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App Ski Mtn. Hopes To Open Thanksgiving Day; Beech, Hawksnest To Follow & Sugar Already Open

Appalachian Ski Mtn.’s slopes are white on Wednesday. The Blowing Rock ski resort is opening tomorrow on Thanksgiving Day.

By Jesse Wood

By Friday, all of the winter resorts should be open for skiing, snowboarding and tubing. Sugar Mountain Resort was the first ski resort in North Carolina to open. It opened on Monday with an 8-to-24 inch base of snow.

The weather warmed up a bit this week, but snowmaking temperatures are expected to return on Wednesday night, and all of the resorts in the High Country are ready to make the most of the cold weather.

Appalachian Ski Mtn. had planned to open on Wednesday, but the temperature threw a kink in the Blowing Rock resort’s plans. Now, App Ski Mtn. is aiming to open on Thursday, Nov. 23, which is Thanksgiving Day. If all goes well, App Ski Mtn. will open at 9 a.m., and as usual, the first 100 people in line will get a free ski ticket.

“It all depends on what the temperatures/humidity/wind does overnight. We will be making snow as soon as conditions permit, and will end up making the call if we can open tomorrow morning early,” said Drew Stanley, marketing director for Appalachian Ski Mtn., on Wednesday afternoon.

Beech Mountain Resort is opening on Friday, Nov. 24, and Hawksnest in Seven Devils hopes to open on Friday as well.

In its latest announcement, Hawksnest said that it won’t know for certain until probably Wednesday night: “We made snow last night and hope to get open by Friday.  Unfortunately we will not have more information until after the next snowmaking night, hopefully Wednesday night.  We will be open for zipline tours weather permitting.”