Introduction
While Maryland is located out of the primary snow belt, there are several ski resorts that feature man-made snow close enough to make single-day ski trips possible.
This page is broken up into several sections:
Upcoming Ski Trips
January 3, 2007 - Liberty Mountain - $15 lift tickets. Ski Center's Demo Day at Ski Liberty. Reduced priced lift tickets are available in advanced from Ski Center.
January 4, 2007 - many locations - $10 total for beginners. Pennsylvania Learn to Ski and Snowboard Day, $10 gets you beginner's area lift tickets, rental ski/snowboard gear, and an introductory lesson. This is a great way to learn to ski or snowboard since the cost is a fraction of the regular price to learn. Several area resorts are participating, and require advanced reservations. The nearest participating resorts:
January 11, 2007 - Wisp - $10 lift tickets. Ski Chalet's Demo Day at Wisp. Reduced priced lift tickets are available in advanced from Ski Chalet.
January 18, 2007 - Timberline - $2 lift tickets. Ski Chalet's Demo Day at Timberline. Reduced priced lift tickets are available in advanced from Ski Chalet.
General Ski Trip Information
Generally all of the ski trips are just a few of us getting together and going skiing. Usually there's 1-2 cars worth of people, and everyone splits the gas/traveling charges costs (usually about $10/person for gas, tolls, etc). We usually leave pretty early in the morning (7:00am), and we're back somewhat reasonably around (7-8pm, depending on traffic). The closer locations (Liberty, RoundTop, Whitetail) are only a 90 minute drive, while the other locations average 3-3.5 hours of driving (each way).
We used to pack lunches to save money, but in recent years we've gotten lazy and just bought food at the mountain. There's usually an OK selection of basic cafeteria food (soup, sandwich, hamburger, etc), but it can be somewhat pricey.
In the case of "Demo Days", these are equipment demonstration events. Local ski shops sell really cheap tickets to ski, and bring new ski equipment for people to try-out for free. They are hoping that we like the equipment, and decide to purchase new skiing gear. We are not obligated to buy, or even try, anything on these days, but some people find it fun to try-out new equipment, and occasionally one of us is actually looking for new gear, so this is a good way to actually try out the products.
To use the demonstration equipment, you need to have your own boots (and poles for skiing). If you don't own any equipment, then for any ski trip you need to rent gear (even if you're going to demo equipment, you'll still need boots and poles, unless you can borrow that stuff from someone else).
The one thing about the "demo" day ski events, is that you need to buy tickets in advanced. These tickets are available directly from the ski shops, and if you have a car, it's not too bad to visit them (usually they're not far from one of the local shopping areas). Each person is usually allowed to buy several (4-6) tickets; therefore it is usually possible to have one or two people pick up all the tickets for a group.
Local Ski Resorts
Rental Snowboard Equipment
The Campus Recreation Center rents outdoor equipment at discounted rates for students, including snowboards and snowboard boots.
As of Fall 2006 their prices are:
Snowboard (includes boots) $ 12.00/day Snowboard Boots $ 6.00/day (discounts available for 4+ days of rental)