Half pipes, fresh powder, and short drives are a must when looking for easily accessible places to spend a snow day shredding with close friends.

With a snowy winter impending, students look for the best places to ski and snowboard that are relatively local. There’s no doubt that east coast skiing and mountains are incomparable to the massive ranges in the western parts of the United States, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t good places to ski within a four hour radius.

Snowshoe, a resort in the West Virginia mountains, is about four hours away, but is worth the drive for a long weekend. Snowshoe is home to a cute little village with coffee shops, breakfast places and plenty of ski and snowboard rental shops for those who need to rent their gear. For a simple day trip with friends, Snowshoe may not be the best option since an eight-plus hour round trip can be a little strenuous. Regardless, students who have been to Snowshoe can attest to its home town feel and sufficient number of slopes.

“I like to ski and Snowshoe is a great place to go because I can make a quick weekend trip to shred some powder!” said senior Grace Crater. “It’s definitely one of the better resorts in the area, along with Whitetail.”

While it is farther away and the lift tickets are a little bit more expensive, $80 on a weekday and $100 on the weekend, the 41 runs that are open are worth the drive. Whitetail Ski Resort in Pennsylvania is also a little over four hours from Warrenton.

“If you’re looking for a day of fun challenges I would definitely recommend it,” said senior Timmy Ryan. “The drive there is also worth the scenic view and it is not exhaustive.”

Whitetail is significantly smaller than Snowshoe with 23 total runs available when they are all open. Whitetail does not have the same small ski town feel as Snowshoe does, the drive is a bit long for a day trip, but the resort has ski rentals, breakfast shops, and coffeehouses just like Snowshoe.

“I snowboard at Whitetail because there are a variety of trails and terrain parks that I love,” said Ryan. “My favorite part about snowboarding is challenging myself on the black diamonds and tackling new jumps and boxes in the terrain park.”

An added bonus to make the drive worth the skiing, lift tickets are $67 during the week and $77 on weekends, a whopping $23 cheaper than Snowshoe. If a long drive is a deal breaker there is always Bryce Resort right here in Virginia.

“I like that it’s small, so the lines are short and it’s not crowded,” said freshman Audrey Rader.

Bryce has 14 runs and eight lifts, which is significantly smaller than both Snowshoe and Whitetail.

“Bryce is a lot cheaper than most resorts and it’s closer too,” said Rader. “It’s food for day trips.”

Lift tickets cost $43 on every day of the week, with no extra cost for weekend skiing. With an impending snowy winter there will be plenty of opportunities to ski and snowboard with friends and family, in the east coast ski resorts near Warreton! For those who want to tag along but are not into skiing or snowboarding there is always snow tubing, spending time in the lounges, going to coffee shops, exploring the small ski towns in the snow, and spending time with loved ones!