This must have been the kind of winter season they had in mind when they created Whitetail Ski area. I have to confess that Whitetail has not always been one of my favorite local resorts. I’ve only been there about five times since its inception about a dozen years ago, all of those visits save one, were for night skiing. It always seemed to be overly crowded and/or all skied out and icy.

January 22, 2003, was another story. For the first time I saw Whitetail in all its glory: crowd-free, sunny, and with a base of superb manmade snow. Under such conditions this place is a no-nonsense mountain built for speed on an assortment of relatively steep and unrelenting advanced slopes.

All slopes were open except for Far Side, which could have been, but was closed for some exceptionally intense snowmaking work in progress. Snowmaking to a varying extent was underway on a number of other slopes as well, but all were open to skiers and boarders. I found that ducking below blasts of snow was an acceptable tradeoff for enjoying the frequent stretches of beautiful powder the guns unceasingly dispersed in daytime temperatures that never rose above 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

I bought a four-hour flex ticket starting at 11:30 a.m. I love the flex ticket concept, especially during this week’s slope safety awareness program when they give you an extra hour if you know a semblance of the skier responsibility code. It was a clear and mostly windless day, perfect to enjoy Whitetail’s sunny southern exposure, which took some sting out of the low temperatures.
After a few warm-up runs I promptly headed to Whitetail’s most advanced terrain served by the Expert’s Choice Quad chair. Since my last few infrequent visits to Whitetail had all been at night when this area was without lights, I had not partaken in the delights of this terrain in many years. The previous holiday weekend of traffic had formed humongous bumps on Bold Decision, wonderfully serious, yet still somewhat pliable. In a concession to age, I took a cheater’s line on either edge to skirt the SUV-sized moguls running all the way down the center of this bad boy.

The adjacent trail, Exhibition, was my favorite of the day and a GS (giant slalom) turner’s dream. Fairly steep, with no let up to the base of the Expert’s Choice chair, this run was covered with some of the best and most abundant manmade snow I’ve skied in years. I still wanted more after a half dozen runs and envied those who would be there to ski similar Far Side when they pulled the ropes after its barrage of snowmaking.

One of Whitetail’s professional patrollers told me that night skiers no longer have to miss out on the Expert’s Choice terrain. New this year, Exhibition and Bold Decision now have the best and brightest lighting systems on the mountain. In case you make it up in a day or two and are not as impressed with Bold Decision, he added that its big bumps would probably be cut down a bit.

The hits in the Lower Angel Drop Terrain Park were beyond humongous. I took a few at slow speed, another concession to age, but park regulars were observed purchasing some sick airtime. This place rocks (and rails) if you know what you’re doing.

Whitetail Mountain Resort is located about 90 minutes north of D.C., just a few miles off the Clear Spring exit on Interstate 70. With nearly a 1000’ vertical and a lightning-fast high speed quad chair, weekday skiers and boarders will find this mountain an afternoon delight.

Photos by Jim Kenney.