Wintergreen Resort

My home away from home throughout the year. Being a property owner in the mountain village, it has everything a true resort has to offer. Great East Coast skiing, top rated golf and tennis facilities, good restaurants and the views are breathtaking. My favorite thing about the resort is its remote location right next to the BRP and the AT (the old AT actually runs through the property). Not to mention the Nature Foundation maintains over 30 miles of blazed trails in both the valley and on the mountain. Friendly staff, gorgeous environment and best of all, quiet. All I need for a weekend out of DC.

A fun ski resort with robust facilities and excellent lessons, but beware the weekend crowds.
Ah, the skiing/​snowboarding/​tubing/​spa resort that is Wintergreen. Located an hour west of Charlottesville, Wintergreen is a wildly popular resort offering all manner of outdoor winter activities. My girlfriend and I came at 9 am on a Saturday for snowboarding lessons. Even at 9am, the place was packed with people — it took us an hour to check in and rent our equipment (the rental before 3:15 pm is $ 109, which is all the equipment, the lesson, and access to the slopes). You have to register (do it online to avoid the line), then you purchase your tickets. From there you are led to another line to pick up your equipment.
The lessons were well worth the time and money — our instructor was very knowledgable and really threw us all into the fire, but not in a I’m-going-to-die way. The lessons last about 75 minutes and covers the basics. Snowboarding is very difficult for newcomers (like myself) — I’d recommend skiing if you’re just starting out. The $ 109 fee includes a discount for two additional visits ($ 69). The lesson times in the morning are 9:30am and 11AM — come at least an hour early to make the lesson times.
The only negative was that is was very, very crowded — not Wintergreen’s fault, but if you’re brand new to snow sports your constant terror of inadvertently running over small children will hamper your good time. I would recommend coming at an off-​time or during the week so you can crash and burn without harming other people (or to avoid their judgemental stares as they zip by you).
Overall, it was a lot of fun with a few caveats.

I went with a group of friends thanks to a Living Social deal. A bunch of us had never gone skiing/​snowboarding before so we were up for a new experience. It was a nice drive getting to the place and we had to park by the aquatic center for parking. We got shuttled to the lodge and got our equipment, then it was time to hit the slopes…
Like I said, a bunch of us have never gone skiing before so I don’t know what made us think that we could go down a mountain without any knowledge. We quickly hit the learning curve by falling down within seconds. So we decided to get some lessons. We chose the group option and it was about $ 18 for each of us since we had a discount from getting our equipment from the resort.
The lesson was in an enclosed area where you can safely practice without worrying of getting hit by some more experienced/​crazy people. It lasted for about 1.5 hours and it was worth every penny. By the end of the day, we were able to go down the beginner slopes without falling. I know all of us enjoyed it and can’t wait to hit the slopes again!

I have rated Wintergreen 5 stars as the best resort within a few hours of DC. It is a little longer of a drive than Liberty, Roundtop, or White Tail but is worth the drive. In spite what the reviewer below says, the lift lines are actually shorter than at the other local ski resorts above resorts on the weekends and the conditions and amenities are much better.
The service in the restaurant is kind of slow and inattentive but unlike the other local ski resorts, there is actually a restaurant instead of just cafeterias.
In addition, the condos that you can rent are pretty cool too. They have fireplaces, kitchens, TV’s…all-in-all pretty cool.

This resort is not equipped to handle weekend volume. I went on a Sunday afternoon. Lines at the lifts ranged from 25 minutes to almost a full hour. I spent more time waiting in line than actually snowboarding. 10 minutes snowboarding, 40 minutes waiting in line. Hmm. You do the math. In three hours, I only got 3 runs down the green slopes. My girlfriend got four runs down the black diamond.
With the kind of volume going through this place at $ 50+ per lift ticket, you would expect the management to expand and improve the facilities and lift capacities. This place would be great on a slow day. But in reality this place is packed and poorly equipped to handle the volume.
To make things more disappointing, the restaurants were cramped, overcrowded, humid and uncomfortable with appallingly slow service from both bartenders and wait staff. The locker rooms were too small to handle the volume. The worst part is the parking situation. You have to drive past the resort and park up the mountain, then wait for a shuttle bus to take you down. I don’t know anyone who likes standing around and waiting for a shuttle bus in 20 degree cold.