//Exploring the Winter Wild

Exploring the Winter Wild

When the snow falls in the South, it’s time to get out there. Here’s where to cross-country ski, snowshoe, and climb ice in the Blue Ridge.

Chip Chase, longtime owner of White Grass Ski Touring Center in West Virginia’s Canaan Valley, still gets excited at the first sight of snow. “It changes your favorite places in the world that you have always loved into this magic winter landscape,” Chase says. “Obviously if you’re in the Southeast, it’s not going to last very long. So it’s kind of like here today, gone tomorrow. It makes it pretty special. Snow is something to relish.”

Especially this year, when isolated wild lands have been embraced more than ever as safe havens, there’s never been a better time to bundle up and enjoy every bit of powder that falls in the Blue Ridge backcountry. Winter activities in the South require the right conditions, so