Wisp Ski Resort
High in the mountains of Western Maryland, Wisp Resort offers novice skiers wide-open trails as well as an abundance of soft, natural snow, which makes it easier to control speed and turns. Wisp also tries to put new skiers and snowboarders at ease with a well-thought-out web page that answers such frequently asked questions as how to dress and what trail symbols mean. Conveniently, there’s a large hotel and parking lot right next to the slopes.
The ease continues at the ski school, where a bunny slope operates three lifts that are basically conveyor belts running up the mountain, so there’s no loading and unloading onto chairs. A separate learning area with two more conveyor-belt lifts is set aside for children ages 3 through 14. Once a skier has progressed off the bunny slope, the mountain, at only 700 feet high, includes several long beginner runs, such as Wisp Trail and Possum, plus a variety of relaxing intermediate slopes.
