Thanks in large part to Jim K's DCSki.com article about Wisp, I tried out the area twice this month. Great skiing, and an impressive amount of terrain was open, considering the weather so far.

Jim's article mentioned Wisp's "Devil's Drop Glades". I checked them out myself yesterday. They're between The Face and Devil's Drop. This treed area has definitely been cleared out for skiing. No problems with branches, rocks or stumps.

This leads to two questions:

1. There are no signs for this glade (as far as I could tell), and glades don't appear on any Wisp map. Any ideas why not (insurance?) ?

2. While it may be possible to zip through the woods adjacent to several trails for a little (illegal) tree skiing, are there other areas at Wisp that have been cleared as glades?

I'm pleased to find a gladed area at Wisp, although the Devil's Drop Glade is a bit steep for me to ski comfortably. I hope more ski areas will follow the lead of Jay Peak in VT and Sutton in Quebec and provide glades with a variety of pitches for a variety of skiers.

Woody

...That section of glades at wisp is fantastic terrain.... It really amazes me that more resorts don't do this.... I know some resorts that with minimal investment in glading could DOUBLE!!! their skiable terrain without increasing any snowblowing...seems like a no brainer to me...but I'm just me...and I ain't no dirt dart...

Don't know answers about your Wisp questions. I suspect most of our local ski areas have some gladed areas that locals know about and try when snow permits. Nice thing about those glades as Wisp are that they get a ton of manmade blowing over from the towers on The Face, so they open early and are mostly rock-free. They are also hard to miss being right in front of the main lodge.
Blue Knob and Timberline are known for glades. Seven Springs has some on the backside too, I believe. Think these need considerably more help from Mother Nature than the short, but sweet glade at Wisp.
When did you return to Wisp Woody?

Jim, as luck would have it, a friend and I picked yesterday (Thursday, Jan 11) to ski Wisp again. Wisp had managed to reopen most of the trails they'd had to close over the weekend, the skies were sunny, and the day was (seasonably) warm. We found the best conditions on The Face and on the Muskrat-Boulder run.