Virginia’s Massanutten Resort moves up in the rankings of the South’s best resorts thanks to a flurry of improvements coming to fruition this year. Courtesy Massanutten Resort.
Research on the southern ski industry shows that below the Pennsylvania/Maryland state line, resorts boast a nationally significant rate of infrastructure reinvestment.
“Incremental” and “annual” spending on snowmaking improvements, more modern lifts, and new slopes tell most of that tale (as they do everywhere). But when resorts spend big bucks on big changes it gets enthusiasts excited and can shake up the competition. That registers with snowsports fans even when improvements take a few years to accomplish, which is happening this winter in West Virginia at Timberline Mountain, in Virginia at Massanutten, and in North Carolina as the one-time Wolf Laurel ski area gets ready to open as an upscale boutique resort.
The Rundown
From Asheville’s River Arts District, to Banner Elk and Boone, Helene damage was evident all over southern ski country. Photos by Randy Johnson
Instead of going straight to those stories, I’ll start with North Carolina “in honor” of Hurricane Helene. The storm’s massive destruction makes it a bit of a miracle that North Carolina’s southernmost Appalachians would even have a ski season this winter. (If this buries what you’re interested in, just drop down to “Big News.”)
When I cleared the debris from my own property below Grandfather Mountain in the Watauga River Valley near Boone (north of Asheville), and the lights and water finally came back on weeks later, it seemed that destruction at the state’s six Western North Carolina ski resorts would likely be significant. Since then, with vaporized, even major roads being rebuilt—I-40 north of the Great Smokies will take a year!—I confess to head-shaking, mouth-agape awe at the tear-jerking ruin I discovered when I could explore.
As I drove past the flank of Grandfather Mountain, a state park and likely the East’s most ecologically significant summit, the flattened forests look like someone dumped a pile of toothpicks on nature, a lot like the damage to Puerto Rico’s rain forest-covered mountains that I recall seeing shortly after Hurricane Hugo decimated the island’s Caribbean National Forest in 1989.
Luckily it turns out being at the top of these lofty southern summits minimized flood damage to ski areas, the biggest impact of the storm.
From Asheville’s River Arts District, to Banner Elk and Boone, Helene damage was evident all over southern ski country. Photos by Randy Johnson
Even so, when I drove the few miles from my home to Sugar Mountain to survey the crowds of Thanksgiving skiers, the road on the way to the slopes and others in the incorporated town around the resort were lined with snapped power poles, wires, and massive debris piles waiting for DOT pick up.
Oddly, the piles of boughs and other evergreen slash from white pines and the indigenous, highly prized Fraser fir looked like a happy hunting ground for wreath makers and lent the drive a Holiday feel. In fact, in this high elevation area, Holiday decorations are big business that makes North Carolina the country’s number two Christmas tree growing state. The 18-foot, Fraser fir towering right now in the Blue Room of the White House made it’s way to DC in mid-November from a tree farm in the shadow of Sugar Mountain.
This winter skiers won’t miss the lingering scars of land slides, match stick-snapped trees, and flood-gutted, dislocated, boarded up homes and businesses as they respond to the North Carolina ski industry’s plea “don’t forget us!” The infusion of tourism dollars that a successful ski season will bring is critical this year, especially in rural areas where ski resorts fuel the winter job market and deliver the bulk of the year’s occupancy tax revenue to municipalities, even those known for bullish summer tourism.
Cities and towns with names like Asheville, Chimney Rock, and Banner Elk, with centuries-old summer cultures, are now recognizable all over the country to people following the storm and its shocking scenes of devastation. A drive through Asheville’s River District and the Biltmore Village shopping and dining neighborhood still leaves people shaking their heads with the years of rebuilding ahead.
Nuff said. The recovery continues and we’ll definitely be leaving the light on for you.
Big News
Starting with the Old North State, let’s hit some bigger stories.
Hatley Pointe Ski Resort, NC
Alpine-appearing Big Bald rises over Hatley Pointe’s summit quad lift in this picture from 2010, when the resort was called Wolf Ridge. Photo by Randy Johnson
The news in North Carolina is that the modest 1970s ski area formerly known as Wolf Laurel, later Wolf Ridge, is likely to debut this year as Hatley Pointe, what owners Deb and David Hatley call a “boutique ski area.” The widely anticipated reinvention was slated for last winter but the task took longer than expected.
Luckily, the Hatleys success manufacturing golf carts and hot tubs appears up to funding the rebirth of Wolf Ridge while also building another upscale resort just across the state line in the mountains of East Tennessee.
The changes are sparking high hopes for what is surely one of the most connected ski areas in the entire South. The resort lies a few minutes off I-26, which makes Asheville—desperately in need of tourist dollars—a very enticing base for skiers, just a half hour away.
That means Hatley Pointe has a rarity in the South, cruise control access (so does West Virginia’s Winterplace). Urban areas to the north and west in Eastern Tennessee and Virginia are both just across the state line via the highest interstate in the East, a heated stretch of asphalt across Sam’s Gap at 3,760 feet. To the south and east, I-26 and a web of other interstates link the urban lowlands of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and beyond.
Thus homeowners in the Wolf Laurel vacation community perched under the snowy, treeless summit of Big Bald, traversed by the Appalachian Trail, are hoping Hatley Pointe and Madison County become a major presence in North Carolina’s ski and summer tourism scene.
This year’s countdown to opening has finalized a greatly expanded lodge with an upscale restaurant called Smoke and Timber, along with extensively refined slopes, updated lifts, and snowmaking.
Though this picture is from 2010, the upper elevation Ridge Runner lift and slope is expected to operate this winter at the new Hatley Pointe. Photo by Randy Johnson
Not having ever owned a ski area, the Hatleys are bringing a can-do attitude, some local experts from years past, and Colorado-based Mountainworks, a global ski resort designer, to the table. Everything from new summer activities, lodging, and expanded “backside” slopes are envisioned. By early December, the resort’s core slopes were covered with snow, but there were still final lift inspections and tweaks needed that spokesperson Sarah Woodward expected in time for holiday skiing.
What’s not fully known is how fast the new owners will reinstate a slope network that made the resort promising in its early 2010s heyday. Back then the nearly 60 main acres of diverse slopes served by a summit quad also abutted an attractive set of upper elevation beginner slopes and the massive timber frame Ridge Lodge—which burned in an unexplained 2014 fire. That and adjacent lift damage scuttled access to the upper runs and what looked like a bright future.
That may change. The central slope system is ready, say the owners, and indeed part of the old upper runs, the quad-served Ridgerunner slope, is also expected to open this season. But the next layout below that, the former “Backside” runs accessed via another lift and a ski tunnel under a road, await future action.
If it all comes together as expected, Hatley Pointe could be a noteworthy new wrinkle in regional skiing.
Timberline Mountain, WV
Whitegrass Ski Touring Center, the South’s best Nordic resort, flanks the rapidly improving Timberline Mountain downhill resort. Photo by Randy Johnson
One of two alpine resorts in West Virginia’s Canaan Valley, Timberline Mountain always seemed poised for greatness, without ever getting there. A different future arrived in 2019 when the 1,000 vertical feet of fall line terrain was purchased by Indiana’s Perfect North Slopes.
Lift changes came first—a six-person detachable summit lift and a fixed grip quad to mid-mountain. A major day lodge expansion and the twenty-room slopeside Timberline Hotel reinvented the base experience. Annual improvements have consolidated the progress, making this winter a great time to appreciate this resort’s arrival as one of the region’s top ski experiences.
That status includes the South’s longest run, two-mile Salamander, that abuts the Monongahela National Forests’s Dolly Sods Wilderness, an awesome backcountry Nordic ski location connected to the adjacent White Grass Ski Touring Center, the region’s top cross country ski resort. Two adjacent state park Nordic layouts, and the state’s Canaan Valley Ski Area, round out Canaan Valley’s rising ski reputation.
Insider tip: It’s pronounced Kuh-NANE, not KAY-nin.
Massanutten Resort, Virginia
Last winter’s finalization of a major slope expansion at this Shenandoah Valley resort moves Massanutten up among the South’s ski destinations.
The last few years have seen four new slopes, including a third long drop from the summit, this one a double-black called “No Hessitation.” [To editor: spelled with double ss.] That slope, covered by automated snowmaking and LED lights, runs the lift line under a new four-person high-speed detachable called the Peak Express (replacing a conventional quad). Another of the existing summit slopes Paradice also has had a makeover and snowmaking upgrade. There’s expanded seating and menu options at the Mid-Mountain Grill.
Massanutten’s recent Director of Skiing Kenny Hess (namesake of the “No Hessitation” expert run), promised that the flurry of recent changes would be “a game changer” for the four season resort, the only employee-owned ski area in the region. This year Massanutten has it dialed in, ready to impress. As Hess promised, “Mass will ski much bigger than in the past,” and this winter proves it. Best of all, the new runs link the entire top of the mountain creating an almost separate system of slopes.
The Best of the Rest
Appalachian Ski Mountain, Blowing Rock, NC
“App” Ski Mountain’s snowmaking keeps getting better. Photo by Randy Johnson
Back in NC, snowmaking ramps up at “App” with an automated system keyed to weather stations on each snowgun. Marketing manager Drew Stanley says that makes it possible to customize snow quality and usher in mid-season snow conditions virtually overnight.
New slope lights have been installed on four slopes along the resort’s right side switchback, all fine-tuned for uniform illumination and superior night skiing. Another modernization of the family-friendly lodge decor adds undermount sinks, automatic soap and water, custom granite countertops and rustic wood-framed mirrors.
Not completely new this season, the resort’s RFID ski ticket system integrates ski rentals and lessons at the slope’s French-Swiss Ski College with timed arrivals to eliminate congestion. The resort’s flex-ticket this year adds an hour of free ski time if bought online.
Sugar Mountain, NC
Massive Grandfather Mountain dominates the skyline of the NC High Country ski region. Photo by Todd Bush
Despite the storm, Sugar opened the ski season the weekend before Thanksgiving touting expanded snowmaking. Sugar was among the first southern slopes to make great grooming a specialty decades ago back when it wasn’t. Its trademark combed corduroy gets better this season with two new Pisten Bully 600 free groomers and a new winch cat aimed at the resort’s double blacks.
Sugar owner Gunther Jochl maneuvers a Winch Cat at the top of double-black Whoopdedoo. Photo by Randy Johnson
Sugar’s mile and a half, 1,200 vertical foot longest run begins on a big switchback from the mountain’s 5,300-foot summit on the Northridge slope, then swings past the start of the super popular Gunther’s Way (named after owner Gunther Jochl). Busy Northridge doubles in width this winter and gets new LED lights. “Giving skiers and riders more space and brighter lights always makes the night session a more pleasurable experience,” Jochl says.
Upper mountain snow quantity and quality also benefits from new automated SMI snow machines on Northridge and just below on Flying Mile, all fed by a second centrifugal 4,000 CFM compressor that replaced two aging ones.
This season Sugar initiates an RFID chip-based, digital ticket system from SKIDATA using onsite ticket purchasing agents or kiosks. An online-only ticket system should also make tubing and ice skating more convenient.
Wintergreen, VA
Happy anniversary Wintergreen—a half century this year, overlooking the Charlottesville area from the crest of the Blue Ridge. To celebrate the resort will stage special events throughout the winter and offer a free learn to ski and ride program. Participants sign up for three free 2-hour group lessons that include beginner area lift tickets and beginner equipment rentals, and after completion they can buy a discounted season pass for the rest of the year and the following winter.
Snowshoe Mountain Resort, WVA
Alterra Mountain Company resort Snowshoe Mountain, one of the company’s seventeen Ikon Pass destinations, also celebrates a 50th anniversary this winter.
Wisp Resort, MD
Resort sprawls above Deep Creek Lake in Maryland’s westernmost Garrett County. This season debuts an assortment of snowmaking and slope lighting upgrades around the resort’s 33 trails over 132 acres, more than 90% of which is lit for night skiing. Like Wintergreen in Virginia, Wisp is a PGRI Pacific Group Resort company and shares the free learn to ski and ride program.
Indy and Ikon Pass Update—
The Indy Pass discount ski ticket program has spread to six participating ski resorts in the South, including Bryce Resort, Massanutten Resort, and Wintergreen in Virginia, Canaan Valley Resort and Winterplace Resort in West Virginia, Wisp ski area in Maryland (a sister resort with Wintergreen in the PGRI Pacific Group Resort company), Cataloochee Ski Area in North Carolina and Ober Mountain in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Alterra Mountain Company’s Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia, the region’s biggest ski area, is part of the Ikon Pass network.
Randy Johnson is author of Southern Snow, the New Guide to Winter Sports from Maryland to the Southern Appalachians. In the 2024 Society of American Travel Writers Lowell Thomas Competition, he won Silver in the “travel book” category for Grandfather Mountain: The History and Guide to an Appalachian Icon and Honorable Mention in “travel guidebook” for Hiking the Blue Ridge Parkway.
