| Route 66 | Cities | Beaches |
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| The problem with having few slopes is that skiers
at a particular level have to repeat the same ones over and over. If you
can tolerate that, Wisp is not bad. The slopes it does offer are actually
better than you’d expect. There are only three Greens, and Belly Flop is a bunny run right in front of the lodge. Accessed by a ropetow, it starts a third of the way up the main hill and comes out at the ski school door. Possum is the cruising run here. It starts way at the back of the mountain, at the head of chairlift #3. It winds down through the woods around the north and east faces, coming out back at the lodge and the chairlift. It’s a great family trail, and Wisp’s longest. Possum can’t match Timberline’s Salamander or Snowshoe’s Flume in length or terrain, and it’s not as challenging as Perfect North’s Far Side, but it’s about equal to the region’s other cruisers. |
Wisp runs parallel to Possum 100 feet higher along the mountain.
It serves as a collector, with skiers from four short steeps pouring into
it so that skiers on Possum are spared the interference. Blues are the biggest category here, but that’s misleading. Most of them are too short to be effective. Down Under is the best. It really starts up at the top of the hill first aid station, where for the first half it’s called Odin’s Chute. Then it peels off to the right and drops down through the trees in a long S pattern, running through a neighborhood of rental cabins. This is a legitimate Blue, and not for novices wanting to try their skills at a higher level. Those wannabes would be better testing themselves on Rabbit Run or Beaver-Boulder. |
| Rabbit Run is a steep drop along the back of
the mountain. It’s straight and wide enough to be forgiving. Anyone
capable of either carving or snowplowing can make it down Rabbit Run, as
long as they can stop at the bottom. If not, they’re in serious trouble,
because Rabbit Run drops off the cliff and becomes Main Street, a hairy
Black. |
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Muskrat is a short drop from the top of chairlift # 1. It flows into Beaver-Boulder at the midpoint of the mountain. Randall’s Run drops parallel to Muskrat under chairlift #3, while Grouse is just a connector route that should be labeled a Green. There are only five Blacks here, but they’re actually better than the Blacks at some other regional resorts. Eye Opener is the best. It drops from the top of the mountain to the bottom, winding through the trees at breakneck speed. It’s a great early morning run, where after a fresh snowfall you can find powder conditions. It’s a long enough run that it requires two chairlifts to get back to the top. |
| Main Street, as mentioned before, is the off the cliff drop that eliminates
the pretenders. If fast GS turns are not in your arsenal, stay away. Three Blacks drop straight down to the lodge. Squirrel Cage doubles as Wisp’s racecourse. Wisp veterans complain about NASTAR skiers taking over their favorite Black. Face is wide enough to be forgiving and is really only a Black for its first half. Devil’s Drop is a little trickier. It is narrow from the top due to groves of trees closing in on both sides, and gets squeezed even more by the snowboarders’ half pipe along its bottom third. One or the other of these constraints will probably send wannabes sliding to the lodge upside down backwards. There’s a cute little diversion just off Devil’s Drop called Three Pin Alley. It is basically a glade run through the trees. On one of Wisp’s fresh powder days, this is an exhilarating opportunity. Wisp has room to expand on the North Face, dropping down off Possum, and on the Southeast Face, between Down Under and Beaver-Boulder. While enjoying your day at Wisp, keep an eye out for familiar faces in the crowd. Camp David, the presidential retreat, is only a few miles away. Top government officials do not usually ski here, but many midlevel appointees do. |
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