Open on weekdays...wow. Night skiing begins Thursday.
From their website:
"Come join us for a great day of skiing or boarding; natural snow is falling and snowmaking will continue throughout the day. We have a man-made powder surface with two plus inches of natural powder to top it all off! Summit #1 lift is in operation to the top of our 1200-foot vertical, servicing Northridge, Switchback, and Load Off, in addition to Upper & Lower Flying Mile. With forecasters predicting cold temperatures accompanied by sporadic snow showers throughout the week, look for Easy Street to open by the end of the week.
Night skiing will begin this Thursday, November 20th at 6pm!"
The Colonel

yep. I expected they would. Sugar never wastes any time opening, unlike certain WV and PA ski areas that blow whales of snow mixed with a foot+ of natural only to open weeks later . It takes Sugar about 1 day of blowing to open from 3/4 lift and 2 or 3 days to open from the top. I'm not bitter..i swear.

I really dont get why NC resorts are all quick to open/blow and every area within the DC area seems not to even think about skiing until after thanksgiving. I am sure that 7 springs could have easily already opened up 1-3 slopes on a solid base and that most resorts in the area (including snowtime resorts) could have top-bottom skiing by this weekend if not sooner but it seems that they just choose not to, really dont get it.

Keep in mind that Sugar Mountain is at 5,300 feet above sea level! To put that in perspective, Killington peaks at 4,241 feet and Snowshoe is at 4,848 feet. Seven Springs tops out at 2,994 feet and Whitetail's peak is at 1,800 feet. There's a reason why Sugar Mountain opens earlier than other resorts. It may be in the south, but it's up high and that counts for a lot more than latitude in the early season.

Very true scott, guess I was just implying that in THIS pattern, there are no excuses! I know the temps at 7 springs have been below freezing since sunday so they could have at least minimal open terrain if they choose. Just seems NC resorts are more aggressive w/snowmaking

Keep in mind, too, that Cataloochee- only 100 feet higher than Sugar and south of Mount Mitchell, where the weather patterns really begin to change- was open a month ago.

I think a lot of this really does have to do with 1) firepower and 2) willingness. The biggest case in point this year is Wintergreen targeting its snowtubing to be open almost two weeks earlier than its skiing. That's disgraceful.

Have you ever skied at Sugar??? I have and it gets its name from snow conditions. I've also seen them open a slope aka Bryce style where you blow enough snow to make the grass white then run the lift. Rock skis required.

Hi Everyone. Welcome to the new winter season. I'm so happy

It's all about economics. There are enough local skiers around App State, Boone, Asheville, and day trip driving distance to make opening 2 or 3 slopes worthwhile. Plus maybe they need the pub that comes from opening early to stir the masses. The WVa slopes all have much better weather than even 5300' Sugar, but they have to be able to plan for the ski trip traffic. The business model is more important than the weather model.

Like anywhere else, Sugar is great when the snow is great. It's not easy making good snow down here but we'll take what we can get. This is a great start.

Wintergreen is getting less interesting the last couple of years for me, which is quite unfortunate. I really hope they have a good year.

It's not all about snow. Don't forget about people. Whitetail and Liberty are having their employment fairs - TOMORROW! They won't have people in place to run the lifts and sell the $12 sandwiches until next week. I think its a little unfair to pick on them after how the weather has been in December the last two years.

Steve

Lets see if the Day trippers that will travel the H2 Corr when its open, get the Valley areas hustlin..

Oh, I think that falls under both firepower and willingness. No one wants to have extra crew floating around with nothing to do, surely there's a skeleton force that could fire up the guns and run a beginner's ski slope *somewhere* in southern PA? Or you run the employment fair a month earlier and hire a certain number of people as a "fire crew" to come on board when conditions are ready as opposed to a particular starting date. Really, this can't be that tough to solve if the ski area is willing to do so.

Regarding economics: I'll be curious to hear about the crowds at Snowshoe this weekend (though, since my guests start arriving tomorrow, I may not hear much about it for a couple weeks). I'm betting there's enough ski bums in the four million+ Balt/Wash metro region to keep Liberty or Whitetail occupied on a couple runs at this time of year.

Finally, I remember a couple recent seasons that have started out with a bang only to turn, quickly and drastically, into a whimper in December. If I were running a ski area, we'd be bankrupt and begging for money from congress. But if I were COMPETENT and running a ski area , I'd be gettin' while the gettin' is good. Lay down the base as fast as possible and get open too. I wouldn't be banking on this weather holding through to Christmas. Fantastic if it does, but if it doesn't going full blazes right now only helps. Success is largely comprised of not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Okay, I'm done with the cliches...

BINGO, Roger!