Travel & Outdoors
Twelve Ski Resorts Within a Day’s Drive of Baltimore
Beat the winter blues at one of these 12 powder-ful ski slopes.
Trudging out to your car in the Monday morning freeze, slush in your boots, the sun peeking wanly over the horizon, it’s easy to forget that winter provides incredible opportunities for adrenaline-pumping recreation. While Mid-Atlantic skiing is admittedly a different experience than, say, hitting the slopes in Aspen or Sun Valley, the freedom to schuss down a mountain (regardless of its size) just a few hours later is yet another feather (or pom-pom) in Baltimore’s (ski) hat.
What follows is a list of our favorite ski resorts within a day’s drive of Charm City, encompassing spots in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. So the next time you’re scraping the ice off your windshield and feel a Jerry Lundegaard-in-Fargo-style meltdown coming on, take a deep breath, focus on the weekend, and throw your skis in the car. It’s go time.
Blue Knob All Seasons Resort
1424 Overland Pass, Claysburg, Pa., 814-239-5111
Drive time: 2 hours, 50 minutes
The highest skiable mountain in Pennsylvania’s scenic Allegheny range, Blue Knob offers 34 trails and plenty of long rides for skiers and snowboarders of all abilities, with a vertical drop of 1,072 feet. The resort also gets high marks for its advanced glade trails—aka off-trail and defined woods trails. In addition, the resort boasts a ski school for beginners and advanced skiers and snowboarders alike, as well as a snow tubing park.
Canaan Valley Resort
230 Main Lodge Rd., Davis, WV, 800-622-4121.
Drive time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
A skiing destination for some 70 years and the site of West Virginia’s first commercial ski development, Canaan Valley Resort receives roughly 180 inches of annual snowfall. Skiers and snowboarders have nearly 50 trails to choose from, but there’s a lot more to do too, including outdoor ice-skating, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. There’s also a 1,200-foot snow tubing park worth tackling, especially with the kids.
Liberty Mountain Resort
78 Country Club Trail, Carroll Valley, Pa., 717-642-8282.
Drive time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Given its proximity to Baltimore, just over the Frederick County line, Liberty Mountain is a place where generations of local new skiers have made their first downhill run. With an elevation of nearly 1,200 feet and a vertical drop of 600 feet, the nearby resort offers 16 trails and two terrain parks serviced by eight lifts—all lit for night skiing and snowboarding, with full snow-making coverage. Check the Ski and Ride School, too.
Massanutten Resort
1822 Resort Dr., Massanutten, Va., 540-289-9441.
Drive time: 3 hours, 15 minutes
Built in the Shenandoah Valley more than 50 years ago, Massanutten offers 23 runs and seven lifts spread over 90 skiable acres, with a peak elevation of nearly 3,000 feet. Freestyle snowboarders and skiers will appreciate one of the best parks around—boasting a dozen rails and jumps—while beginner freestylers can get started in the resort’s “Easy Street” terrain park. The snowmaking infrastructure recently got a boost, too.
The Omni Homestead
7696 Sam Snead Hwy., Hot Springs, VA, 800-838-1766.
Drive time: 4 hours, 30 minutes
This historic luxury hotel is more renowned for its famous guest list, which includes several presidents, and its legendary golf course—note the address here—than its skiing. That said, the iconic Homestead is an ideal destination for families and novice skiers and snowboarders, with its laid-back, well-sculpted, and gentle terrain. Along with its nine trails over 45 acres, there’s also a snow-tubing park next to the slopes and mini snowmobile track for kids.
Roundtop Mountain Resort
925 Roundtop Road, Lewisberry, Pa., 717-432-9631.
Drive time: 1 hour, 20 min
As it’s a direct shot up I-83, newbie and intermediate skiers and snowboarders can quickly reach Roundtop’s slopes for a weekend, weekday, or even weeknight getaway. The whole mountain, which includes 21 trails, nine lifts, and snowtubing, is covered by snowmaking equipment. Roundtop is also a part of the Vail Resorts network, meaning a season pass can be purchased that includes skiing at Whitetail, Liberty, and dozens of other resorts.
Seven Springs Mountain Resort
777 Waterwheel Dr., Seven Springs, Pa., 800-452-2223.
Drive time: 3 hours, 20 minutes
With a diverse collection of 33 trails descending from a 2,994- foot mountain, plus another seven terrain parks, Seven Springs remains one of the most popular resorts in the area. Also, if you don’t ski but want to chill with friends who do on a weekend trip, this is the place. Seven Springs offers live music on weekends, bowling, roller-skating, indoor mini-golf, snowshoe and snowmobile tours, tubing, an indoor pool, fitness center, hot tubs, and loads of dining options.
Snowshoe Mountain Resort
10 Snowshoe Drive, Snowshoe, WV, 877-441-4386
Drive time: 5 hours
With 60-plus trails and glades plus four terrain parks divvied up among three distinct ski areas over more than 240 skiable acres, Snowshoe may be a trek, but it’s worth the drive. With an elevation of 4,848 feet and a vertical drop of 1,500 feet, Snowshoe is one of the area’s largest resorts and it presents some of the best skiing south of Vermont. A genuine destination resort with all the amenities, Snowshoe also offers more than a dozen restaurants and a nightclub.
Timberline Mountain
254 Four Seasons Dr., Davis, WV, 304-403-2074
Drive time: 3 hours, 40 minutes
There’s a lot to love about tiny Davis, West Virginia, which is re nowned for its mountainbiking, and that includes Timberline, which has seen significant capital investment in recent years. The ski area’s claim to fame is its high elevation—and thus its big amount of annual snow. It also has a 3.12-mile run—plus two double black diamond runs, rare in this region. Overall, it offers 37 trails
across 100 skiable acres.
Whitetail Resort
13805 Blairs Valley Road, Mercersburg, PA, 717-328-9400
Drive time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.
Along with Roundtop and Liberty, Whitetail completes the trio of family-friendly, low-hassle resorts, just over the Pennsylvania line and 90 minutes from the Baltimore Beltway. The top elevation here is 1,800 feet, with a descent which supports 23 trails and two terrain parks—all serviced by 100-percent snowmaking coverage. Recent upgrades include a snow-tubing park, an expanded lodge, and as of 2019, a liquor license.
Wintergreen Resort
Route 664, Wintergreen, VA, 434-325-2200
Drive time: 3 hours, 40 minutes.
Nestled deep into Virginia’s wine country down the Blue Ridge Parkway, the mountain here has an elevation of 3,515 feet with a vertical drop of 1,003 feet. Wintergreen is a year-round resort with luxury accommodations that offers skiing and snowboarding across 129 skiable acres with five chairlifts—including two high-speed lifts—24 trails and a terrain park continually reshaped for new challenges.
Wisp Resort
296 Marsh Hill Road, McHenry, MD, 301-859-3159
Drive time: 3 hours.
Located in the Deep Creek Lake area of Garrett County, Wisp is Maryland’s only ski resort, but with a 3,115- foot elevation and 172 skiable acres, it more than holds its own in the region. Twelve chairlifts and seven surface lifts take skiers and snowboarders to a mix of 33 beginner, intermediate, and advanced trails and three freestyle parks. Plus, there’s tubing, iceskating, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing—something for everyone, in other words—at this year-round resort.