I went skiing with three of my children on Monday, January 31 at Bryce Mountain, Virginia. I had a day off from work and the roads were clear despite the fact that the kids were out of school because of the snow/sleet on Sunday. It was a primo weekday for a spontaneous ski getaway.

I like Bryce, it’s a great family ski area and in recent years I’ve found that you can usually beat the crowds by going there on a day you might think would be busy at Whitetail or Liberty. The conditions yesterday at Bryce were the best in memory, and I’ve got a long memory! I’ve skied Bryce once or twice almost every year since the late ‘60’s.

Bryce isn’t real big (500 foot vertical, two double chairs) so you’ve got to moderate your expectations, but everything they had was in great shape yesterday. All eight slopes were open (if you’re a 7 year old kid 8 seems big). The trails were covered with loose and packed powder and we enjoyed checking out each one.

The skies were mostly blue and the visibility was terrific, with little wind. The temps were in the 40’s. I was standing at the top of one of the trails when a stranger saw me taking in the crystal clear view of the mountains across the valley. He said “this is as good as it gets at Bryce Mountain”. I agreed. Lift lines were no more than about 20 people long all afternoon, making for all skiing and no waiting. We skied a half day from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. and the cost was $15 for juniors/seniors/military and $18 for adults, such a deal for a quality ski day!

I’ve skied out west in March a number of times and whenever I see a good ski day in the Mid-Atlantic I tell my kids “this is what it’s like skiing in Colorado.” Yesterday I said that about 5 times.