Winterplace Revival

[TannerP]

I just want to put it out there that Winterplace has changed things the last couple of years. They are under new management and they are rededicating the entire experience.

This might be coming off like an ad, but I am just happy that a place that kind of lost it's spirit is back with a vengeance.

First off, they dedicated Highland Run and Lift 1 to be a terrain park. I always thought that somewhere on the big side of the mountain would be a good place for a terrain park since they used to separate the mountain based on the "Learn to Ski" lift tickets and general admission. Highland is the run with the houses on it and is very close to the resort center. The pitch is actually great for a park and its always been a fun little run so adding in bumps, berms, jumps and rails/boxes makes it like a dream come true for an aging park rat like me. I can tell that the run is getting so much love from all the tourists too. Its like a roller coaster with all the rollers on it. They just need to make sure it's a really wide run because beginners will still use it to access the condos/houses.

The grooming has just been making more sense in a lot of places. I feel like they are letting the snow kind of work with the terrain in productive ways. Allowing the snow to contour the slope and leaving piles can actually help skiers turn and also preserves snow. It used to seem like they would just groom like they are trying to grade asphalt on 77. They would groom out a foot of powder if we happen to be blessed with it, I'm pretty sure that now they have the sense to leave powder on the steep runs.

Snowbowl wasn't groomed at all for a while. It definitely should have been marked as a black diamond, but it was absolutley sick with several zipper lines of moguls and massive snowmaking mounds to butter and jump around. Snowbowl is my favorite run because it has so many interesting features and not mowing them down has made for such a fun run. When I was an instructor I did like using it to teach turning because of the shape, but I would rather have it just be a hodgepodge of fun features.

The resort has also done a great job of courting the locals again. I don't work there anymore, but I believe they made it so employees can get their family members passes for relatively cheap. This is how to maintain staff. Get people to agree to work a couple days a week and let them ski then you have the staff you need to make the experience great for the tourists who are really pumping money into the area.

They brewed a beer with the local brewery, Weathered Ground. Weathered Ground is legit. Sam, the head brewer, was a brewer for Triple C down in Charlotte and he always hits on his brews. The beer is called "Yard Sale IPA".

They are doing more in the way of music, special events and just making the place have a resort vibe.

Also have to mention that all the best people who ran off to work at snowshoe are coming back to work for winterplace now.

There are more things I could list, but I just wanted to put some love out there for Winterplace. I think they are doing a good job up there despite the mild winter so you should definitely go check it out this season.

TURKEY CHUTE IS BACK TOOO!!!!

[swamphox]

we were there this weekend. my boy was inspired by dog days of winter to rip in the bumps (he thought Wayne Womg was pretty cool) so he enjoyed them in a manner appropriate of a person with 13 yr old knees and 10 yrs.experience.

i see loads of potential....maybe they can start opening thanksgiving week for example.

one thing they dont get enough credit for is their parking. a bad spot at wp is about like a.good.spot at app.

we really enjoyed it.

crowds werent as bad as sugar earlier during Christmas week.

we went last year as well. i cant really say much bad about it.

[marzski]

Good to hear that Winterplace is doing well. Stopped by when I had an Indy Pass but it was too early in the season when I had another reason to be driving back to NC from the midwest. Just took a look from the base and left the skis in the car.

[johnfekete]

Winterplace is good place they let bumps grow on turkey chute and they have snow bowl best blue run in the south. Blasted sugar does not let moguls grow on woop de do. Keep snow bowl blue thats what it should be unless your a greenhorn

[swamphox]

The bumps were plentiful on snowbowl

[mondaylady]

I've been to Winterplace a few times and really liked it. Glad to see they're doing well.

[h20ski]

I have visited Winterplace several times, most recently with a church group a few days after Christmas last year. They had a lot of terrain open and I know that always helps. But it seems they really do a great job keeping the lift lines moving.