Skiers and snowboarders flock to North Carolina's many ski resorts

BLOWING ROCK, N.C. – Melissa Frankcum could only smile.

"I went down that," Frankcum said, pointing to a slippery slope carpeted in snow at Appalachian Ski Mountain. "And I fell about 10 times."

Frankcum smiled again as she overlooked the place, crowded with skiers and snowboarders.

"My friend gave me some pointers before I left," said Frankcum, 31, from Connelly Springs, N.C. "He just didn’t give me enough."

Another ski patron, Laura Gattoline, took her own break from hitting the slopes at Appalachian.

At 18, Gattoline’s practically a pro. She’s been on skis for six years. And she doesn’t mind going hundreds of miles from her home in Tampa, Fla. to reach Appalachian Ski Mountain at Blowing Rock in North Carolina’s High Country.

"We can’t ski in Florida," Gattoline said, smiling. "So anything’s good."

‘BONUS OF THE HIGH COUNTRY’

Open since 1962, Appalachian Ski Mountain ranks as North Carolina’s oldest ski resort. And it prides itself on having an alcohol-free, friendly environment, said general manager Brad Moretz.

Today, it is one of several ski slopes across the High Country, a place where mountains commonly stand stacked more than a mile high.

"The bonus of the High Country is that where else can you go in the east and ski four different mountains and stand on top of a mountain and see the one you skied the day before?" asked Justin Grimes, a spokesman for Hawksnest Ski Resort in Seven Devils, N.C.

Just down the road, in Banner Elk, Sugar Mountain Resort owner Gunther Jochl said, "We really don’t feel like there’s any competition. We feel like when one of us does good, we all do good."

Each ski operation offers something different, said Judy Donaghy, the executive director of a Boone-based tourism group called High Country Host.

‘LENDS CREDIBILITY’

Hawksnest at Seven Devils dubs itself as "the locals’ favorite" on brochures.

Sugar Mountain at Banner Elk claims fame for having the highest vertical drop – 1,200 feet – and for being the largest ski area in North Carolina with 115 skiable acres.

Then there’s Ski Beech, with an elevation of 5,506 feet, calling itself "the highest ski area in Eastern North America."

On the outskirts of North Carolina’s High Country, the 70-acre Wolf Ridge Ski Resort near Mars Hill boasts its own oddity: a tunnel that you can ski through, said manager Johnny Goin.

Gil Adams, the marketing director for Ski Beech, says it’s beneficial for all these operations to be in short driving distance of each other: "It lends credibility that this is a place to come and look for winter sports."

MAKING THE WHITE STUFF

From mid-November until the white stuff melts at the end of March, ski slopes stay busy making snow – from Blowing Rock to Banner Elk.

"Natural snow is not going to be the basis for our skiing," said Sugar Mountain’s Gunther Jochl. "It’s not tough enough for the kind of skiing that we do here."

All winter, Wolf Ridge’s Johnny Goin makes snow and seeks to satisfy skiers, especially folks from Florida.

"People from Florida just simply love to come and see the snow," Goin said. "If I can make snow on a beginning slope, I can still bring them in to this market."

Still, by the time the calendar says it’s spring, it’s usually time to turn off the chair lifts.

Business slacks on the slopes after St. Patrick’s Day.

"And, at the end of March, unless it stays cold," Jochl added, "people have other things on their minds."

jtennis@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0704

ON THE SLOPES

Want to know ski conditions? Check out the following:

* Appalachian Ski Mountain: Blowing Rock, N.C., (828) 295-7828

* Hawksnest: Seven Devils, N.C., (828) 963-6561

* Ober Gatlinburg: Gatlinburg, Tenn., (865) 436-5423

* Ski Beech: Beech Mountain, N.C., (828) 387-2011

* Sugar Mountain: Banner Elk, N.C,. (828) 898-4521

* Winterplace: Flat Top, W.Va., (800) 607-7669

* Wolf Ridge Ski Resort: Mars Hill, N.C., (800) 817-4111

THERE'S MORE

* Jan. 23 at 5:55 p.m. on News Channel 11’s Cable Country: Go down the slopes of Ski Beech, the highest ski area in the eastern U.S. with Tim Cable’s unique "ski cam." Then, watch him get "rescued" by Beech Mountain’s Ski Patrol as they drag him down the mountain on a sled.

* Jan. 30 at 5:55 p.m. on News Channel 11’s Cable Country: Cable wraps up his three-part series on ski resorts in the North Carolina High Country by trying his hand at tubing. It’s Cable Country’s version of "you tube." Then, watch as Cable learns how they make so much manmade snow to sweeten the slopes at Sugar Mountain.

Visit www.TriCities.com for more information and video.

SNOWBOARDING ON THE RISE IN NORTH CAROLINA

BEECH MOUNTAIN, N.C. – Over the past 10 years, Ski Beech has seen an explosion in the popularity of snowboarding, said marketing director Gil Adams.

What was once an oddity is now part of the mainstream, Adams added.

"Snowboarding had just taken off 10 or 20 years ago and has skyrocketed," said Justin Grimes, spokesman for Hawksnest in Seven Devils, N.C.

Today, snowboarding commands as much as 40 percent of the local ski slope market.

Yet learning to ride a snowboard takes much practice, said Anne Marie Jones, the public relations coordinator for Wintergreen Resort in Nelson County, Va.

"You have to do it more than one time," Jones said. "I didn’t fall as much after my fourth time. You just get up ... And, I promise you, you’ll get the hang of it."

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