Out of all the resorts you've been to, which one do you think is the iciest? I think Bryce is pretty icy... I don't not like it, its just that there was so muchice! I suppose every resort has its icy days... I think the iciest slope is Lower Sunrise at Wintergreen. Sheesh, Lower Sunrise is like skiing down a popsicle

And if you think this is stupid go easy on me, I'm just twelve... Also I wasn't 100% sure where to put this, I just joined today, so yea...

Hey HolyMAC, welcome to DCSki. I've not skied any Virginia ski areas so I can't say but I can imagine that the freeze/thaw cycle there is brutal. I know it is here in PA. I vote Blue Knob as the iciest resort here. On the positive note, if you can master ice then you can ski anywhere and if you can ski the machine made frozen whales on Extrovert then you can ski any in bounds terrain in the US.

HOLYMAC, I don't know if you have ever been there but the best blue ice can be found on "lower shays" at showshoe (when it's open). Also, Dixie Dare at Massanutten, the Face at Wisp, and most high traffic, black trails at most resorts will be "fast" by the late afternoon.

I second Blue Knob

I've skied some pretty thick boiler-plate at Killington.... and actually got caught off-guard and went for a nice slide into a small creek.

Sugarloaf in Maine can get nasty, but Massanutten takes the prize for VA resorts.

Nobody made ice like 7 Springs in the early/mid 70's. I used to think tackling VW Beetle size blue ice moguls on 220 cm skis was normal until I went out west. Today's worst surfaces don't come close.

Having been to Bryce, I third Blue Knob.

Lol, sometimes when its really icy at Wintergreen, it would be rational to think your ice skates would do just fine.

Your skis are like ice skates, only longer

FWIW, I am convinced that a softer ski is easier to ski on truly icy days for anyone having balance problems edging on the stuff.

I vote Whiteface, aka "Iceface" back in NY. In the Mid-Atlantic- it's all about timing and crowds. A cold, snowless winter will reduce any of the ski areas there to a hard plate of steel. Time it right though, on a weekday it can be paradise.

Whitetail gets "mushiest" award.

Nah, Wisp takes Whitetail to town for mushy.

They make so much snow that come the mush season the snowpack saturates for weeks.

With respect, you ain't seen mushy 'till you've skied North Carolina in late February/early March.

I think we need to analyze the mush a little closer.

Porridge mush? Applesauce? Mashed taters in lotsa gravy?

Mt. Hood this June had some applesauce on it, that was really weird.

We have a saying in our house . . .
It's not fresh powdah . . . it's clam chowdah

Whitetail has clam chowdah in March. . . we aren't even from New England

IMHO two of the best runs in the Mid Atlantic can also become its best ice skating rinks. Extrovert at Blue Knob and Lower Shays at Snowshoe.

On the other hand, I remember a first week Feb 2002 storm at Stowe that left the runs blue. In one afternoon, the weather turned from sweet powder at 30 degrees to mushy and copious rain at 50, then the temp rocketed down to 8 degrees by wakeup time. The rest of the week was tub-soaking and yes, shopping. It took about three weeks for the place to recover.

I think I was there when that happened but it was in March 1993, no that was at Jay in Feb. 2000, no Killington in 1989.

I would say something at blue knob.

That reminds me of a ski trip I took to CV back in March 2005. Just a weekend trip at the beginning of spring break. Day 1: sunny to partly cloudy, high in the low 60s. You could literally see the snow melting off the trails. I was at CV, and the skiing was sssssssllllllooooooowwwwwww and warm. Very, very warm.

Day 2: Timberline. Cold front came through sometime after dinner. The windchill- I'm not making this up, the guy at the top of the lift was keeping a running tab- was 38 BELOW zero (I think it dropped to 40 below at one point, can't remember). We had a "real feel" temperature swing of 100 degrees in about 24 hours. It was so cold it was actually a little bit funny, or maybe that's just the hypothermia talking, but as I would ski away from the lift, directly into the headwind I'd hold my arms out and yell "IS THAT THE BEST YOU'VE GOT!?!?!?" and then laugh. What else can you do?

To make the skiing even more fun, Timberline only groomed two runs before opening. The other five or six top-to-bottom runs were left "au natural," so you had spring crud flash-frozen on moguls, thin spots, and scattered patches of fresh powder. Basically turning consisted either of aiming for the scattered patches of fresh powder and executing, or ricocheting off the moguls. Thunderstruck actually had some nice powder on it, I skied it off right quick. Silverstreak was hell. Heaven help anyone who fell on Off-the-Wall that day, they were going to hit Mach 1 on their butts as they slid into the trees.

Yeah, THAT was an icy day.

And you wonder why I own 45mm waist skis.

The worst icy days I have had were after storms that started warm and rainy and then got really cold. Seems to be a common pattern in the midatlantic area.

You mean winter storms are different in other pats of the country?????

+++Vibes+++

I have been doing that alot lately.

For the state of Virginia I think Upper Rebel Yell at Massanutten takes the cake, or should I say icing?

A long time ago when I was around 12 I first skied at Blue Knob, PA on a beginner slope that was covered with a 3 inch layer of blue ice. I thought that was why they called it Blue Knob.

It is why they call it Blue Knob.

Oh yeah, ask a Blacksburgian about "snizzle." (Murph- are you readin' this?)

In Oklahoma, they skip all that "snow" stuff and go straight for ice. The more the merrier. Occasionally they are nice enough to send the ice up our way or into Nebraska, but mostly we get little one inch dustings that last two weeks.

Snowstorms? I don't believe they exist.

I can remember when "Blue Knob Powder" had a hidden meaning of
"fridge quality clear ice".
The Colonel

Thanks for the ++++Vibes, both here and there but you do know I was joking over there, right? At least the part about getting out of the sport and I may have exaggerated my loses.

Sorry I missed you at the Epic Gathering last year. Yes, I was there but missed skiing with most folks.......long story and not very interesting and the skiing I did do with the Bears was with comprex on a few front side groomers at Solitude.

Wasn't the powder amazing?

My pick would be Upper Extrovert at Blue Knob.

There's something about skiing Volkswagen sized blue ice bumps that gets the old adrenaline going.

Rob,

I sort of figure you were just kidding about the quiver sale.
I heard you were in the area, too bad we didn't meet up. Maybe in the future. I won't be going to this year's meet up though becuase MAdeline and I are finally buying a house.

There`s plenty of ice at Blue Knob and it begins in the parking lot. Love the place anyway.

Worst I ever saw was bulletproof ice on Upper Dew Drop (I believe that was it) on a night at Timberline. It was so bad with all remnants of snow or crushed ice being scraped off to the sides that the 6 of us who were there started falling within the first 200 yards. We said "screw it", sat down, locked our arms and rode our butts to at least over halfway down with the boards barely able to slow us down at all. Man what a fun time...

Massanutten

I remember going over a bump one time and I fell and landed on ice. Didn't feel good. . . O_O