Trying to decide if I want to jump in the car (from Indianapolis) and drive over to Snowshoe to ski on T-giving. They are reporting Cant Hook, Greenhorn, Spruce, Cross Cut, Powder Monkey, Whistlepunk, Skidder and Whiffletree are open. Not too worried about myself but my daughter is a decent rider and she is worried she will get bored quickly.

Any advice is appreciated! Also, any guesses as to crowds the next few days?

I would say that translates to two trails down to the bottom of the mountain along with the short learn to ski trail. One trail is an intermediate trail that ends in an easy pitch and the other is an easy trail down the mountain.

I'm itching to start my season, but just don't see that worth the drive from the DC area.

Happy Thanksgiving!
I would not anticipate a huge crowd for turkey day...just my opinion.
Note that they only have one continuous trail open at Silvercreek and one continuous trail at the basin (main mountain). The various trails listed in snow report together equal the top to bottom experience. Obviously multiple lifts open. NOAA weather predictions for Snowshoe found here:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php...nit=0&lg=en

Lou Botta posted this morning: "Awesome first day of skiing at Snowshoe." He included a picture from the top of a trail.

How far/long is your drive for just a day of skiing?
Enjoy,
The Colonel

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well Colonel.

It would be a 7 hour drive and we decided in the end to bag it. Had a bad snow jones after last season especially but best to pocket our money and reload in a couple of weeks. Saw Lou's photos...looked pretty sweet!

Glenn

A friend from DC did the 6 hour drive on her own Friday. Having a good time but glad she brought stuff for really cold weather. In the teens during the day, with winds. She doesn't have to drive back until Monday so made it worth the trek to check out her new skis.

6 hours?? In a good weather, I drive there from Tysons corner in less than 4 hours. She probably stopped a lot or use the wrong route..

I got there in 6 hours from Virginia Beach, no sweat.

Guess I could've been more specific. She lives close to BWI.

What is the best route from the I-66/I-495 interchange?

And then . . . was it worth it?

Purely for the skiing? Nope.

Horrid snow, it went from 50's to the teens during my stay and they only had less than a dozen runs open. I went because I wanted to get out of town to someplace quiet since both my gf and I had the whole 4 days off (its hard to get that in the Navy) so we got a condo in Mountain Crest and chillaxed. Lift tickets were only $66 for the whole weekend and the place was fairly empty. We had planned to go to Skyland Resort in Shenandoah but I figured it would be a nice bonus to ski too so we splurged for Snowshoe since they opened early.

I really needed to get some time on the slopes since I am going to Mammoth in a few weeks for my holiday leave and I didnt want to waste time getting my footings back after a 2 year hiatus. I will be watching the resorts closely to try and make one more trip before I head west. Im hoping I can make a trip up to NE in the later season as well.

GMZ: thanks for the report. Welcome back to the slopes!

I-66 West, I-81 South, 55 West into Corridor H and get off at Patterson creek rd (south), merge into 42 South, then 28 south and then 66 west and turn right to Snowshoe!