Winter Snow Activities

Downhill Skiing & Snowboarding
We have three (3) wonderful ski resorts from which to choose: Sugar Mountain, Beech Mountain and Appalachian resorts offer skiers and snowboarders a great place to take advantage of these activities:

Ski Beech:
Beech Mountain proudly ranks as the highest ski area in eastern North America and has the only fast QUAD chairlift in our area.

Ski Sugar:
Sugar Mountain Resort is North Carolina’s largest ski area.

Appalachian Mountain Ski Resort:
940 Ski Mountain Rd
Blowing Rock, NC 28605
828-295-7828
more information

Appalachian Ski Resort is a progressive resort with a family friendly atmosphere. The slopes at Appalachian Ski Mountain are usually groomed twice a day and the short lines assure a day full of skiing. With two terrain parks featuring 30 unique rails, boxes, jumps and jibs, Appal Jam Terrain Park and Appaljack Terrain Park are the most innovative in the region. In addition, Appalachian Mountain Ski Resort has an outdoor ice arena with refrigerated ice floor. The ice arena is open seven days a week and is fully lighted to create a wonderful ambiance for skating under the stars. Skaters and non-skaters can watch the action on the rink or warm up by the rink-side bonfire. Choose from traditional or hockey skates.

Cross-Country Skiing
Skiing fun doesn’t always mean going downhill! Cross-country skiing (also known as Nordic) is the High Country’s equivalent to hiking. In fact, when Mother Nature cooperates, many of the hiking trails that you have used when visiting the High Country in the summer can be used as cross-country skiing trails in the winter. What’s the relation? If you can hike, then you can cross-country ski.

The snowfall in the High Country has fluctuated greatly in the last several years and unfortunately there is no snow-making on any of the area’s cross-country trails. Be sure to look out your window first before contemplating a backwoods excursion. However, be sure to choose the terrain that is right for you.

We are blessed in the High Country to have the largest mountains east of the Rockies. For the cross-country enthusiast, this can be the greatest luck in the world or it can be sweat-pounding despair. It’s wonderful if you are in excellent physical shape and have had at least some prior cross-country experience. There is nothing more exciting than being able to tackle any terrain in front of you and let nature be your guide. The mountains of North Carolina are guaranteed to have a little something for everybody!

If you’ve never had cross-country experience, it’s not a problem. Cross country is more closely associated with walking than with the downhill skiing you are familiar with at any of the High Country’s four resorts. In short, if you can put one foot in front of the other, then you can cross-country ski.

There are a couple of shops in the High Country that will satisfy your cross-country skiing needs. The High Country Ski Shop in Pineola carries skis, poles, boots and bindings, as well as an assortment of other related hard and soft goods. There is also a rental shop if you don’t have your own equipment or aren’t interested in purchasing. The High Country Ski Shop also offers lessons so your first cross-country experience is a safe and happy one.

In Boone, the place to check out for cross-country equipment is 1st Tracks on Highway 105. 1st Tracks carries an assortment of ski and boots from Fischer and Karhu, as well as a huge selection of winter apparel and accessories.

So, if you’ve had enough of standing in line, dealing with big crowds, paying too much for lift tickets, or maybe you just want something different to do while visiting the High Country this winter, give cross-country skiing a try. There’s a lot of beautiful country out there this time of year. Take advantage of it.

Snow-Tubing
Snow-tubing is increasingly popular, particularly among families with small children and former skiers whose knees aren’t what they once were. Think of it as a low impact roller coaster ride on snow. Hawksnest Resort now features a “snow-tubing only” park that has the longest runs in the South. It has three runs of 900 feet with a vertical drop of 90 feet. For more information, call 1-800-822-4295, 828-963-6561 or email them at info@hawksnesttubing.com. Sugar Mountain has 700-foot snow-tubing runs serviced by two lifts. The area is lighted for night tubing and snow-making equipment. For more information, call 1-800-SUGARMT, 828-898-4521 or email them at info@skisugar.com. And, for more details on these resorts, click on the link on the right side of the page.

Sledding
During the winter months, the Town of Beech Mountain offers a public sledding hill for kids 12 and under. With snow-making capabilities, the hill is open all winter for your enjoyment. Please bring plastic sleds only to avoid injuries. They may be purchased on the mountain. Parents must supervise their children. Parking for the sledding hill is available across the street adjacent to the Brick Oven Pizzeria. The sledding hill is located in front of the Town Hall and Chamber of Commerce on Beech Mountain. For conditions, you can call the Chamber.

Snowman Making
If Mother Nature is cooperative, building the coolest snowman ever would be lots of fun! All you need to make a fabulous frosty friend (or a whole snow family!) are warm mittens, the following tips and your imagination:

  • Find the perfect home for your snowman: A level patch of snowy ground.
  • Somewhere not too far from the spot you have chosen pick up a fistful of the white stuff. The best kind is not too icy, not too powdery; then form a ball in your hand. Keep packing on snow.
  • Roll the snowball across the ground toward the spot you’ve chosen. It will pick up snow as it goes until it’s the size you’d like for the bottom of the snowman’s body.
  • Make a medium-sized ball (for the tummy), then a smaller one (for the head) and stack them on top of the bottom, patting down a layer of snow between each as “glue.”
  • If your snowman is wobbly, a branch used like a skewer down the middle will hold him together. (Tip: Who says you have to go with the three-snowball design? Make a turtle:
  • Pack snow in a bowl and dump it out. Draw “shell” sections with a twig and add a snowball head. Or use boxes and soup cans to build a snow robot!)
  • A candy cane nose is as cute as a carrot one. Eyes can be made with rocks or coal. And, while scarves and hats are traditional garb, try dressing yours for success: Dad’s old white shirt becomes a lab coat, or sunglasses make him a movie star. Tip: Don’t forget pictures! The sun will soon shine again, so your snow creations won’t last. But your magical memories will!
  • You can even use a spray bottle of food coloring-tinted water to add rosy cheeks, freckles and eyelashes.