7 springs-PA

Great post, and I can share your pain.  I was in a ski club that went there 4 times two years ago, and it was at times miserable.  At times I feel like every wannabe or never-ever in the whole city of Pittsburgh goes there and night skis.  The conditions are often horrible, but there is one positive note.  Day skiing there is not bad at all, as there aren't 5 million people there and the conditions are often at least doable.  Also to the ski report point, that report was probably done way early in the A.M., and when it was done it was probably accurate.  Unfortunately, that's the experience you're gona have night-skiing there.

 

Tyler

I was there today for the first time ever. Only the daytime - I never ski at night. Windy and cold even at midday. Very hard snow on many runs. The best snow was on black runs like Avalanche, but even that had scraped- off spots. I viewed it as an opportunity to practice skiing confidently on steep, icy terrain with skis that are reputed to have good edge grip ( Volkl AC30). I feel like I found that grip when I was skiing correctly.

Skiing is an outdoor sport and conditions are effected by the weather. Seven Springs gets a lot more snow than areas closer to me, I have gotten first tracks there with close to a foot of new snow. Traffic also effects the conditions, so it's best to get there early i the morning, not late at night. If the air temperature is above freezing. traffic does not usually effect the conditions negatively, unless you don't like bumps. Temps below freezing coupled with high ski traffic is a recipe for disaster for me because I can't ski ice well. Sorry you caught it on a bad night, and probably most nights are bad unless it's warm or dumping. Nothing better then skiing in a heavy snow under the lights. Surreal.

 

Seven Springs can be real nice, they have fun stuff, like the east's best halfpipe for example. Like all mid-atlantic resorts, it can get icy there. 

Don't go at night.  Conditions in the morning are 150% better than at night.  You have 500-1000+ skiers and boarders there all day scraping all of the snow off of the most popular trails and then those are the trails that are lighted and open till 10pm.  Plus the wind was blowing and grooming doesn't happen till after everyone leaves for the night, so what do you expect?

 

Get out of bed early and be there when it opens and you'll find much better skiing.  Sure it gets icy, but we are in the east and most of the snow is man-made and it's been very cold here for the last 3 weeks.  Temps around 10 degrees at night make for some hard snow and ice.

 

Springs isn't the best ski hill, but it's clearly the best we have within a few hours of Pittsburgh.

 

Mike

I was at 7springs Dec. 21 to 23.  For this part of the country in December, I thought conditions were pretty good and I managed to avoid most of the crowds.  Sorry you had bad conditions.  As others have said - go early if you can - be on the lift at 9AM.    I spent most of my time on the North Face which is closed by 1630 hours.  I have never been to Hidden Valley, but maybe it is less crowded.

Hidden Valley is a nice place if you are an intermediate or a family learning to ski, but Springs is better if you are a more advanced skier or rider.  North Face of Springs has considerably more vertical (~250-300 ft.) than Hidden Valley and is served by a high speed six pack lift which allows for lots of runs.

 

Again, get there when the lifts open for the best conditions.  My routine is to get there by 8:30 and to head straight to the north face.  Ski till 11 or 11:30 and have a quick lunch (chili and a beer) before everyone else breaks for lunch at noon. Then I ski for another 3 hours or so in the afternoon before heading back to Pittsburgh around 3 or 4pm.  Conditions tend to deteriorate late in the afternoon so that's when I get off the hill.  I'm a passholder so I don't feel the need to ski till closing, if I was buying day tickets at $60+ a pop I would likely ski till they kicked me off of the lift!

 

Mike
 

Hidden Valley typically has better conditions and smaller crowds but the terrain is not as good.   They have much better snow making, better groomers and slopes that aren't as steep.   This typically leads to less icy conditions.

I was at Springs on the 24th and 26th and thought the conditions were pretty good for early in the season.   I was there at 9 AM and gone by 3 PM.   Night skiing at Springs is not for me.
 

Didn't ski the Springs Monday but skied there 5 of the previous 7 days and again today (Tuesday). I was told yesterday was brutal with the high winds and all the runs on the front got scoured and were extremely icy. They made a good bit of snow last night ( had to be a 4ft. whale in the middle of Goose Bumps). Conditions were very good again this AM IMHO.  I'm a poor sounding board regarding conditions after 1 PM. My MO is to be first chair and ski for 4 - 4.5 hrs and leave the snow for everybody else. As a result, I believe I get the best of conditions prior to the snow getting skied off. I've skied alot of early AM runs this month that would rival Western Resorts grooming and conditions.

 

Lots of traffic on the hill and conditions tend to get worse in the PM and evening. Maybe they need to do a noon groom or something but that I'm sure is a whole other can of worms. The skiing in December this year has been excellent. Unfortunately its about to get wet and mushy this weekend I'm afraid. Everybody is fixated on the Winter Classic Hockey Game New Years. I'm hoping our conditions don't get too compromised.

I was there on Tuesday from 9-4 and I have to agree with others, that the skiing is pretty damn good there for this time of year.  In the morning it was pretty hard packed, then softened up some later in the day.  I also don't ski there at night and haven't for a while as it does become an ice rink.  For the prices Springs is charging this year, I may take my business down to Wisp a lot more often.

Wow, to pay the all day Holiday Ticket Price ($73??) at the Springs. That's a bunch of money and I thought it was having an effect with what appeared to be a lower than normal holiday crowd, but yesterday leaving at 1PM there were cars lined up from the gate out and down County Line Road entering the resort. I guess people are paying the high prices.