This week we come up on the most recent ski resort I’ve visited: Seven Springs ski resort, in southern Pennsylvania.
This ski resort is a two-hour drive from State College, meaning that I woke up at 5 am with two of my friends to get on the road and start the day early. Being incredibly caffeinated in order to drive and hitting the slopes was fun for a bit, but the coffee crash that happened about three hours in was horrible- I wouldn’t recommend it.
Seven Springs is under Vail Resorts Management – if you haven’t heard my opinion on this corporation, you should check out my very first post. Although I have strong animosity towards their company, I bit the bullet and bought their “Epic” Northeast pass so I could save money when I went frequently this season. I’d recommend it if you think you would go to a Vail-owned resort more than four times in a year.
The layout of Seven Springs pleasantly surprised me- I didn’t go in expecting an experience like Vail or Stoneham (which I’ve written about in previous blog posts), but something more similar to North Carolina mountains. I ended up being able to visit a resort about twice to three times the size of my home mountain, with varied terrain and interesting runs. Attached below is a trail map, which I will go further into detail on.
When I went to Seven Springs with my friends, I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone in order to keep up and stay on the same trails as them. Ones that I found were notable were the Giant Steps slope and North Face slope. It’s easy for me to say that I’m able to do black diamond runs on North Carolina mountains, but these were an entirely different beast. I genuinely thought that they just put a sign next to a cliff, because the slopes were so icy and steep in certain places. I wrote about the Whoopdee-doo run, with an impressive sustained pitch of 31 degree, while reviewing Sugar Mountain, but I believe that some spots in the Seven Springs runs were actually more steep- they just aren’t sustained angles so it’s more difficult to navigate.
This trip to Seven Springs also taught me an incredibly important lesson: never try to teach someone to snowboard. The two friends I was with had similar heights and shoe sizes, and decided to switch so that both of them could try the other method. While the one that switched from snowboarding to skiing picked it up quickly and made it down the green slope, the one that switched from skiing to snowboarding didn’t have such good luck. While the trip ended with a trip to Mount Nittany Medical Center and a brand new wrist cast (yep, he broke it), I can say that Seven Springs will continue to be a Sunday staple for my winter seasons.
I have been to Seven Springs a few times when I was a kid, and it was a blast. I would love to go back even though I’m still stuck on the bunny hills. It sounds like you had a really fun time, and I always like reading what you have to say about different ski resorts. Hope your friend’s wrist feels better!
Hey Lauren, I’m glad you had fun at Seven Springs! I hope your friend feels better soon, I also broke my wrist the first time I tried snowboarding. Very humbling. Can’t wait to see what you will write next!