Ski Southeast Messageboard

Decided to take my brother-in-law (visiting from Chicago) up to Massanutten for a day trip. Turned out to be busier than the usual Friday because the local schools had a snow day. Mnut has a snow day deal that many families were taking advantage of since the roads were fine. A little drizzle north of Danville, a little snow north of Lynchburg, but no precip by Waynesville. Seeing a little sun by 9:30 when we got to the lodge.



Had a great day! Powder on DJ in the morning was fun. Little bumps on the side of ParaDice. In the afternoon, everything got soft but still quite nice. 38 degrees in the valley when we left at 4pm. The 8 inches certainly helps to give Mnut a great base going into Feb.



Pics taken between 10am and 4pm.



Clouds at the top of the mountain around 10am











MAKAttack bumps plenty big with 8 inches of fresh snow





Showtime off Lift 5 (blue, also access to MAKAttack)







Southern Comfort (long green)





Diamond Jim and ParaDice (.75 mile) off Lift 6











Terrain Park popular with the locals, never seen so many on the J-bar





Not melting too fast in the valley, on US340





Done

Thanks for the pics. How long does it take you to get there from the Triangle area?

@agentp 238270 wrote:Thanks for the pics. How long does it take you to get there from the Triangle area?



From my house near the RDU airport, it's a 4 hour drive to the Mnut parking lot. It's about 3.5 hours to Wintergreen. But because of the layout, I find I can be skiing sooner at Mnut than at WTG. More importantly, my 10yo daughter likes it better. It's where she learned to ski starting at age 4. Now the water park is a draw when we go for a weekend.



The ski school at Mnut is very good. I like the areas available for beginners and intermediates a lot more than at WTG. For me, being able to ski the two black runs at the top with no line is what makes Mnut better than WTG Highlands on weekends. Even on holidays weekends, Lift 6 is ski down and ski on the chair most of the day. Plus it's lit at night, which is not true of the Highlands.



Another difference between Mnut and WTG is that there is a season pass for Mnut that is unlimited, meaning includes weekends and holidays. The WTG pass is only good weekdays and Sun after 12:30.

I remember the park being decent last season, but it looks great on those pics. Not that I do park, but for a smaller resort it's respectable.

@Superorb 238496 wrote:I remember the park being decent last season, but it looks great on those pics. Not that I do park, but for a smaller resort it's respectable.



There are also a few small features on the side of Geronimo, the steeper green run off the shorter beginner lift.



Probably headed up to Mnut for the weekend. Depends on how much freezing rain they get. But supposed to warm up so the slopes should be okay by Sat.