Weekend at Wisp with the family. We had never been there before - always exciting to visit a new area for the first time. It was an easy 3.5 hr (or so) drive from Charlottesville taking advantage of Corridor H. The natural snow-only runs were closed but most everything else was open. Sunday morning we had a inch or two of new snow that made for a nice skiing surface; the skiing was really nice on both Saturday and Sunday morning. Things were definitely getting sloppy by Sunday afternoon.
The good:
I thought there were some decent pitches, especially on The Face. The black runs were somewhat short, but I think they were long enough (then again, I grew up skiing in Wisconsin, so what do I know). Steeper than anything at Wintergreen and Massanutten (my local resorts). The Face was probably not quite as steep as Shays at SS or OTW at TL.
A couple of the longer blue runs (or combination of runs) had a nice, winding-thru-the-trees feel to them. An important consideration when there are intermediates in your group.
The not as good:
It's been posted here before, but man there are some flat areas to negotiate up top and near midstation. Would actually not be that much of an issue, except for the fact that my seven year old has not yet mastered the art of skating. My 10-year old had no problem getting around.
Could do with another long blue run or two. In particular, it would have been nice if there was another blue run accessible from the top of chair 5, so my wife and I could have taken turns skiing it with my 7 year old. As it is, to access blue terrain from chair 5 you need to take another short lift to get to the top. This would not be that big of a deal, but you need to skate to get to the second lift and again, seven-year old.
Non-skiing stuff
On-site hotel was OK. Access to the slopes was pretty easy. Having a ski locker was nice, but ours was in the group of lockers that was tucked away in the basement, so that was a little inconvenient. The pool was nice, and a step up in size from what you would get staying at a budget hotel. We took a ride on the mountain coaster, which the kids loved.
Overall:
We had a good time. Saturday afternoon corn on Ace's Run off Chair 7 was a treat, and finishing up by skiing down The Face on Sunday afternoon with my son was a blast. It's always easier to focus on the negatives than the positives, but it was definitely a good trip.
Thanks for the trip report. I was thinking of checking out Wisp in early Jan when I was at Mnut for a week. But of course this year nothing much was open at that point.
marzNC wrote:
Thanks for the trip report. I was thinking of checking out Wisp in early Jan when I was at Mnut for a week. But of course this year nothing much was open at that point.
If you do ever go from Mnut, be aware that it would be about a 2.5 - 3 hr drive.
wgo wrote:
marzNC wrote:
Thanks for the trip report. I was thinking of checking out Wisp in early Jan when I was at Mnut for a week. But of course this year nothing much was open at that point.
If you do ever go from Mnut, be aware that it would be about a 2.5 - 3 hr drive.
Yeah, I figured that out. Had conditions been different my plan was to check out Wisp on Thu, stay overnight somewhere in that vicinity, then head to Whitetail for the Demo Day that Friday. Instead, I did a day trip to Whitetail from Mnut. Was worth the drive given how many demo tents there were in spite of the limited terrain. Plus the discount coupon for the lift ticket. Turned out you could get one at Whitetail that morning.
