Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Having grown up in the Piedmont of North Carolina back in the 70's and 80's, I have fond memories of skiing at Sugar Mountain. More often than not, the high country would be blanketed in natural snow, with the ski hills adding plenty of their own. It was winter at its finest.
Forty years later, and the resorts are still open - although I don't know how they're doing it. I saw a photo of the base of Sugar recently, and it was depressing to say the least. No natural snow at all, and only a small strip of dirty slush down the main track. With some recent colder weather, I'm sure they've got some base put down and people are skiing. For now.
But face it, folks, climate change is doing a number on the NC resorts. The ski seasons are getting shorter and shorter, and with those nasty thaws even in the depths of January, it cuts the season down even further.
How much more can Sugar and Beech take it? There's demographic trends to consider also - like tennis and golf, downhill skiing is a Boomer sport, and Millennials aren't picking up the slack. Too expensive, too much "work." Not to mention less-than-stellar ski conditions within driving distance.
My prediction there will be no skiing in North Carolina by the year 2030. One of the big two (Sugar, Beech) will close by 2025, enabling the other to hold on just a bit longer.
I wonder what will become of the high country - will real estate values fall, with the loss of the winter tourist season? Or will everything (including the former resorts) become summer-centric and provide cool-weather recreation and relaxation during the sultry summer months? Will the good people of North Carolina even miss the ski resorts once they're gone?
Having grown up in the Piedmont of North Carolina back in the 70's and 80's, I have fond memories of skiing at Sugar Mountain. More often than not, the high country would be blanketed in natural snow, with the ski hills adding plenty of their own. It was winter at its finest.
Forty years later, and the resorts are still open - although I don't know how they're doing it. I saw a photo of the base of Sugar recently, and it was depressing to say the least. No natural snow at all, and only a small strip of dirty slush down the main track. With some recent colder weather, I'm sure they've got some base put down and people are skiing. For now.
But face it, folks, climate change is doing a number on the NC resorts. The ski seasons are getting shorter and shorter, and with those nasty thaws even in the depths of January, it cuts the season down even further.
How much more can Sugar and Beech take it? There's demographic trends to consider also - like tennis and golf, downhill skiing is a Boomer sport, and Millennials aren't picking up the slack. Too expensive, too much "work." Not to mention less-than-stellar ski conditions within driving distance.
My prediction there will be no skiing in North Carolina by the year 2030. One of the big two (Sugar, Beech) will close by 2025, enabling the other to hold on just a bit longer.
I wonder what will become of the high country - will real estate values fall, with the loss of the winter tourist season? Or will everything (including the former resorts) become summer-centric and provide cool-weather recreation and relaxation during the sultry summer months? Will the good people of North Carolina even miss the ski resorts once they're gone?
Maybe skiing will pick up again once it's motorized like their scooters, e-bikes, skateboards, and one-wheels? Using ones own power doesn't seem to be in vogue anymore, despite the fact that skiing is a gravity sport.
Having grown up in the Piedmont of North Carolina back in the 70's and 80's, I have fond memories of skiing at Sugar Mountain. More often than not, the high country would be blanketed in natural snow, with the ski hills adding plenty of their own. It was winter at its finest.
Forty years later, and the resorts are still open - although I don't know how they're doing it. I saw a photo of the base of Sugar recently, and it was depressing to say the least. No natural snow at all, and only a small strip of dirty slush down the main track. With some recent colder weather, I'm sure they've got some base put down and people are skiing. For now.
But face it, folks, climate change is doing a number on the NC resorts. The ski seasons are getting shorter and shorter, and with those nasty thaws even in the depths of January, it cuts the season down even further.
How much more can Sugar and Beech take it? There's demographic trends to consider also - like tennis and golf, downhill skiing is a Boomer sport, and Millennials aren't picking up the slack. Too expensive, too much "work." Not to mention less-than-stellar ski conditions within driving distance.
My prediction there will be no skiing in North Carolina by the year 2030. One of the big two (Sugar, Beech) will close by 2025, enabling the other to hold on just a bit longer.
I wonder what will become of the high country - will real estate values fall, with the loss of the winter tourist season? Or will everything (including the former resorts) become summer-centric and provide cool-weather recreation and relaxation during the sultry summer months? Will the good people of North Carolina even miss the ski resorts once they're gone?
Skiing in NC has always been a waste of money for people who don't live up there and have a season pass. You are better off going to where there is good snow, lots of trails, good lodges...make it a week experience like going to Disney World every couple of years rather than commuting up there for what you get. Its really always been this way, but the NC ski areas have fed off many local NC folks that didn't have context of what they were missing or couldn't afford anything else.
North Carolina is too far south to experience a cold enough winter for natural snow fall to pack the bases of the mountains. Even though the elevation of our mountains are higher than those of the NE, the altitude is not high enough to sustain conditions that favor excellent skiing.
Mountains in the NE have more vertical relief than the southern Appalachians. Even if we did have the types of winters needed for skiing, the mountains of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York would have longer and steeper grades for skiing.
I guess you haven't been skiing lately? It's actually doing great. I think I read that they had their best holiday season this winter in awhile. I haven't been skiing since I was a teen myself, but we have a home in Boone and I read the local paper. https://www.hcpress.com/news/it-felt...h-country.html
The kids today snowboard more than ski. It's super popular and one of the best young snowboarders in the country (maybe world) is from Blowing Rock. He's a young dude by the name of Luke Winklemann and is competing in the Winter X Games invitational. App Ski Mountain is his home mountain and where he learned to snowboard. https://www.appskimtn.com/news/asm-l...snowboard-team
Sugar and Beech are expanding with new runs and more snow-making capabilities and adding more year round attractions. I don't think either one will close anytime soon. Beech runs their ski lift for mountain biking down the mountain in the summer. They have both added tubing. App Ski Mt is very popular for snowboarders including all the kids at App State. Plus there's Cataloochee and Wolf Ridge near Asheville. Cataloochee has done a lot of refurbing.
Climate change may actually increase winter storms and as long as it still gets below freezing overnight, they will make snow.
I see people of all ages taking to the sport. If younger people weren't picking it up, lift tickets across the country wouldn't be constantly rising year after year. The only reason I don't do NC's resorts more often is that in driving from Greensboro, the WV resorts (particularly Snowshoe) have much more terrain and don't require a signicant amount of extra driving for what you get.
I'd say a prediction of all NC ski resorts closing by 2130 is incorrect. And millennials have a preference for shorter ski trips to slopes closer to home, so NC's continued population growth may bode well for the industry.
Ski Beech has just invested in new lifts and new snow guns, not something that signals a failing ski industry.
I do think the weather patterns are changing. It remains to be seen if it's long term or just a cyclical weather pattern.
I haven't looked at charts, but I'd guess the snowfall by years has been between 40 and 80 inches of snow over the past couple of decades. If it surpasses 60 inches per year, it's been a great year.
Last year there was one big snow, then multiple dustings in the Beech Mt area. This year there has been no big snow to this point, but several 2 to 5 inch accumulations that have been more productive for the ski runs at Beech.
I can't speak for Sugar, but from it's proximity to Beech I would assume the same result.
My family loves the Colorado ski resorts, but they also love the short 2 hour drive up to the house and be able to ski on most weekends.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,778 posts, read 15,788,843 times
Reputation: 10886
Here is a link to data that supports skiing/snowboarding being less popular in recent years in the Southeast (and other areas of the country). Of course, weather has a big effect on number of visits to ski resorts. You can see that in the 2011/2012 season when it was quite a warm winter. But overall, it looks like the number of visitors over the last four years has been less than previous years (and similar to numbers in the late 1990s) in Southeast ski resorts.
I'd say a prediction of all NC ski resorts closing by 2130 is incorrect.
I dunno ET, they might indeed be closed up by 2130!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
No natural snow at all, and only a small strip of dirty slush down the main track. With some recent colder weather, I'm sure they've got some base put down and people are skiing. For now.
