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Winterfest Wonderland The Laurel Highlands offers plenty of outdoor recreation.
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t’s not uncommon for Erica Smith to answer calls about snow conditions at the Laurel Ridge Cross-Country Ski Center in Rockwood when the ground at lower altitudes is bare. “People will call and ask, ‘Are you sure there’s snow? ’Cause there’s nothing down here,’” says Smith, whose family has run the concessions at the center’s warming hut for more than three decades. With elevations topping 2,700 feet, Laurel Ridge is one of the highest points in Pennsylvania, making it a prime location for its 30 miles of cross-country skiing trails. “It happens to be at just the right altitude that they get a lot of snow,” says Jim South, president of the Pennsylvania Cross-Country Ski Association (PACCSA), which operates two webcams to monitor conditions at the top of the mountain. “You go up that final 100-foot pitch, and there’s suddenly six or eight inches.” The Laurel Highlands offers plentiful outdoor recreation in the winter—in addition to its well-known downhill ski resorts—from cross-country skiing to snowshoeing to epic sledding hills maintained by the state parks.
First Day hike at Ohiopyle State Park. Courtesy Ohiopyle State Park.
4 Laurel Highlands Magazine
WINTERFEST AND MORE To highlight the different winter activities in the region, Ohiopyle State Park hosts Winterfest on the first Saturday of February, which can draw up to 2,000 visitors, depending STORY BY Josie Cellone
