An Early Ski Season This Year!

I woke up this morning – a few days before Halloween – to snow flurries only 2,000 feet up the ridge to the continental divide. That’s the earliest snow that wasn’t blow-by from Mitchell we’ve had for 16 years! No, the leaves haven’t quite hit peak here yet, so even if there were accumulation higher up we probably couldn’t see it. But we haven’t had the regular winter coverings we used to get around here, and it hasn’t snowed enough to sled on for at least five years at my house. Global warming, I guess.

We really like to have four real seasons in a year. That’s why we chose to live here in Western North Carolina. So it’s not so strange that a little bit of white stuff makes us giddy. The summer tourist season was mighty slim this year when gas went to $4 and $5 a gallon and hundreds of thousands of people stayed home. Then came hurricane Ike, and we had no gas at all for three full weeks in September. Schools and factories and businesses had to shut down, people took to walking and riding their bikes to the store, even as deliveries stopped and there was no fresh bread or milk to be had. The leaves are a bit late this fall too, by this time they’re usually few and far between. What could save us, in a region where tourism is the #1 economic activity? Why… snow!!!

Thus it was with great delight that I noticed Cataloochee Ski Area’s ski and snowboarding season started today, October 28 with fresh made snow 8 to 12 inches deep. The weather pundits are predicting that yes, our ski season will start early and last long, which is the best news we’ve had all year. Cataloochee’s the only one open now, but others will be up and sliding sometime between the first week of November through the week of Christmas, depending on snow-making conditions.

Hawksnest Resort is aiming for any time after November 1st, looking good for that right now, too. Sugar Mountain is planning to open November 7th, and several other areas may open earlier this year too. If you’ve a favorite, be sure to call and find out if they are planning to move up their opening dates to take advantage of what is shaping up to be a spectacular ski season here in the beautiful NC mountains!

Check out the links below to get contact and ski package information from the resorts themselves, as several are offering great season passes and combo lodging/lift and slope deals this year. Book yourself and your family for a fine getaway early, and wax up the gear!

Links:

Ski North Carolina
Appalachian Ski Mountain
Cataloochee Ski Area
Hawksnest Resort
Ski Beech Resort
Scaly Mountain Outdoor Center
Ski Sapphire
Sugar Mountain Ski Resort
Wolf Ridge Ski Resort

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NC’s Great Summer Camps

…for Boys and Girls

Many families who consider North Carolina to be the bet vacation spot in the nation will be thinking right about now, what plans can we make for the kids this summer? A fine answer to this question is to book those kids at one of NC’s great summer camps, to coincide with a full family vacation to any of NC’s wonderful summer festivals and events when the camp period is over!

There are literally hundreds of choices, and camps located in every region of the state offering a regular smorgasbord of activities and skills to learn and adventures to enjoy for kids of all abilities and ages. There are some good web sources listed below this post, where I’ll highlight a few of North Carolina’s best special-purpose camps.

Teen Overnight Surf Camp in Wrightsville Beach. Money Magazine named the southern NC coast as one of the top vacation spots in North America. The week-long overnight camps offer instruction in the art of surfing the Outer Banks’ gentle waves, improving your surfing skills, and exploring different coastal ecosystems while you’re at it! Enrollees stay in air conditioned suites on the campus of UNC-Wilmington and the staff of professional instructors are well qualified to deal with both beginner and intermediate surfers. The $1495/week fee includes lodging on campus, meals, 24-hour adult supervision, shuttle transportation from Wilmington’s airport, equipment, instruction with a 3-1 camper to instructor ratio, daily transportation to the beaches, admission and private tour of the Fort Fisher Aquarium, surfboard factory tour and extras.
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Filed under Adventure, Blue Ridge, Carolina Coast, Education, Hiking, Lakes, Nature, North Carolina, Outer Banks, Sports, Summer Camps | Comments (2)

When Your Frisbee Dog Gets Old…

Disc Golf Takes Off in NC!

We once got to take care of a wonderful old Border Collie after his kids went off to college and he got arthritis. He’d been “The World’s Best Frisbee Dog” in his day, and still made a valiant effort to chase down the stray discs our grandchildren would toss in the yard. Unfortunately, our property is seriously up-and-down, and poor old Angus had almost as much trouble with his eyesight as he had with his joints, once rolling halfway down the hill before we could rescue him.

So we quickly learned not to let him outside when playing the first 9 holes of our newly-installed disc golf course, complete with metal poles, bicycle wheels and swing chains as ‘holes’. Now we’ve 20 holes along with plans for another nine on the flatland at the top of the driveway. Hold an informal tourney every January called the “Kudzu Open,” and have a big basket full of pro discs – Archangels and Orcs, putters and drivers, most bright enough in color to be readily found even if they go off the side of the fairway and end up 200 feet down the mountain in a pile of leaves.

The garden sits squarely in the fairway of the 2nd and 4th holes, lose a stroke if you land on anything growing (compost pile doesn’t count). Still have 4 broken windows in the library from when my nephew’s shot went wild and managed to break every single one of the panes one right after the other (he got extra credit). Still, it’s fine exercise, it’s fresh air, and it’s something to do with a disc if your frisbee dog can’t jump anymore.

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Top 25 Reasons to Visit NC – 2

Part 2: Reasons 6 – 10

6. Ski Resorts and Summer Fun

North Carolina’s western mountains are home to a number of world-class ski resorts, most of whom offer summer fun as well. The chalets and cabins are as comfortable in summer as in winter, with easy access to Western North Carolina’s favorite recreational areas.


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Valdese, NC: The Waldensian Stronghold

Way back in the middle ages – 1174 to be exact – a French businessman from Lyons caught the radical gist of Jesus’ teachings in the gospels and committed himself to a life of voluntary poverty and itinerant preaching. His name was Valdes. He renounced his previous business practices, threw all his money into the street, and started a soup kitchen during the famine of 1176. He traveled the countryside preaching the gospel of Jesus and eventually creating a rift with the dominant Catholic Church.

Valdes inspired other wandering preachers including Peter Waldo, who established the Poor Men of Lyons sect that preached apostolic poverty as the way to perfection. They traveled to Rome around 1177 and received the blessing of Pope Alexander III, who at the same time forbade their preaching without authorization from local clergy. The Waldensias (as they became known) of course disobeyed the papal edict, and were formally declared heretics by Pope Lucius III in 1184 and by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.

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Season’s Up and Running!

The Current NC Ski Report…

The hectic holidays – and the unusually warm spell that accompanied them this year – are behind us. Temperatures dropped into the teens as New Year’s Day came to its early close and snow fell across the western mountains. Snow making machines have been cranked up and are supplying base for the several great snowtubing runs at various WNC resorts, and the higher elevation slopes did manage to retain enough base to keep the skiers and snowboarders happy during the warm spell. From Cataloochee’s page…

As of 8pm. on Tuesday [Jan. 1], it is a chilly 19 degrees and it has been snowing since 4pm. We have received 2 inches of natural snow and the snow is forecast to continue into Wednesday. Snow making weather is in the forecast for most of the upcoming week and we will begin to make it as quickly as the temperatures allow. In an effort to capture the colder weather and maximize snowmaking to improve conditions and open more terrain, Cataloochie guests should expect snowmaking to be in progress during skiing hours if temperatures permit for this week. Please be prepared for winter conditions with hats and goggles and please dress accordingly.

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Charlotte: Sports Lover’s Paradise

Football season is upon us, and North Carolina’s Panthers soundly defeated the Rams in St. Louis, the first time since the franchise began that their opener was an away game. Charlotte is the city the Panthers call home, and is also the home town of NASCAR. For sports lovers, you just can’t beat it!

The home schedule for the Panthers at the beautiful downtown Bank of America Stadium and events schedule for Lowe’s Motor Speedway are below, and there are several overlapping weekends that sports lovers could take advantage of for booking a multi-purpose get-away in the Charlotte environs.

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