For those who live in the Southeast, the many close-to-home ski/snowboard destinations offer affordable and convenient getaways for a day, weekend or longer.  The resorts here have been busy upgrading terrain, lifts, snowmaking and other amenities for the 2023/24 season.

Here’s an update of what to expect, by state.

Virginia

Massanutten

Following up last winter’s major slope expansion at the Shenandoah Valley resort, Massanutten again leads the region’s resorts in the “new terrain” category. 

Last year’s three new slopes, including a third long drop from the summit, are capped off this winter with easier, faster access on the Peak Express, a new, four-person high-speed detachable that replaces the old conventional quad. The run under the quad becomes a new expert slope, “No Hesitation,” the resort’s only double black run. It’s covered by automated snowmaking and LED lights.

 Another of the existing summit slopes, Paradice, has received a makeover and snowmaking upgrade, and there’s new expanded seating and menu options at the Mid-Mountain Grill.

Massanutten also leans into the region’s improving access to online slope information with a new interactive website trail map.It’s also increasingly easy to track southern ski conditions with a growing list of webcams on the slopes and in neighboring resort areas. This year Massanutten adds The Peak webcam on the summit.

Wintergreen

Wintergreen, Virginia, quite literally “perched on the crest of the Blue Ridge.”

Perched on the crest of the Blue Ridge near Charlottesville, Wintergreen has rebuilt its entire complement of fan snow guns to “like new,” condition, and the  Blue Ridge Express, one of the South’s first detachables, has a new haul rope. Group lessons will again be available this year seven days a week from the ski school (and Friday-Sunday for snowboarders). Also Friday-Sunday, the Mountain Explorers program returns for skiers ages 7-14.

West Virginia

Snowshoe Mountain Resort

The big news is a new replacement for the Powder Monkey lift. The almost 30-year old fixed grip triple chair, one the mountain’s original rides, will be replaced by a new fixed grip quad with a conveyor loading system. The new lift should significantly reduce congestion on the Basin Slope side of the mountain, making it quicker and easier to reach the crest of the mountain. This is where the entrance the Western Territory trail system opens the resort’s 1,500-foot maximum vertical drop on slopes like Cupp Run. 

Timberline Mountain

One of two alpine resorts in West Virginia’s Canaan Valley, Timberline was purchased by Indiana’s Perfect North Slopes in 2019. Major lift changes came first—a six-person fixed grip summit lift and a fixed grip quad to mid-mountain. This season the improvements are more subtle but still substantive, with thirty new snowguns, many of them tower mounted. A New water pump, and 8000 feet of additional snowmaking pipe have gone in, and a new Pisten Bully 600 joins the grooming fleet.

At mid-mountain, an unloading deck that was challenging for some skiers and riders is easier this winter. New lights on the green Winterset slope expand night skiing on the lower mountain and make skiing after dark accessible from that slope’s ski-in, ski-out rental cabins (available through valley rental agencies).

Winterplace

New terrain features and events have been added on last season’s new Heaven Holler Terrain Park located on the Highland slope. There also is a new look and offerings to the popular Snowdrift Lounge, including retro-themed snow parties, live entertainment, local microbrews, winter-inspired cocktails and tap takeovers. Guests at slopeside Mountain Mama’s Café have new menu items and improved flow to quickly get skiers back on the slopes.

Additionally, Winterplace also has a new Pisten Bully in its grooming fleet.

North Carolina

Appalachian Ski Mountain

The first (1962) of the now three ski areas in northeastern North Carolina’s High Country ski region, Appalachian was an early adopter of RFID lift ticketing. This season Appalachian says it will be the first resort in the nation to have daily lockers available to reserve online. Its 650 lockers of various sizes have been outfitted with RFID access technology to make locker rental easier. All skiers on a single order will be able to open the same locker with their RFID card.

The resort also added seven stationary guns to its snowmaking arsenal.

Beech Mountain Resort

The mountain’s one-time terrain park has become a beginner slope named Carolina Caribbean,  after the company which developed the ski area in the late 1960s. Nicely separated from the flow of the main trail system, the green run has a new conveyor lift this year. Beech Mountain Brewery is celebrating its ten-year anniversary with an array of concerts and other events.

Beech also joins the growing trend to RFID ticketing. Purchase online, redeem at a pick-up box, reload from home. No more waiting at crowded ticket booths.

Sugar Mountain

Sugar’s formidable snowmaking system has added a fifth air compressor and six new fully automated SMI snowmaking machines. The resort has finished another round of refurbishments to its venerable, vintage lodge, including a rebuilt slopeside deck. A new online ski rental system is being instituted that, along with onsite touch screen kiosks, is expected to significantly streamline the process.

Wolf Ridge Ski Resort

The former Wolf Ridge ski area is under new ownership and being rebranded as Hatley Point, a “boutique ski area,” say the new owners, with the emphasis on an upscale experience. The change has sparked high hopes for the resort a half hour north of Asheville on I-26, a short distance from the highest Interstate elevation in Eastern America.

The resort’s rustic original ski lodge is still being massively expanded, so due to delays, the resort will not open until later this winter. Among many upgrades and changes, including snowmaking improvements, the mountain’s former cafeteria is being relocated to the lodge’s upper level and upgraded to a dine-in experience.

Maryland

Wisp Resort

Overlooking scenic Deep Creek Lake in Maryland’s westernmost Garrett County, Wisp Resort focuses on snowmaking improvements this winter.

Twenty-two new TechnoAlpin TL8 tower snowmaking guns will be aimed at covering Wisp’s base area and the popular expert run above it, The Face. The long green Possum also benefits. More than 2,800 feet of new snowmaking pipe feed these improvements across the front side of the mountain. All the new snowmaking equipment is automated for self-adjusting snow quality, fast start-up and quicker shut down. New energy efficient lighting in the same area enlightens The Face and Squirrel Cage, both blacks. The resort’s rental inventory includes Rossignol ski and snowboard equipment.

Indy and IKON Pass Update

The Indy Pass has spread to six participating ski resorts in the South, including –

• Bryce Resort and Massanutten Resort in Virginia,
• Canaan Valley Resort and Winterplace Resort in West Virginia
• Cataloochee Ski Area in North Carolina
• Ober Mountain in Tennessee.

Alterra Mountain Company’s Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia, the region’s biggest ski area, is part of the IKON Pass network.

See you on the slopes!

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Randy Johnson

Randy Johnson is author of Southern Snow, the New Guide to Winter Sports from Maryland to the Southern Appalachians. In the 2024 Society of American Travel Writers Lowell Thomas Competition, he won Silver in the "travel book" category for Grandfather Mountain: The History and Guide to an Appalachian Icon and Honorable Mention in "travel guidebook" for Hiking the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

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