My kid got a new head snowboard for XMAS and is dying to go try it out. Just wondering which resort we would have the most fun. I was thinking of driving to timberline. At timberline I can stay in petersburg with my folks. I'm looking to Keep it cheap since my kid picked out top of line for everything boots, helment gloves and new board. I got a great deal but it still hurt. I did a quick look at snow reports for places within 4 hrs of F'burg , but i need to look again. I will probably leave tomorrow and either go for day or find a cheap hotel room somewhere near slopes. Any suggestions??

Bumps,
My folks live in Petersburg too!

Anyway, depending on the level of your son, you may be able to find some spots closer than T-Line (although we are leaving for T-Line tomorrow too ) If he's still learning the ropes on the board, then Wintergreen may be an option. They have Dobie (green) open and Eagles Swoop (blue). We always made it a day trip to there from Stafford, so I can't comment on the hotel situation, but I would think there would be plenty of options down along 64.

Clay

He is an advanced trail rider. I am debating elk moutain up in PA. I can get 2 lift tickets and lodging for $190. Looks like about a 6 hour drive. Tline just doesn't look like it has much open, I will decide in next couple hours.

You're right about T-Line. When we were there this weekend, they only had White Lightning and White Out open. It sounds like they've got Salamander open now, but another green doesn't help you.

One of the places my son (he's an advanced boarder) and I went and really enjoyed was Seven Springs. That wasn't a bad drive from Stafford. Also, if you are planning on driving 6 hours, there's always Snowshoe although that tends to run on the pricy side.

Bumps,
You might consider Wisp and stay at the hotel (was a Holiday Inn) at I68 and 219 north.
And if you decide on Seven Springs, stay in Somerset or Donegal at one of the many motels just off of the PA turnpike.
The Colonel

Well, We decided to stick with Elk Mountain. 1000 ft vertical and they will get snow instead of rain tomorrow. I do thank you for the advice on hotels at wisp and 7springs. I will look into these in future. I looked at 7springs and it would have been over $400 night for room and tickets at the resort. I let my son decide where he wanted to go and he was up for a road trip to get a little bit more vertical and hopefully some new snow. We will drive up tomorrow spend the night ski all day Friday and come home that evening or at least most of the way home. It will give us a day to rest up before we go to Skin's game on saturday. I will let you know if we made a good choice. I really was swayed by the weather forcast. It is supposed to be sunny up there on Friday ( A ski rating of 9 on weather channel forcast ;))

Have a great time! Let us know how it works out.

Just got back a few hours ago. I will try and get time to do a real trip rport, but we had a great time. We went night skiing when we arrived and skied until are legs were burnt today. Elk is primarily blues and blacks with all trails groomed. One of the blacks was a little bumped up along the edges. Also they had a near vertical drop at the top of one of the blacks which made for some fun. None where extemely challenging technically, but all were fun. Here is a quick 1 min video of some pics and shots of my son snowboarding. these are mostly from where we were playing on some of the longer blue trails. I did this while I was winding down from the drive. It was about 6 hours on the dot door to door.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HDqNY4JfII

Great video! You definitely made the right choice - it's been raining hard here at Timberline, although they are calling for snow tomorrow.