A mid-November opening for (some of) the slopes

Despite all the autumn snow up in the High Country, it looks like many of the area's ski and tubing slopes will open next weekend. Opening day at Appalachian Ski Mountain is set for November 16, while Hawksnest Resort (tubing) is scheduled to open the next day. (Have we mentioned before that Our Mountain Place is right beside Hawksnest? Oh, we  haven't? Now you know!)

Of course, none of this is written in snow -- er, stone.

From Hawksnest's website:

We are targeting the weekend of the 17th to open, but it will depend on the weather.  Please watch our webcam for snowmaking progress.  We will be open daily for zipline tours, weather permitting.  Please call ahead for zipline reservations.


Sugar Mountain IS already open, according to its website:

Snowmaking in progress as temperatures allow.

Slip-slidin' in Seven Devils

Ya gotta love Google Alerts. How else would I come across this?

"Fresh snowflakes frosted my face as I scanned what appeared to be a slope of sugar," writes Joe Tennis of Tri-Cities.com.

This was midday at Hawksnest, the largest tubing operation in North Carolina’s High Country.

Ice added icing to my doughnut-shaped inner tube while, bravely, I shoved off the slope, suddenly sliding down as fast as a freight train.

SWISH!

I rushed with the wind.

And, at once, I swore I could tame the terrain.

Like a broom, I swiftly swept that slippery slope, stretching as wide as three bowling lanes and as long as a couple of football fields.

Oh, how I could tube!

Click on the link for more.