Four of North Carolina’s six ski resorts were operating with multiple lifts and trails in early December, a stark contrast to previous years, with two resorts open before Thanksgiving. In some past seasons resorts often were lucky to open for skiing by Christmas.
Cataloochee, Sugar Mountain, Beech and Appalachian were open and building a base of natural and manmade snow amid cold temps and occasional frigid conditions. App and Sugar had night skiing. Tubing and terrain parks were next. App. Beech, Sugar had ice skating.
App, the latest to open, had a base of 24-48 inches, with Sugar’s base 41-80 in early December.
Hatley Pointe, formerly Wolf Ridge, did not operate last year but was expected to debut Dec. 13 and Sapphire Valley, the smallish resort near the S.C. border, Dec. 14.
Ober in Tennessee was operating, but most other SE region resorts were starting later in the DEcember. Last year most SE resorts had a difficult season with wacky temps, erratic snowfalls, especially early in the season. Colder temps arrived later, closer to mid season, allowing snowmakers to run full blast and extend the season briefly.
Nationally, there were 60.483M ski and snowboard visits last year, the fifth most ever, but down nearly 5M from the previous season.
Ski visits in the SE region, which includes resorts from Alabama to Pennsylvania, slipped to 4.142M from 4.286M, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Weather conditions and climate change were blamed for the drop. Nationally all regions reported declines in the number of skiers.
J.B.
