| As the holiday season approaches, people from all | | | | Appalachians - a phenomenon that happens far too |
| around the south are tuning up their skis and pulling | | | | seldom to run a profitable ski resort throughout the |
| out their snowboards in anticipation of a week long | | | | season.Undaunted by Mother Nature, the fine folks of |
| ritual of winter fun - going to ski North Carolina. This | | | | this northwestern |
| year promises to be a good one, as temperatures | | | | chunk of North Carolina saw these huge mountain |
| remain consistently cold,and Mother Nature is being | | | | slopes with their lack of natural snow, and decided to |
| generous with the real stuff!Some of the highest | | | | do something about it! Sugar Mountain, Beech |
| peaks in the Blue ridge Mountains are located in the | | | | Mountain, and even Hawksnest ski resort in Seven |
| northwest corner of North Carolina, standing guard | | | | Devils became early pioneers in snowmaking |
| over the quaint little resort town of Banner Elk in | | | | technologies. Today, man made snow supplements |
| Avery county. Just east of the continental divide is | | | | ski resorts even in regions of the heaviest natural |
| Grandfather Mountain, the highest peak in the Blue | | | | snowfalls. |
| Ridge, and to the north west of Banner Elk looms | | | | In North Carolina, the roar of the snow guns can be |
| Beech Mountain, which boasts of being the highest | | | | heard throughout the valley any time the |
| ski area in eastern North America. Sure Mount Mitchell | | | | temperature dips below freezing. Thanks to modern |
| is higher, but its in the Black Mountains, a sub range | | | | day snow making capabilities, our North Carolina ski |
| of the | | | | resorts are able to remain open pretty much all |
| Blue Ridge.Although the elevation is high, and our | | | | through the winter - as long as it freezes of |
| slopes are vast and challenging, North Carolina skiing | | | | course!The best conditions for skiers and |
| does have its ups and downs. This is still the south, | | | | snowboarders exist when there |
| and annual snowfall comes nowhere near to that of | | | | is a healthy combination of natural snow and the |
| New England, where lake effect snows keep the ski | | | | man made stuff. When this happens, skiing and |
| slopes blanketed pretty much all through the winter. | | | | snowboarding on our vast mountain trails is an |
| Our best scenario for natural snow is when moisture | | | | experience that rivals any of the east coast ski |
| from an Atlantic storm system collides with the polar | | | | resorts. |
| jet stream dipping far into the south east | | | | |