Headed out to Virginia this weekend for the first tracks of the season with a friend who has never skiied before. Was primarily looking to get on the slopes to kick off the season on a low budget and visit some mountains I haven't visited yet. Headed to Wintergreen for an evening session on Thursday night and the Homestead on Friday. First time at both places.
Enjoyed Wintergreen, especially after the crowds left after dinner. Evening session is $36, and they offer a beginner rental/lift/lesson package discounted to $61 for starting after 3:15pm. Lifts closed at 10pm. Snow in quite good shape given the lack of natural snow and warmer temps; they still have a ways to go to get all of the terrain open. Appreciated the express lifts especially. Stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Waynesboro, which is about a half hour from the resort.
Headed to the Homestead at a leisurely pace on Friday morning, after buying lift tickets the night before on Liftopia for $25. Snow also in pretty great shape given the weather. Lift line was two lines of pairs about 20+ deep, so got a bit tired of that quickly and headed to the Jefferson Pools around 4 for a soak in the warm springs ($17/hr, 10 min drive from the resort) before returning to dinner at the Homestead. Skiing is clearly not a priority for the resort; they need some serious capital investment on the hill. At $25 though (and preferably with no lift lines), could make a nice weekend, especially if you can afford to stay at the resort and/or need to teach a friend to ski.
I still have left on my list to visit within 3-4 hours of DC: Bryce (though I have gone grass skiing there before in the summer), Liberty, and Roundtop.
Have you already checked out Massanutten? Bigger than Bryce and easier access. No 2-lane roads from DC.
Monday nights are something like $18. The beginner or adv. beginner package for rentals and lesson is pretty good. Makes the lesson almost free.
I did go there once last season towards the end. Thanks for the tip...coming from DC, I feel like it'd be smart to just leave work after lunch and head down then to beat rush hour. The rates are 18 for lift and 18 for rentals with free beginner lessons in the evening.
hoyadrew wrote:
I did go there once last season towards the end. Thanks for the tip...coming from DC, I feel like it'd be smart to just leave work after lunch and head down then to beat rush hour. The rates are 18 for lift and 18 for rentals with free beginner lessons in the evening.
Yep. Avoiding traffic on I-66 certainly makes a difference.
I'm pretty sure the Monday night special rate applies even on holidays like MLK Day and Pres. Day. FYI, I'll be at Mnut the night of Jan. 19 since I'm taking friends who have kids with Jan. 20 off too.
marzNC wrote:
Have you already checked out Massanutten? Bigger than Bryce and easier access. No 2-lane roads from DC.
Monday nights are something like $18. The beginner or adv. beginner package for rentals and lesson is pretty good. Makes the lesson almost free.
Why are you always overselling/hyping Massanutten? I have no idea why you think access to the Nut is easier than Bryce??? Monday night madness is a joke unless you like skiing with drunken locals dressed in camouflage and team gear.
He was just responding to my request for cheap places to help my friends learn how to ski. I have skied in the Alps, Chile, the west coast...nothign about mid atlantic skiing surprises me anymore, so chill out.
hoyadrew wrote:
Stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Waynesboro, which is about a half hour from the resort.
Is Waynesboro the closest place to stay inexpensively? I'm just south of Richmond, and while Wintergreen is a fairly easy day trip for us (a shade over two hours for us door-to-door), I'm tempted to drive up the night before and do a Friday night / Saturday all-day thing with my daughter. 30 minutes away isn't bad. I don't know if I'd want to drive all the way back to Charlottesville to stay, and staying on-mountain is fairly expensive and generally a two-night minimum from what I've seen.
Headed to the Homestead at a leisurely pace on Friday morning, after buying lift tickets the night before on Liftopia for $25. Snow also in pretty great shape given the weather. Lift line was two lines of pairs about 20+ deep, so got a bit tired of that quickly
I keep wondering if it's worth pulling the trigger on that Liftopia deal. Sounds as though it's not.
I still have left on my list to visit within 3-4 hours of DC: Bryce (though I have gone grass skiing there before in the summer), Liberty, and Roundtop.
Bryce is worth it if you can score a good deal. I haven't seen anything from Liftopia for Bryce that really inspires me yet. They had a great deal last year on New Year's Day.
As far as I can tell, yes, Waynesboro is the closest place to stay off the mountain. It's max 30 mins from there to Wintergreen, but be advised that that road (VA 664) up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and across to Wintergreen is a bit of an experience. Some really steep sections and hairpin turns. I guess it's not much different coming up from Charlottesville though, but driving from Charlottesville looks closer to an hour. I had some car troubles coming down, and my car stalled. Nearly drove off the mountain because the brakes don't work so well when the engine isn't running. I have an employee discount for Intercontinental Hotels and paid $88 for a room with two queens. Their pool/hot tub was closed though, and I would not have booked there if I had known that. There may be a motel or two off of Route 29, but Waynesboro has a Holiday Inn Express, a Best Western, a Residence Inn, a Hampton Inn etc. I noticed on their website that the Best Western offers discounted lift tickets to guests. As a general rule, I kind of like staying in a hotel even when it's just a few hours drive.
I would go back to the Homestead maybe on a weekday or non-holiday weekend, preferably once they are 100% open. The resort is quite nice, and even just visiting the spa on a day trip would be a nice plan, I think. Overheard people on the deck of the lodge saying that even on New Year's day there really hadn't been any lines.
I think I'll try to hit Bryce on a weekday...I'm seeing 15.99 for some weekdays in January for a 4 hour ticket.
hoyadrew wrote:
As a general rule, I kind of like staying in a hotel even when it's just a few hours drive.
Same here. It forces me to have everything packed up and taken care of the night before, rather than letting me think I can put things off until the next morning. Plus, I like the idea of 30 minutes in the car as opposed to 2+ hours.
No more employee discounts at hotels for me, though. About the only thing I miss about the hospitality biz.
Here's the link discussing the discounted lift tix: http://bwwaynesboro.com/special/discounted-wintergreen-resort-lift-tickets/
