A friend and I want to go out for a daytrip on Saturday but not sure where to go. I am not too familiar with skiing in the mid-Atlantic (hope to change that soon) and need some help. We have been to Snowshoe, Seven Springs, and Liberty. I have liked each but would like to try something new. My enjoyment of skiing exceeds my skill level and I stick to greens and blues, but my friend is very good and can manage almost any black.

I was at Liberty this Saturday and had a wonderful time. Only complaint was that the lines on the front side were pretty lengthy, although the conditions were good and there were very few lines for the two lifts on the back of the hill.

It is just a daytrip, so I would prefer to be no longer than three hours away from DC. I was thinking about Wisp, Wintergreen, or Whitetail. Will Whitetail be significantly more crowded than Wintergreen or Wisp? Are Wintergreen or Wisp worth the extra drive time? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

WT and Wisp would be good, but WG is usually crowded on Saturdays and with warmer weather predicted, could be very "spring-like." However, any of the three will give you a quality experience.

Wintergreen is having Winterfest this weekend. With the warm weather, I would guess that means lots of people. If you can handle easy blacks with soft snow, staying over on the Highlands might be okay. If I lived in DC, I think I'd be heading to Wisp. Of course, I like Massanutten, which is less of a drive.

Taking Marz Jr. and her friend to Wintergreen on Sun.

Have fun!

Thank you both for the advice. I think we will do Wisp. I saw somewhere that the Costco in Leesburg has discounted tickets. Anyone know if the Costco in Pentagon City has them too? Haven't had any luck talking to someone about it over the phone.

Some tips for you on Wisp.

Wisp lays out in three distinct areas, the Front (or Main) Face, North Camp and the East Face.

North Camp is new with two quads and has a long green trail (little and big dipper) to the bottom. You can loop the lower lift and there are three runs in addition to the green. Ace's Run is the best blue at Wisp, there is also a short blue and a short black off the same lift so you and your friend could split up easily here and still ride the chair together.

The East Face also has some nice runs. The blue Down Under is nice but this is a heavy traffic trail. There are 4 black trails on this side. Odins Chute and Bobcat Bowl which drop you into Down Under and are short and steep. Eye Opener which IMHO is the best run at Wisp. If you are feeling good and conditions and grooming are right try this trai--it is worth it and is a tame black. Lastly, there is Main Street which is short, wide and a good pitch. There is also a nice black connector between Main Street and Eye Opener. You and your friend could also split up here if needed and meet at the bottom at the Main Street chair.

The Main Face is a mixed bag. There are two greens on skiers left, Possum and Wisp trail which are the long cruisers but these can become narrow as the traffic picks up. There are some misc. blue runs that dump you out on to Wisp Trail. Then there are the front three blacks--Squirrel Cage(usually groomed), The Face (almost certainly bumped up now) and Devils Drop (hardest at Wisp) which may or may not be open as it really needs natural snow. Lastly, there is the Muskrat-Beaver-Boulder combo blue runs on skiers right and these are gentle blues, but can also become heavy traffic trails when the resort is crowded.

Last tips.

Try lower North Camp or Main Street Chair to avoid the crowds.

You can park up top at ASCI and buy tickets at the pump house and avoid the lower lodge if needed. From here you can reach anywhere on the mountain.

The top part of the front face is flat, so avoid this if you are skiing the front by using mid station off the lift.

KeithT, thanks for all the information. It was very helpful yesterday. Particularly enjoyed Ace's Run and the East Face. We did Ace's Run several times and it was my favorite trail. Main Street was great for someone like me who normally sticks to blues since it is so wide. I also thought Squirrel Cage was ok for an intermediate. Didn't it make down Eye Opener but that gives me something to look forward to next time.

The resort seemed busy but other than having to wait about 15 minutes to go up one of the lifts on the main face in the morning (chair 3?), we never had to wait in line too long. A local told us in early afternoon that he thought it was the busiest day of the year, but it didn't seem packed.

We had a great day and would definitely go back.

I did almost 10 runs in a row on Wednesday on Ace's Run. It was by far the best trail of the day. The cool this was that each run was I made fresh tracks in 4 or 5 inches of fresh. Between me and some other guy we had the trail completely by ourselves.