By Jesse Wood
On the heels of the announcement that the ski industry has a $200 million impact on the state’s economy, the ski resorts in the High Country are making snow for Thanksgiving weekend, which one of the big winter tourist weekends of the season.
The High Country saw its first real snow of the season, a dusting, on Sunday morning. Now, the resorts are taking matters into their own hands. As Appalachian Ski Mtn. noted in a post on its website, “We have been hard at it, making as much snow as possible during this short cold spell.”
Snowmaking weather will last until at least Wednesday.
On Monday, Sugar Mountain Resort re-opened for the second time this season. It previously opened for a day last week after snow was made to provide a nice backdrop to the ribbon cutting of the Summit Express, the resort’s new six-person, high-speed, chairlift, that Gov. Pat McCrory attended.
This morning, Sugar Mountain Resort announced that 10 to 22 inches of manmade and packed powder snow covered the slopes. Sugar Mountain Resort’s ice rink is also scheduled to open in the next few days.
Appalachian Ski Mtn. plans on kicking its ski and snowboard season off on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 9 a.m. “The snowmaking crew has fully capitalized on every minute of this somewhat brief November cold spell and snowmaking continues as of [about noon] Monday, Nov. 23,” the resort noted in a release. “Exact terrain that will open will be determined Tuesday morning.”
As always, the first 100 guests to show up at the gate will ski or ride for free on the first day of the season at Appalachian Ski Mtn. in Blowing Rock.
As for Beech Mountain Resort, which is usually the last resort to open in the High Country in order for the weather to settle down for winter, is tentatively scheduled to open for skiing and snowboarding on Friday, Nov. 27, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
And don’t forget about tubing at Hawksnest in Seven Devils. The tubing and ziplining resort is also making snow and if all goes well, Hawksnest plans to open for tubing on Friday, Nov. 27. A final decision on the tentative Friday opening will be made tomorrow.
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