Hi All,

My 14-yr old son and I are flying into DC (Dulles) on Dec 17, and we've got exactly 2.5 days to spend at a ski area (assuming no more than 4-hour drive from the airport).

Thanks to a similar post under the DC topic, I saw the listing of area ski resorts on the Washington Post site, which gave me plenty of stats to go on.

We're beginner to intermediate, and just want to have a fun time on the slopes. Night life and shopping not necessary. Right now Canaan and Timberline(WV)and Seven Springs (PA) seem the most intriguing. Wisp does as well since my brother lives nearby. And I see that there are several others that are a bit closer. For our limited time and budget, Snowshoe seems out of the question.

Any comments on these or other suggestions would be much appreciated (esp those who are most likely to have snow!)

Thanks,
Steve

It's probably going to be dicey ... the West Virginia places and Wisp are aiming are aiming for this weekend, but you never know.

Those are three good choices if the snow comes. The lodge at Canaan State park is convenient to both local areas and reasonable. It's pretty basic.

If there's a drastic change in the weather, Whitetail (just across the Md. border in Pa.) is a very nice hill and has great amenities, but from the looks of its website, it's not close to opening.

Best of luck, hopefully by then you'll have some decent snow.

I would wait and make the decision when you get here based on conditions. You can get great information on conditions at www.dcski.com. With the warm weather we've been having, the West Virginia resorts may be your best bet with their higher elevation. If you go to West Virginia, make sure you hit both Canaan and Timberline. If you're really jonesing, you may have to add an hour and go to Snowshoe. They probably have some of the best snowmaking around. It's pricey though. Seven Springs is great, but if weather conditions continue as they are, the time you're coming may be opening weekend which would mean it will be an absolute zoo.

I would lean toward Canaan/Timberline and if there's no snow, head further to Snowshoe.

Update, Timberline just announced that they are not opening as scheduled on the 9th. They may be open by the 17th, but I would check conditions before you commit.

Thanks for your suggestions...these are quite helpful. The dcski site is a great resource. Definitely leaning towards Canaan and Timberline.

I take it the lodge at Canaan is fairly decent? How about Blackwater Falls Lodge...Is that pretty close by and doable? Any lodging recs for the places mentioned would be great too. Even with Snowshoe--not my original intent--but if there's little snow anywhere else by the 17th-- guess I won't have much of a choice!

Thanks again.

Unfortunately, I don;t have personal experience at either lodging choice you listed. My recollection from comments at dcski are that both places are fine, but that neither is great. Snowshoe will very, very likely have the best snow conditions of any of the reports. At Snowshoe, Rimfire is a great lodging choice. Good luck and keep your eye on the conditions, one website is predicting some snow in the West Virginia mountains early next week. Also realize that there are probably 200,000 of us in the DC area with the skis parked by the side of the car, waxed and just waiting for any measurable snow. So, it will probably be crowded everywhere.

Unfortunately, I don;t have personal experience at either lodging choice you listed. My recollection from comments at dcski are that both places are fine, but that neither is great. Snowshoe will very, very likely have the best snow conditions of any of the reports. At Snowshoe, Rimfire is a great lodging choice. Good luck and keep your eye on the conditions, one website is predicting some snow in the West Virginia mountains early next week. Also realize that there are probably 200,000 of us in the DC area with the skis parked by the side of the car, waxed and just waiting for any measurable snow. So, it will probably be crowded everywhere (if and when it happens).

Hi All...Just wanted to followup and thank you again for your responses.

We went to Canaan, and must say it was just OK. On the first day, they only had a lift-and-a-half open with about a third of the runs. Despite heavy snowmaking and lots of snow on the next two days, they never opened up any more terrain...very disappointing.

We didn't like the uphill hike between the day lodge (where the rental shop was) and the lifts. Seemed a bit much, and definitely the most extreme of the places I've been to.

On the last day, we hiked back down and my son slipped on a patch of ice (covered in new snow), dropped his skis, and they crashed down--on edge--on top of the very tip of his thumb. A nice little fracture that he can't even say he got from skiing!

The lodge itself was like a large hotel, with the exterior in lovely retro Park Service colors. Still, the room was decent. We had a choice of two restaurants in the lodge...one a formal dining room which was extremely overpriced, and another a pizza & sandwich shop which was fairly reasonable. Oh yeah...Whitetail deer all over the place. Very cool.

We went there because of the cheap early season price, and must say we got what we paid for. I'm sure Snowshoe would have been MUCH better. The optimist in me thinks that Canaan would be a great place to go when the mountain's completely open and the snow conditions are good. I know the weather's been whacky this season, but it doesn't look like they've had more than a third of their runs open since the beginning of the season!

Looks like the entire area's getting hammered with good snow this weekend. Enjoy!