Snow has arrived down south, and North Carolina is open for the season.
Sugar Mountain began making snow on Tuesday, and today, it opened for the first day of the season. The ski area got 6” of snowfall, and subsequently opened seven trails and three lifts. The mountain outside of Banner Elk is working with a base between 10” and 30”.
Special day rates are available for students from Carter County and Johnson County, Tennessee school districts.
Meanwhile, Cataloochee Ski Area, located about an hour’s drive west of Asheville, will be open all the way to the top Saturday, November 23. That’s impressive, considering that most of fall has experienced temperatures in the mid-60s every day.
It’s an important milestone for the ski areas of western North Carolina. The region was devastated by Hurricane Helene at the end of September. A record-breaking 17.41 inches of rain fell on Asheville in just a few days, while Spruce Pince saw 24.12 inches. Roads, including the Beech Mountain Parkway, were completely washed out at some points.
While the ski areas saw some impact to their grounds, many of those who live in the region lost their homes, like Appalachian Ski Mountain patroller Chris King. A large portion of western North Carolina’s economy relies on tourism, and because the storm came through right before leaf-peeping season, much of that tourism didn’t happen this year.
Traditionally, Cataloochee and Sugar Mountain like to battle it out for which ski area can claim the title of earliest opening day each season. Sometimes, that title is won by just an hour or two. This year, Sugar wins by an entire day.
Photo: Josh Sullivan
Nearby Beech Mountain is scheduled to open up on Friday, November 29 at 9 a.m. Appalachian Ski Mountain will open on November 30. Ski Sapphire is set to open on December 14.
Only Hatley Pointe has not yet announced an opening day. As of Friday, the earliest you could purchase a daily lift ticket on the resort’s website was December 6.
This will be Hatley Pointe's first season operating under its new name and ownership. Deborah and David Hatley purchased Wolf Ridge Ski Area with the intentions of revamping it quickly and opening it up a year later as a boutique ski area. Those efforts were delayed, after some outdated infrastructure - coupled with a slow start to winter and an ancient snowmaking system - caused repeated interruptions to the renovation process.
The resort did open its terrain park for the Recess team toward the end of last season.