Good morning,
DC Ski newbie here wondering if anyone has experience with night skiing at Whitetail. My biggest concern is icy conditions on the slopes and base. Thank you in advance!
John
Cycleski wrote:
Good morning,
DC Ski newbie here wondering if anyone has experience with night skiing at Whitetail. My biggest concern is icy conditions on the slopes and base. Thank you in advance!
John
Hi John,
Welcome to DCSki. I've skied at Whitetail dozens of times at night -- I've probably spent more time on the slopes there in the dark than in the sunlight! In the past, I went on weekday and Sunday evenings, avoiding Friday and Saturday evenings when the slopes can be quite crowded. This year, Whitetail has scaled back their evening hours, so unfortunately I do not believe they're offering night skiing Monday through Wednesday. (Check their operating hours here.) I haven't been skiing this winter, so can't say whether there are any significant changes to the night skiing experience due to COVID, etc.
Whitetail is beautiful at night, and watching sunset fade to dusk from the slopes is nice. But the slopes can get icy, especially if there's a freeze/thaw cycle going. A crowded day can leave a lot of loose snow skied off, and if the temperature climbs above freezing during the day and then dips back below freezing at night, that can be a recipe for ice. Although I haven't figured out a perfect formula for predicting when there might be ice. Even if some trails get slick, there are often other trails that have looser snow. If snow conditions are good and things stay below freezing all day, the night snow can be great. One other thing to watch out for is that Whitetail might be more likely to be making snow at night, although I'm not sure that's an issue this winter.
Sunday night is likely to be less crowded than Friday and Saturday evenings. I would avoid Friday and Saturday nights if you can as those can be uncomfortably crowded, at least in past seasons.
Night skiing in the later part of the season can be pretty good, too. Once conditions get springlike, with temperatures staying above freezing, the slushy snow from the day can firm up a bit at night, making night skiing better than day skiing on some occasions.
I've had lots of great evenings at Whitetail, and a few lousy ones.
Here are some Firsthand Reports I've written after skiing at night at Whitetail:
Firsthand Report: After the Crowds at Whitetail
Firsthand Report: New Year’s Eve at Whitetail
Firsthand Report: Whitetail - Two Runs Was (More Than) Enough (one of the bad experiences due to ice)
I and almost all of my ski pals consider Whitetail to have the worst night skiing conditions of the three locals spots but best day skiing overall (except no good bars :-). Liberty has the best night skiing snow, but can have the biggest night crowds. Lines not an issue, but the downhill can be busy busy.
Mostly having to due with the sun exposure as mentioned above, but also because their higher number of older snow guns. My opinion only applies to blue black terrain, haven't spent much time on the WT greens but they look to be in a better sun position.
Liberty has most of the terrain covered with newer snow fans which produce better snow, but easily the most crowds with only one lift to the top in the front.
One of the reasons I like Massanutten over Wintergreen (driving from NC) is that all the Mnut trails are lit for night skiing. At Wintergreen, the black trails off the Highlands lift close at 4pm.
Given that relatively few people ski the Mnut blacks in the afternoons after the usual slick spots appear, they aren't any slicker under the lights than around 3pm. The top of Mass Transit is slick at night but that's true during the day too. But having it and Yee Ha open means it's easy to go between Lift 5 and Lift 6 to find the best snow conditions at a given time.
