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Not to mention about the cheapest skiing on the east coast!

Twas a great 2 days..bluebird & great snow galore!!..bet I passed by you a few times!

We went weekend of March 6, 2010. Best skiing conditions I have experienced since my childhood in Canada. Short lines, natural snow, friendly staff. I wanted my son to experience this type of skiing and he did.
You can sometimes be the only person in the whole run. This is not possible during daytime on weekends at the 'near-DC' resorts or at Snowshoe. They only run the triple if it is needed. It was only needed for a few hours on Saturday. Again, there is hardly any waiting in line. Overnight, they do a great job of grooming all the runs. In my opinion, natural snow just takes to grooming better than the snowgun stuff. The access to the backcountry trails is also something that generated much interest with the kids. So, I may be able to get them out there or in nearby White Grass on cross-country skis as well. As far as the lodging, I can't speak to it. We stayed in Oakland MD and drove down every morning. Personally, I wasn't interested in being pampered, I just wanted to ski hard for two full days and not wither away in a lift line. Mission accomplished.

Not so minty fresh... Unfortunately, I would have to rate Wintergreen as my most disappointing ski experience. The lift line management was unbelievably poor resulting in waiting in line for an hour to get the lift just prior to the 4pm closure of the black diamond skiing areas. There was almost a riot!

I will never go there again.

Skiing was VERY nice at HV on 2/20. First time in ages I have seen EVERYTHING open and skiible. Only problem was things being a bit crusty in Cobra and other unmarked glades. at 1:30pm I stopped in the office, and heard that there was not a single parking space left in whole resort. In spite of that, the only really long lines were on the north summit quad, and Thunderdraft was less than a dozen chair wait. Hopefully with more weekends like that, the outback slopes will be alot closer to a reality.

Found HV to be the family resort I remembered (had a pass there years ago).
o Not great terrian but it has been expended.
o Definetely NOT as expensive as 7S and the service / value is SOOOoooo much better.
o Food value is okay (for a resort) and its not over priced "ball park" fare!
o They need to fix up the parking but I can see improvements overall.
Good place to go with a family, with developing skill sets, if your on a budget and know how to manage your expections.

I grew up skiing at Laurel. My dad built a rustic cabin along Laurel Summit Road in the early sixties. I remember skiing on wooden skis with woolen mittens frozen into the shape of claws from the rope tow. Our cabin had just a fireplace for heat and we slept on a row of old army cots but even though I have a house at Sugarbush, VT now nothing will ever compare to those glorious early days at Laurel Mtn. It was the true spirit of American skiing.

I have only been going to HV the last two years. The staff has always been great. From last year to this they have made nice improvements. I have been to the nearby resorts which are more expensive. The quick serve food in all of them isn't the greatest but it is concession food. What can you expect? From what I have read and been told by people that own houses there, the place was not kept up by the previous owners. The new owners are sinking money into it and it shows. It can't be transformed in a week. Great place for families!

Hidden Valley continues to have inferior skiing and customer service compared to the other local resorts. They bait and switch. I called one day to find out when the North Summit ski area was closing. The non helpful customer service rep said 8pm. I take off work early to get there by 5 only to find out that it was already closed? It was closed with 15 inches of fresh powder? 5:30 comes and the lift serving Imperial and cobra closes as well. The lift op tells my family and I to go ski Continental. Yeah, that sounds like fun, especially for someone who learned to ski 25 years ago. We skied for two hours and went home early. Deep powder on almost flat slopes makes for very slow runs. I would like to ski the runs they have on their billboard on RT 31 and 711. Too bad it's really not HV. Since when are there huge western pines in Southwest PA? It's pathetic when they have to use pictures of real resorts to attract people to their ant hill. This is just another way Hidden Valley baits and switches. People should call them out as this is very dishonest. It's funny because they can't even afford to keep the whole mountain open during the best conditions of the year. They must have gotten in over their head with all the home building that general mountain operations are affected. I got news for them. People aren't interested in buying mass produced $300k homes in this economy with piss poor skiing. All the food outlets have terrible fried food at outrageous prices. I get an email from Scott Bender after I waste more of my time to make them aware of this situation only to have him send me a generic response. I'm pretty sure they get complaints all the time. They talk about expansion when their only intention is to keep the front side open. STAY AWAY. If you do go, ask them what run is pictured on their billboards because you want to ski it like I did. The customer service rep looked like a deer in headlights. I'm making the attorney general aware of their their misleading ways

Returned to Blue Knob for the first time in a few years on 2/14/10. Conditions were epic. Roughly 4 feet of natural snow. Entire mountain open and areas of unmarked terrain also skiable. Bone Yard, Mine Shaft, East Wall, the Ditch, are all still there, marked, and skiable with good natural snow. Blue Knob is a beautiful mountain with terrain that is unmatched anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic. Real expert glades and steep runs on the lower mountain. When it snows deep, this is the place! I'd like to see some careful upgrades to the lifts and facilities which preserve the character of the place, along with expanded skiing below the doubles at the bottom to add overall vertical.

Snowshoe just extended their closing date to April 5th (Easter Monday). They have had a ton of snow and so I'd say that while the conditions won't be 'epic' probably in late March, they should still be decent enough to get some good turns in.

I have a rental condo (2BR/2BA, ski-out) that is very nice - just been completely rennovated. We are running a special 'spring break' deal including free lift tickets for up to 4 people for the entire stay. Only - $1200 for the entire week March 28-April 4 (Sun-Sun) That's only $300 per person to stay AND ski for 7 days. You can't beat it! (Only $1600 for March 21-28 to stay and ski for 4!) If you are interested, please inquire on VRBO (vacation rental by owner), listing 194341. (pictures posted there as well)

@DC SKI READER

I understand that the weekend would be crowded. Yes, my girlfriend and I had been couped up all week too but couldn't get to a better mountain at the time to take advantage of the conditions. This doesn't mean that we should be punished for our abilities. However, there are better ways to control the crowd then by reprimanding people in a way that is rude and embarrassing to the individual. Like I said in my post, they would have been more effective if they approached the skiers at the end of their run and calmly explained the need for them to slow down. Do not bang your poles and yell at me then get excited when I ask what the problem is. I'm a paying customer who deserves to be treated with a calm respect.

@GGNagy

Your snarkyness only assuages your attempts to defame my post. I have yet to have anyone disagree that having Ski Patrol rudely yell at people is a poor practice. I encourage Liberty to contact me at my email, chocula78@yahoo.com, if they truly feel my negative experience was unique that day (I was there on 2/13/10).

"We will avoid other skiers at all costs so don't tell me how I should ski unless you think I am being wreckless; which is the last word I would use to define either of our styles."

if 'wreckless' is the last word you would use to describe your styles, would 'wreckmore' be one fo the first?

Liberty will keep a novice to intermediate skier busy for a few hours. The lift lines can be long. I think that there should be a special ticket price for the easiest of slopes that includes the Dipsy Doodle. The back of the mountain is fun for parents who have kids in ski lessons.

The slopes will keep novice to intermediate skiers busy for an entire day. The chairlifts are well-managed and move quickly. I wish, however, that there was a special price for for the "easy" slopes that included the Dipsy Doodle.

So Brett as an experienced skier you go to a local hill on a double holiday weekend (Pres. and V-day)after record snowfall, and everyone being snowed in for a week, and then complain about crowd control??????

My girlfriend and I are avid skiers. I grew up on learning on the Poconos, she used to race competitively growing up in New Hampshire/Vermont. We usually hit up Whitetail for day trips, but I wanted to try the slightly closer Liberty. However, my one trip has convinced me to never go back.

The day we were at Liberty they had ski patrol sitting at the bottom of each run by huge "slow" signs (the signs actually read "Chill." - wow, that's way cooler!). The ski patrol would YELL at skiers to slow who they believed to be skiing too fast. I have NEVER, I repeat NEVER, seen this practiced at any other of the mountains my girlfriend or I have been too. It is rude and a terrible way to maintain safety. One of the ski patrol personnel (whose name I did not get, but he was a very short guy) was so rude to my girlfriend, he brought her to near tears. I was furious about this and decided to have a chat with him. I explained that she and I were easily some of the best skiers on the mountain that day and we should not be punished because of our abilities; I also told him that his attitude and method of BANGING HIS POLES at my girlfriend upset her a great deal. He didn't give two SS about her feelings and my calm demeanor and immediately began to get excited at me. Another female patroller thankfully stepped into our convo and was much calmer. She was willing to answer my questions and explain why they do this. However, the main reason she gave was that being the better skiers, my girlfriend and I set the tone on the mountain and that the less skilled customers would try to match us.

Stop there for two reasons:

1) Don't patronize me.

2) It's not my responsibility to set the "tone of the mountain".

My girlfriend and I ski well enough to maintain control at high speeds (by high speeds, I mean speeds for our advanced level, not Bode Miller Break Neck speeds). We will avoid other skiers at all costs so don't tell me how I should ski unless you think I am being wreckless; which is the last word I would use to define either of our styles.

I was near ready to ask the ticket office for my money back because of this experience. However, this was a Valentine's day treat for my girlfriend so I didn't want the whole day to be ruined. We skiied and made a point to exaggerate our turning as we ended our runs. I watched the patrol through out the day and found them really only reprimanding the people that seemed to be skilled enough to ski at higher speeds. When the patrol was passed by an out of control kid or teenager who was trying to slow themselves with using their arms as sails,they wouldn't bat an eye.

JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS A NOVICE AND OUT OF CONTROL DOES NOT MEAN IT'S THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF TALENTED SKIERS TO AVOID THEM. The patrol should have done a better job of coralling the out of control novices, instead of ruining the fun of the advanced skiers. Instead of yelling people and banging your poles like a nutcase as they passed, the patrol should calmly approach the individual and explain what the problem is. They were actually taking people's tickets away who they believed were a risk to other skiers. RI. DIC. U. LOUS.

This whole experience has convinced me to never return to Liberty. Next time I will drive the extra 30 minutes to Whitetail.

Went to Wintergreen on President's Day weekend in 2010. Resort very crowded. Slopes were in relatively poor condition with little grooming despite the fact that they had 7 feet of snow this season. Biggest problem was the lift lines. During morning, we waited between 8-12 minutes for the Quad and in the afternoon the wait was 18-20 minutes. Far too little lift capacity for the number of skiers on the mountain. Have skied there many times in the past and the wait for the lifts is so much longer than other resorts.

On the plus side, the accomodations were nice and the restaurants are quite good. My wife also enjoyed the Spa much to the detriment of our bank account.

This could be a real jewel if they would increase the lift capacity or limit the number of skiers.

Confused about when the resort opens for the season & when it closes or ends for the year for snow skiing & boarding? Can you help?

The mid-week specials are good values. But stay clear of Wisp on the weekends- a $59 ticket (even more on holidays) is absurdly overpriced for an area with such minimal vertical. What do they think they are? Vail???

I have been going to Sugar Mountain Resort for years, however I will not be going again. I was overcharged for by their Ski School for a group lesson (done as moral support for a friend who had never skied before) and have experienced the WORST customer service trying to resolve the issue. They refuse to refund the overcharge and have been quite rude in the process. I did exactly as instructed to get the situation resolved, yet they will not refund my money.

I had planned to make 3 more trips this year (and make several trips each ski season) to this resort, but this is enough to make me change plans. I'll happily take my money and my friends (and their money) to a competitor resort. I'd recommend that everyone DOUBLE CHECK THEIR RECEIPTS at this resort. I was not the only one that day that was overcharged. A man was overchared for his daughter's lesson and when he realized it and tried to get a refund, they refused him. He tore up his ticket and threw it at the sales girl (not the best reaction, but he was furious at their lack of concern). I should've taken the hint after seeing this display...I actually felt bad for the sales girl who turned right around and over-charged me. I hope this is not a common practice for them - bad business!