Written By Anne Blue
John O’Meally and his wife, Wendie, who live in Westminster, have been skiing since they were teenagers. They have passed on their love of the sport to their three children by starting each child on skis at age three.
During the winter, the O’Meally family usually makes weekly runs to Liberty Mountain, hitting the slopes 10 to 12 times during the season.
“We have a Thursday night ski tradition,” said John. “It is great to be able to go after work, ski for two hours with my family, get home, and still get the kids in bed at a reasonable hour.”
Carroll County is an easy drive to several winter wonderlands that offer great ski slopes and other outdoor fun. Liberty Mountain, only 45 minutes from Westminster, offers this close-to-home convenience, and its sister resorts – Roundtop and Whitetail – are not much farther away.
Liberty Mountain, Roundtop, and Whitetail are all family-friendly resorts that offer winter fun for all ages and ability levels. Winter fun at these resorts includes skiing, snowboarding, and snow tubing.
Each resort has a rental center stocked with quality equipment for skiers and snowboarders.
All of these resorts offer special lessons as well as half and full-day programs designed specifically to help children learn to ski and snowboard. Enrolling children in these programs allows parents the luxury of enjoying the mountain on their own.
The First Class Learn to Ski Program is popular with first time skiers, ages 8 to adult. This package, available at all three resorts, includes a lift ticket, a lesson, and equipment rental for as little as $50 for a nighttime session. Until December 22, the package costs only $29.
Snowboarding is popular, particularly with the younger crowd. New for this season at Whitetail and Liberty Mountain are their designations as Burton “Learn to Ride” centers.
The rental centers have all new Burton equipment, a premiere name in snowboards. Instructors teach snowboarding using a progressive method that includes special beginner boards.
Once guests master the basics of skiing or snowboarding, all of these mountains have many intermediate and advanced trails to challenge all skill levels – from easy trails marked with green circles, to the very advanced double black diamonds trails.
The learning centers at all of the resorts offer lessons at all ability levels so that guests can continue to improve their skills.
Boarders and skiers can sail off of a basic table-top jump with enough time in the air to do a trick without being too high off the ground.
“This area is in high demand with free riders of all ages,” said Chris Dudding, Marketing Director for Roundtop. “We’ve built lots of rails for sliding and we have a series of all kinds of jumps.”
Snow tubing is a fun activity that requires no experience and no lessons. It is great for families and groups of children or adults. Tubers zoom downhill in carved lanes then sit back and relax as a “magic carpet” conveyor lift pulls tubes and riders back to the top.
“Snow tubing is for all ages to enjoy,” said Chris Black, Marketing Coordinator for Whitetail Resort. “Anyone can jump on a tube and go. People love it.”
Two hours of snow tubing at any of the three sister resorts costs $16 on weekends.
The Keffer family of Westminster loves all of the winter activities offered by these resorts. While they typically make the quick drive to Liberty for skiing and snowboarding, they have also joined several other families for a weekend of outdoor winter fun at Roundtop.
“We would go snow tubing during the day, meet everyone on the slopes in the evening for skiing, then go back to our hotel where all the kids would swim in the indoor pool and watch a movie while the adults enjoyed time together,” explained Dorina Keffer.
“My children, Lauren and Matt, really liked being in a hotel and getting together with a big group of families, the more the merrier!” said Dorina.
All three resorts offer programs for frequent users such as season passes, a variety of discount cards and incentive programs for first time skiers and snowboarders. To offer the best possible value to guests, all passes and discount cards are interchangeable among the three resorts. Any pass or discount card is good at all three at any time during the winter season.
The resorts typically open by mid-December, when consistently cold temperatures allow their sophisticated snowmaking systems to work. Since they cannot depend on natural snow, all three resorts make their own snow to keep their operations running throughout the winter.
Weekend Trips
If you really catch the snow sports bug and want a whole weekend of winter fun, there are numerous resorts within a few hours drive in Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. In western Maryland’s Garrett County, two resorts stand out as havens of winter fun: Wisp Resort and The Savage River Lodge.
Wisp is a full destination resort, prepared to accommodate families from infants to grandparents. The resort offers skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing, lessons, and equipment rentals. Wisp also boasts a 168-room hotel at the base of its mountain with everything from restaurants and lounges to an indoor pool and fitness center.
Wisp added a Nordic Center last winter. The special area is devoted to cross country (Nordic) skiing and snowshoeing, making good use of the 18-hole golf course during the winter. It includes rental equipment and lessons for children and adults on over 10 kilometers of groomed trails.
