Winterplace Ski Resort — Attraction in Crab Orchard

After being three whole days in the resort, I can say Winterplace is a fun place to ski/snowboard at. However, there's a few things you need to mind: first, it's East Coast - if you're coming from the west, you might want to reduce your expectations for a bit. Snow conditions can vary widely as winter dies in the east, and this season had the worst December for snow sports. Even their snowmaking can churn out varied snow due to these mixed conditions, as it can sometimes send out icy snow or slushy snow along with some of the best manufactured snow that can be enjoyed for my tastes (in sparse locations).

Two: their layout is not like the others. One of these things is mainly the path to the summit and the isolation of the terrain Park, which is good and bad. To get to the summit, you need two lift rides as you'll need to take a path down to the summit lift. From chair 4, that meant snowfield was the only path there, and the most reasonable for all difficulties in my honest opinion.

However, if you want to avoid having to skate on your snowboard or carry it, you'll want to take chair 2 that will have meadows, look at me, nose dive and snow bowl (late season) as your options to go down to the lift. You'll notice when you do that it'll take longer to get to the summit than it took me to write these directions, which can make for a cumbersome experience for those looking for convenience. I'm in the middle. I can tolerate it, but sometimes I skip doing the mile-long run in favor of convenience. Besides, their blue and black drops are very great and I had fun sliding down with my body due to how steep it was.

The good: the people here are very chill and it doesn't fill up after the holidays. It seems to not be a favorite option when compared to Snowshoe or even most of North Carolina's offerings down south. The lack of lines made for some of the best lap times when accounting for the time taken to get to the lift including lines. I also like the diligence these people have with making snow. The terrain park also has the advantage of being it's own trail that's easily accessible from the main lodge, and can be accessed rather easily from some of the lodging locations onsite. It will take a bit to make a top to bottom run as you'll need to get on the lift, but it's worthwhile. The terrain park does feature mostly medium-difficulty features, so its not particularly beginner friendly and the layout is rather... Not full. There's 3 different features and that's about it. The way its organized is good, and I love the fact that they made three rollers, which can make the ride down very fun. Make an obstacle course and I could go to Winterplace for an SSX-like experience in the terrain park. Also, getting your lift tickets if you bought online was very easy. Just buy ahead of time and show your email through your phone. They only need to look up the ticket code and print the normal tickets. Very surprising to still see paper lift tickets still used in the age of RFID cards, but welcome. Provides a vintage feel to the resort.

The bad: a lot of flat terrain and the third day had some yellowy slushy (as far as I can explain) terrain. Hitting any of these slushy zones will slow down your riding sharply for some reason as it's not as slippery as ice and snowpack. The flat terrain in some areas also makes it hard for snowboarders to get to each lift, so a lot of speed management is needed even though you have to go more slowly. If you combine the two, I think even skiers could have a hard time moving across in the worst case scenario. This is because of the location and the slowly disappearing winter weather, and management seems to be doing a great job at managing the situation.

As much as I complained about the bad, they're just points I need to highlight. My experience at Winterplace very much made my winter trip even though I could be considered lucky with the sequence of events that entailed. The bad stuff is the only thing that caused the 1 star deduction, but to be honest, I think it's a...

I'm a newbie to snow skiing so Winterplace is a great place to come out for quite a few different run styles for my level. There are also harder runs for more experienced skiers so it does seem like there is something for everyone. Not all of the slopes were open this visit, though, but there were enough to keep us entertained from 11am to 5pm for sure. Oh but now that I think of it, I didn't notice technical runs or trick runs for the snowboarders...did I miss them or are they not available? There is plenty of parking with lot attendants to guide you and you don't have to walk too far to get to the ski center. We were a bit confused trying to figure out where to go to get lift tickets, though. We followed people in and stood in what looked like a long, slow line...turns out we were in the rental line. Luckily we had already rented my gear from the Ski Barn (recommend! Quick service there! And very close and you can also buy other gear!) so we stepped out of this line and went toward the "lift ticket only" line which was in a slightly different area. The line was pretty short and quick and they have a military discount. Lift ticket stickers in hand..we notIced a small metal hanger on a nearby table that you're supposed to use with the stickers to hang them from your jacket. And onward from there we found a locker room area with mostly small lockers that would no way have fit my stuff. And I think you have to use coins to rent them, so where do you get coins from? Maybe I just missed it ...there was a lot of newness going on for me. I think there were also some larger lockers to rent and a section of large cubbies to use. Now geared up and ready to go! We had left our skis and poles outside where my friends husband dropped them off for us in the pickup turnaround. Clonking around in our snow boots we had to walk up a flight of stairs with all of our stuff. We had the resort map with us hidden in one of our pockets so just winged it the first time and hoped that we would pick the right lift to start off with.At the lifts you can read on the signs what kind of runs you will be taken to. We asked while boarding the lift which run to take and were told something that would have been good had we understood exactly where they were describing. Instead we found a run with a steeper start..so there you go, I got my first fall out of the way in the first minute! After that we tried another lift and had a better experience and eventually found the map and figured out how to read it. Without a map, it seemed a bit difficult to me to know if I was doing the right thing for my skill level. But again, I'm a newbie so maybe things are more obvious to others if you've done it more often. We lucked out with it being cold enough to snow the day before and they had made some snow through the week. What a cool thing and we are so very lucky they can do that for us skiers in this part of the world. Finally decided to take a break for lunch and have to say that experience was just so-so. If you didn't wipe out on the slippery cafeteria flooring, that was a plus. My salad was fine but my friend wasn't totally thrilled with the hot dog and how long it took to make. Be careful in the bathrooms, too, with that same flooring. It's a fun slippery ride but luckily they are small so you can quickly catch yourself on something to save from falling. There was a room with a bar area, so that could be fun for the adults if you're hanging out for a longer period of time. And there is another food option somewhere ... maybe it was a restaurant? Not sure as I didn't find it this trip. Maybe next time! Also to note is that the staff was all very nice and helpful so that was a great experience. And they have what looks like a great ski school but you have to pay extra for it so I didn't. I guess my post could sound like I didn't enjoy myself and that is not the case. I loved the skiing part, that was really fun! My overall visit was enjoyable and just fine. I just wanted to let you know the little pieces that were a...

Please like & share our reviews. * Wheelchair accessible with terrain challenges to the observation areas. We drove up all the way from Florida. We researched several places and snow seemed to be a challenge to come by for most places due to abnormally warm weather. Other places overbooked the amount of people allowed in and we saw that this establishment was well-organized and limited their intake. We simply used their website from Google Maps to learn about slopes and different amenities. We booked our date and time slot with ease, were reminded to sign the online waiver in which we did in a few short minutes. We chose to do 2 hours snow tubing which requires everyone to be 44" to ride. Our soon to be 6 year old is 46". We highly suggest times slots 5-7pm for best pics both in daytime and nighttime hours. After 7pm the temp drops and the slopes become slicker and ice forms on all the top of the deck. Once you enter the park, there are signs which clearly direct to where each parking lot is. You can see the skiing and tubers from the parking lot just about. Outside the foodcourt there is a booth where you can show them your online ticket and they can see your waivers. Legit took 3 minutes to get our id tags to slip on a zipper of our jackets. ( My ID card nearly cut my face when flying down the slope, so make sure to loop it on a zipper which is lower and cannot whip you in the face.) We walked over to the tubing area, grabbed a tube and hopped on the escalator. Lean forward so you keep your balance. Once at the top we pick a line and are careful to wait for the person to ride and exit the slope completely. If you are the cautious, cool as a cucumber type, ride flip side up. Don't let your booty drag inside the tube or you'll be sore later. Lol If you like to push your adrenaline and pretend you are a Jamaican bobsledder on a luge from the movie 'Cool Runnings', run and slide face first front side down. * Just make sure the person in front is out of the area because you can fly out at the end and past the snow and into the grassy knoll just like in the movie lol. Hang onto your hats and gloves or stow them in the tube bc there were so many loner gloves and hats left behind by others. We rode for a solid 2 hours. Just when we were exhausted, our time was over. The staff literally thanked us for coming and said they hoped we all had a great time. The only issue we had was slipping at the top deck. There is no salt and not enough track mats. We fell mutliple times as we stepped off the escalator onto the wood. TIPS: Wear snow pants and snow boots. There are times you will drag your feet to slow down and toes will get soaked & cold. Wear glasses if you are a speed demon because snow will fly into your eyes. Plan to buy or prepare hot cocoa - either hit the food court for some, or prep a thermos to keep it in the car. You will want cocoa. There is a tram bus that goes from the parking to the tubing area (but it is quite a short walk). Gloves are a must. Your hands will burn. If you have a lil 44 incher who slides down, up and then back... take them to the oitside rows so the can grab their tube and climb over and out of the way for the next tuber. Book online to avoid the wait, get better fare rates, and secure a spot- they do sell out. When using the escalator, stack your kid's tube on yours and place them in front of you. Have your kid stand in front.

Thank you to all the staff for making a 9 hr trip from Florida worth it for our fam. We wish you a very...