South East Skiing (versus, ticket, transit)

[hickoryfan]

A friend of mine told me that the best skiing in Eastern America is in the mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack mountains of New York state. I know that we have a milder winter than the Northeast, but most of the southern Appalachain peaks are much higher than those in New England.

Does anybody know why the Adirondacks rate better than the Southern Appalachains?

[mdp_az]

It is consistently colder in the Adirondacks and New England, with more snowfall, longer winters and less sun exposure. The mountains up north more often than not offer greater vertical releif than the mountains in NC, despite the higher summit elevations of our mountains here. Ski mountains in the southern Appalachians tend to be pretty small based on slopes/total acreage, and end up very crowded with long lift lines. The lift ticket rates are still quite high though, as they have to pay for all the snowmaking they're doing to stay open.

The only place in this region (sort of) that I consider worthwhile for skiing is Snowshoe Mountain in WV. If you can get away on a weekday, Wintergreen in VA might also be worth it.

[corvidae]

The last two winters the mountains got so much snow it seemed like. There must have been a a few weeks where the skiing would have been great in NC.

[hickoryfan]

Does vertical relief equate faster skiing? Does it make for a better alpine experience? Does it matter if a ski run is 600 feet versus 2000 feet?

[motordavid]

NE vs the lower states: Northern Latitude is the key for snow.

Imo, 600 ft runs are either bunny runs, or very steep. Longer runs offer varied terrain, places to stop and hang, and often some steeper vertical decents along with some transition areas. Generally speaking.

Doing a 8 to dozen looong runs a day, is for most good skiers, more enjoyable than doing 2 dozen short runs.
GL, mD

[MrRational]

skiing is about altitude and latitude