NC Winter 2017

Snowboarding season in the high country this year has been disappointing. It has been unusually hot and we have gotten very little snow. I live near four slopes: Sugar Mountain, Appalachian Mountain, Hawksnest, and Beech Mountain. Appalachian is the smallest and therefore typically the one I visit the least, but they have superior machines to make and blow snow and less ground to cover, which has given them better business this year. My go-to slope is Sugar, and several of their runs had to close this year because there wasn't enough natural snow and their snowmaking machines don't cover as well. I went a couple of times but the guns were blowing across the slopes most of the time, which can be aggravating. They're loud, and the bits of artificial snow are cold and painful when you're traveling down the mountain quickly. They can also fog up your goggles. The other two slopes are farther away and were blowing snow just as much, so it didn't seem worth it to go out much more this season. Hopefully next winter will be colder and I can come back to town and enjoy the snow!