In this DCSki Interview Series installment, Woody Bousquet discusses his family’s role in founding and operating Bousquet Ski Area in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, his own lifelong connection to skiing, and the inventions and stories that shaped the area. He also shares how his collection of vintage patches, maps, brochures, and other memorabilia helps preserve the history of Bousquet and other lost ski areas.
Masks, reservations, capacity limits, and parking-lot lunches made the 2020-2021 winter unlike any Mid-Atlantic ski season before it. Six years later, DCSki looks back at how resorts and skiers navigated the pandemic and how that period accelerated the shift toward advance ticket sales, mobile passes, online transactions, and other practices that remain with us today.
Before webcams, navigation apps, digital lift passes, and group texts, Mid-Atlantic skiers relied on snow phones, paper trail maps, printed directions, and carefully chosen meeting places. This retrospective recalls the uncertainty and occasional adventure of skiing before the smartphone while considering how modern technology has made trips safer, easier, and better documented.
Once scattered across the Mid-Atlantic, hundreds of community ski hills, residential resorts, and ambitious mountain developments introduced generations to snowsports. Drawing on DCSk’s Lost Ski Areas archive and readers’ memories, this feature story traces their rise and decline, the forces that reshaped the regional ski industry, and the advantages that helped today’s resorts endure.
Mid-Atlantic ski resorts are preparing for the 2026-2027 winter season with new lifts, expanded snowmaking systems, improved skier facilities, and major lodging projects. DCSki takes a closer look at the enhancements and upgrades underway across the region at resorts such as Seven Springs, Wisp, Wintergreen, Snowshoe, and Massanutten.
The powerful 1997-1998 El Niño brought warmth, rain, abbreviated operations, and lasting financial consequences to Mid-Atlantic ski areas. DCSki looks back at that difficult season, explores the financial risks of betting a year-round business on a few winter months, and considers whether the developing 2026-2027 El Niño might deliver rain, snow, or something in between.
After a long ski season, DCSki’s Editor Scott traded snow for sun on a rare 14-night Southern Caribbean cruise featuring seven ports in seven days. It was a unique itinerary that offered a very different kind of off-season escape, and Scott captures the adventure in a cinematic video.
After a delayed start to the season, DCSki’s Editor finally got back on snow with a quiet midweek visit to Liberty Mountain, finding the resort’s easygoing “vibe” fully intact. Liberty heads into the second half of February with great snow and 100% open terrain.
Vail Resorts will introduce simplified “Friend Tickets” for the 2025-26 season, giving Epic Passholders six to ten discounted lift tickets — each at 50% off — to share with friends. The tickets can also be applied toward the purchase of a future Epic Pass, a move aimed at easing costs for newcomers and growing the sport’s participant base.
An arctic air mass has brought ideal snowmaking conditions to the Mid-Atlantic, enabling resorts across the region to prepare for their winter season openings, with many planning to open in early December. Resorts like Seven Springs, Wisp, Snowshoe, and Timberline Mountain are leading the charge, while others are building their bases for upcoming announcements. Photo by Heidi Lews / Hidden Valley Resort.
Vail Resorts is gearing up for the winter season by rolling out new programs and enhancements across its eight Pennsylvania ski areas, including expanded children’s lessons, women-focused initiatives, and improved snowmaking capabilities. Photo by Haley Mowery, Roundtop Resort.
