Mid-Atlantic Moving to Baltimore, MD- Which mountain within 5 hr drive or less has the best vertical and most expert terrain?

[JohnL]

What would be the closest place that would perhaps be a small mountain but with some good, ungroomed terrain where I could practice moguls, etc?

In general, you headed in the wrong direction for skiing. Happened to me 30 years ago.

Elk. When they have bumps. May have to wait mid-season. Couple of legit bump runs that will keep you happy given your resume.

If Extrovert opens at Blue Knob in next year, by far toughest trail around. With area’s financial issues and recent poor snow years, hasn’t opened in a while. Used to be open 2/3 of season in the money years.

The expert head wall at Montage is very short, but decently steep.

Check out the looong Timberline thread. Start from the last post and read backwards.

If you made the long drive down to Snowshoe from Balt, as opposed to driving back north to Hunter or Plattekill or even Catamount, I would hit you upside the head.

 

[JohnL]

For quick day trips, Roundtop is your best bet. Very short, some interesting terrain in spots, good locals vibe.

 

[JohnL]

I used to live really close to Hunter when I was studying at Bard. It's a great place to ski as a regular- Monday mornings were my favorite ; ) I like your idea of letting the pilot "drive" me to SLC hahaha

For point of reference, how comfortable are you with LOWER K-27?

 

[hollyberry]

Lower K-27 is one of my fav spots to hang out and practice moguls. I hate the top of East Side Drive when it's icy. One big ice patch. I like Hunter West the best (when there's enough cover to ski it!)

 

[hollyberry]

Any places to do XC skiing near Baltimore? Do they even get enough snow near there for XC? Does XC skiing help make you a better downhill skier? Maybe if there are no big downhill areas nearby, I could just buy myself a pair of XC skis and try to keep my skiing chops up that way in-between a few downhill trips out of BWI? For the record, I definitely do not consider myself a XC skier. Tried it once, couldn't walk for a day LOL. I figure if one afternoon of pretending to XC ski wore me out that badly (at 26!) it must be seriously good exercise and probably would be a good thing to do regularly...

 

[JohnL]

Any places to do XC skiing near Baltimore? Do they even get enough snow near there for XC? Does XC skiing help make you a better downhill skier? Maybe if there are no big downhill areas nearby, I could just buy myself a pair of XC skis and try to keep my skiing chops up that way in-between a few downhill trips out of BWI? For the record, I definitely do not consider myself a XC skier. Tried it once, couldn't walk for a day LOL. I figure if one afternoon of pretending to XC ski wore me out that badly (at 26!) it must be seriously good exercise and probably would be a good thing to do regularly...

Nearby, no. Unless there is a blizzard. Take up ice hockey.

For excellent X-C, Whitegrass in WV, next to to Timberline.

 

[JohnL]

Lower K-27 is one of my fav spots to hang out and practice moguls. I hate the top of East Side Drive when it's icy. One big ice patch. I like Hunter West the best (when there's enough cover to ski it!)

If you can hang with Lower K-27, you can hang with a lot. All my previous advice stands.

There are some challenges around here, but think of it as going to the gym to prepare for the real event. Whether VT or out West.

 

[JohnL]

Paging @SKI-3PO - How would you rate Extovert vs Lower K-27?

 

[hollyberry]

Time to get back into cycling, hiking and paddling I guess!

 

[hollyberry]

If you can hang with Lower K-27, you can hang with a lot. All my previous advice stands.

There are some challenges around here, but think of it as going to the gym to prepare for the real event. Whether VT or out West.

BTW.... looked up flights from BWI to SLC..... $150 Round trip!!???? Is that typical, or is that just crazy corona pricing? If that's the going rate, I will be skiing in SLC as much as possible!!!

 

[JohnL]

Time to get back into cycling, hiking and paddling I guess!

Yes and no. I ski~20 days out West, ~20 days local. I need the 20 days local to ski the 20 days out West in some sort of skill and conditioning.

 

[JohnL]

BTW.... looked up flights from BWI to SLC..... $150 Round trip!!???? Is that typical, or is that just crazy corona pricing? If that's the going rate, I will be skiing in SLC as much as possible!!!

‘Crazy Corona pricing. Expect 400 RT unless you travel at weird hours. DIA gen has much better prices.

 

[JohnL]

‘Crazy Corona pricing. Expect 400 RT unless you travel at weird hours. DIA gen has much better prices.

I had two trips to SLC from BWI via SWA that I had to cancel. ~425 to,450. That is at business friendly times, fly out PM, fly back PM after skiing a half day. YMMV.

Used to be killer deals on SWA to SLC. Not as killer in past 5 years. This winter, who knows?

 

[MarkP]

BTW.... looked up flights from BWI to SLC..... $150 Round trip!!???? Is that typical, or is that just crazy corona pricing? If that's the going rate, I will be skiing in SLC as much as possible!!!

Right now that's crazy corona pricing. Typical is around $200 each way when caught reasonably early.

 

[JohnL]

Anyhoo, @hollyberry gave you as much advice as I could. If you two do make it down here, follow the local threads to find out what’s up next season. Lots of fellow skiers in the area.

 

[hollyberry]

Anyhoo, @hollyberry gave you as much advice as I could. If you two do make it down here, follow the local threads to find out what’s up next season. Lots of fellow skiers in the area.

Thanks! I appreciate it!!

 

[Relegate]

I’d recommend Blue Mountain in PA. Legitimate 1082’ vertical, some pretty fun runs, good uphill capacity, great ski shop and 2 lodges to spread out the crowds. Although they say they have 40 runs, it’s more like 25. That being said, it’s 1:10 from my house and less crowded / Better skiers than Camelback. Elk is sort of cool too, it’s 1000’ vertical but I do like the throwback feel there and it tends to be less crowded. They still use printed tickets.

 

[Marker]

Blue set up bumps on Barney's Bumps and Nightmare when I used to ski there, but they were not that long. Elk is more reliable on a couple of runs. For my particular drive from the PA/DE border, those two were my favorites for 2+ and 3+ hr driving. Camelback and Jack Frost were caught in the middle. However, we now drive 7 hr to Killington. Lots of steeps and bumps and trees.

 

[4aprice]

/ Better skiers than Camelback. .

Dems fighting words bro. Come at me bro.

CBK is a great local hill with good snowmaking and good facilities. At 45 min its the only place I feel the need to go locally. The good skiing is up north or out west but you gotta to be physically ready for it and Camelback fits the bill. I know some skiers there that could bury 98% of the skiers on this board

 

[Relegate]

Dems fighting words bro. Come at me bro.

Sorry, in my defense I had a massive crash on the MTB yesterday and wasn’t thinking clearly.

“When I go to camelback” I’ve been there on the wrong weekends when it’s littered with people who obviously aren’t the talented, die hard locals who avoid those days. The terrain is fun. Blue is easy for me to get to, CBK is prob only :30 min further from Baltimore.

GPS data for Blue shows 1099’ vertical. Take it all with many grains of...machine made snow. The 47 degree slope? Who knows. I think it’s from airing it out over the last pitch at the bottom of the “double diamonds”.