North Carolina’s Sugar Mountain Opens
11
North Carolina’s Sugar Mountain Resort opened for skiing and snowboarding this morning, after taking advantage of the recent cold snap to make snow. Sugar Mountain is offering skiing and snowboarding on the Upper and Lower Flying Mile slopes, providing approximately one mile of skiing over a 1,000-foot vertical drop.
Sugar Mountain will be selling half-day lift tickets for $15 and full-day lift tickets for $20 on Friday, November 26, 2004. For the weekend, lift tickets will be $20 for a half day and $30 for a full day.
For the past couple of years, Sugar has been one of the first (if not the first resort to open in the region). Why? Well, they usually get the cold air first as storms blow through the region. The back-end of a storm often pulls the cold air in behind it and Sugar, being in NC, gets that cold air before the WV resorts. Sugar's 5,300 foot summit elevation gives it a climate that is similar to the Canaan Valley. Sugar is well-worth a trip!
http://www.whitegrass.com/report.html
Sugar is also usually the first to close since they can't usually stay open more than a few days after their early opening. With a 6 inch base I doubt they'll be open past Monday. You gotta give it to them for giving skiiers what they want though. Appalachian Mountain in NC opened Saturday and I hear they had free skiing that day...now that's customer appreciation.
I would love to check out some of those NC resorts sometime and possible Gatlinburg. You definitely can't ask for better scenery than the NC and Tenn mountains.
Boone is a nice area. While the snow quality is not as consistent as that found at resorts farther north, North Carolina skiing is great. All four resorts are within 30 minutes of each other. That means you could ski at one of the larger two (Beech or Sugar)during the day and ski at one of the smaller ones (Appalachian or Hawksnest) at night. I'm heading there after Christmas and that's what I'll be doing.
Gatlinburg? No don't ever go there. Sugar is a pretty okay place, the runs are really short and doesn't really have that much to offer in terms of steeps besides the one double diamond.
Short runs at Sugar? If you connect trails they have some of the longest runs in the Mid Atlantic (mile and a half). Sugar has a big mountain feel when you pull up, a feeling you don't get often around here. Agree with Jarrett, Boone/Banner Elk area is a good trip. Hawksnest is a hidden gem and I love Beech. However, check conditions before making trip, both road and ski. The trips up to Beech and Hawksnest can be interesting (switchbacks from He!!) to say the least.
How is Hawksnest at night? It's the only one I haven't skiied and will probably be there on the 28th or 29th for the evening session.
Jarrett, Try Nighthawk it is one of the best deals in the High Country. All of the Hawks trails are lit at night. Have fun. Just like anywhere else around here, ski conditions are all dependent upon weather conditions. I think you'll be suprised with this small resort.
I'm planning a family trip to try Sugar Mountain & the 3 close NC area resorts either just before Christmas or mid March. Which time makes for better skiing and is there still good snow during March at Sugar? Recommendations, please!
RobFL
I'm planning a family trip to try Sugar Mountain & the 3 close NC area resorts either just before Christmas or mid March. Which time makes for better skiing and is there still good snow during March at Sugar? Recommendations, please!
RobFL
I'm planning a family trip to try Sugar Mountain & the 3 close NC area resorts either just before Christmas or mid March. Which time makes for better skiing and is there still good snow during March at Sugar? Recommendations, please!
RobFL
