina resorts?
 
Also, one last suggestion - since youll have a license make sure to drive to Tuckerman Ravine in the spring, maybe late March or early April... itll take you like 11-12 hours probably, but hey, your parents probably wont want to come anyway and lift tickets are free... there is a mandatory one can of beer that you have to bring up though

Sven
 
I am curious why Snowshoe has not received more discussion in this thread. "By the numbers" it's the obvious answer. 1,500 vertical and way more terrain than the N.C. resorts. I also get their snow numbers and they average about 150, by far the highest in the region and similar to most lift service in Maine and New Hampshire.

I've met their marketing guy at NASJA meetings and I do get the impression FTO's skiers might not like the "southern ski ambience". When I asked him about the great powder they must have had from the 37-inch blizzard of 1996, he said, "Well, we groom pretty much everything." I then asked, "What about in the trees?" Response: "We don't let our skiers in there; they would probably kill themselves."
 
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