DCSki Mid-Atlantic Ski Challenge: Share Your Score

The lifts may be quiet for the summer, but your Mid-Atlantic ski knowledge doesn’t have to go into hibernation.

DCSki has created a new 26-question quiz covering resorts, signature trails, weather, snowmaking, lift history, former resort names, and Lost Ski Areas across Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Take the quiz here: dcski.com/quiz.html

Once you finish, post your score and ranking in this thread. Did you emerge as a Snowplow Apprentice, a Corduroy Cruiser, a DCSki Historian, or the elusive Mid-Atlantic Ski Oracle?

Feel free to discuss the quiz here, but please avoid posting specific answers so other readers can take it without spoilers.

Have fun!

Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:

24 out 26. I missed the oldest ski resort in VA and the start date of DCSki.

 That's a good score.  I only got 25/26 when I was testing it and I wrote the questions, ha.  I mixed up which resort in PA had the highest summit.

 I knew that the Omni Homestaed was a grand hotel from the late 1800. I was going to pick that but I thought skiing was suspended there in the 1990s.

Scott wrote:

Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:

24 out 26. I missed the oldest ski resort in VA and the start date of DCSki.

 That's a good score.  I only got 25/26 when I was testing it and I wrote the questions, ha.  I mixed up which resort in PA had the highest summit.

Never been there (my buddy goes all the time), but Omni bedford springs I've been to a few times (old place, presidential stays, telegraph transmissions, etc...).  No skiing at bedford springs, but Blue Knob nearby, and they have a nice golf course...

Shoulda been a question about Nemacolin and its small collection of slopes....  Never skied there either.

Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:

 I knew that the Omni Homestaed was a grand hotel from the late 1800. I was going to pick that but I thought skiing was suspended there in the 1990s.

Scott wrote:

Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:

24 out 26. I missed the oldest ski resort in VA and the start date of DCSki.

 That's a good score.  I only got 25/26 when I was testing it and I wrote the questions, ha.  I mixed up which resort in PA had the highest summit.

21, I wouldn't say that Blue Knob is unusual for being an inverted ski area. We've got Wintergreen, Snowshoe, and Laurel that are also inverted.  Plus Snowshoe is one of the biggest in the area. I think that's enough not to call it unusual. 

Missed history questions.

 It isn't unusal, there are a handful of "upside down" ski areas... LM being the one I know and go to. 

(Sucks, though, when lift becomes inoperable while you are heading down and you are at the bottom! - and it's cold out. -) 

Stephen wrote:

21, I wouldn't say that Blue Knob is unusual for being an inverted ski area. We've got Wintergreen, Snowshoe, and Laurel that are also inverted.  Plus Snowshoe is one of the biggest in the area. I think that's enough not to call it unusual. 

Missed history questions.

Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:

The best thing about an inverted ski area? No cold chair ride after a break. Lodge at the top means staying warm is easier.

 One more run is just that much more tempting too. The one time I went to Blue Knob I went on "one more run" three times while my friend fell asleep by the fireplace.

 A new leader. Well done, snowsmith.

snowsmith wrote:

25 of 26. I missed the number of lost ski areas.  I guessed 86. 

 That's true. There's an altogether different tempo and vibe with an inverted area.  

Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:

The best thing about an inverted ski area? No cold chair ride after a break. Lodge at the top means staying warm is easier.

I sometimes feel worried I'm going to be stuck at the bottom of the mountain. Often lifts will stop for a long time, and maybe you go to another lift or maybe you leave. With an inverted area, you're stuck there. It's never happened to me which is strange considering how much that has happened at non inverted areas. Maybe they know the risks and therefore maintain their lifts better?  If it's super cold, and I'm stuck at the bottom of an inverted area, I'd probably hike out, at least to warm up

needawax wrote:

 That's true. There's an altogether different tempo and vibe with an inverted area.  

Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:

The best thing about an inverted ski area? No cold chair ride after a break. Lodge at the top means staying warm is easier.

 That has actually never happened to me (at Laurel), but I've heard stories from the 70s about just that thing.  Skiers getting towed up the hill by snowmobile, etc... (not sure that's even a practice anymore / not sure what they do these days)  Anyway, at least at Laurel, they have a relatively young lift that I don't ever think I've seen break down or even stop for a long period....

Stephen wrote:

I sometimes feel worried I'm going to be stuck at the bottom of the mountain. Often lifts will stop for a long time, and maybe you go to another lift or maybe you leave. With an inverted area, you're stuck there. It's never happened to me which is strange considering how much that has happened at non inverted areas. Maybe they know the risks and therefore maintain their lifts better?  If it's super cold, and I'm stuck at the bottom of an inverted area, I'd probably hike out, at least to warm up

needawax wrote:

 That's true. There's an altogether different tempo and vibe with an inverted area.  

Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:

The best thing about an inverted ski area? No cold chair ride after a break. Lodge at the top means staying warm is easier.

I'm a slacker.. 16..

I do have one protest..

What weather phenomenon frequently produces natural snow along the western-facing mountains of West Virginia and western Maryland?

The correct answer to this question is ULLR..

24/26. Missed oldest operating ski area in Virginia😔, and first HS detachable lift.

Fun quiz, Scott! Particularly appropriate for “silly season.” I liked having a progressively harder set of questions. Hope you’re open to another quiz on MidA skiing, and will accept suggestions sent directly to you. 

Woody

bousquet19 wrote:

24/26. Missed oldest operating ski area in Virginia😔, and first HS detachable lift.

Fun quiz, Scott! Particularly appropriate for “silly season.” I liked having a progressively harder set of questions. Hope you’re open to another quiz on MidA skiing, and will accept suggestions sent directly to you. 

Woody

Of course!  I'd be happy to get question suggestions!  Now that I've written the code for the quiz it'll be easy to swap in new questions for future editions.