Get your winter on

The good folks at VisitNC.com have put out a great resource on winter goings-ons in North Carolina. You can view it here. A number of the hot spots are in the N.C. High Country. Among them ...

Appalachian Ski Mountain
Blowing Rock 
Appalachian Ski Mountain dates back to 1962. The resort features 12 slopes, including three terrain parks, an ice arena, ski shop, gift shop, nursery and free Wi-Fi in its restaurant. Additional offerings include night skiing; ski, snowboard, skiboard, ice skate, helmet and clothing rentals; and group and private lessons.

Beech Mountain Resort  
Beech Mountain 
At 5,506 feet, Beech Mountain Resort is the highest ski and snowboard destination in eastern North America. In addition to day and night skiing and snowboarding, it offers two terrain parks, a 7,000-foot outdoor skating rink, gear rentals, private and group lessons, food, lodging, shopping and a nursery. The resort also features an adaptive learning center where volunteers teach children and adults with disabilities how to ski and snowboard.

Beech Mountain Sledding Hill
Beech Mountain
This free sledding hill is located next to the Beech Mountain Chamber of Commerce and Town Hall and features its own snowmaking machines. Open to children 12 and under. Plastic sleds and parental supervision required.  

Hawksnest Resort
Seven Devils 
Hawksnest Resort is a family-friendly winter area that’s home to the largest snow tubing park on the East Coast as well as the longest zip-line tour in the nation. The tubing park is comprised of four areas and more than 20 lit lanes ranging from 400 to 1,000 feet in length. The zip-line course features 19 cables covering four miles and is open year-round.

Sugar Mountain
Sugar Mountain 
Sugar Mountain features 20 slopes, 15 of which are lit for night skiing and riding. The resort also features the NASTAR public racing program, a terrain park, snowshoeing, snow tubing and ice skating at a 10,000-foot outdoor ice rink. In addition, Sugar Mountain offers equipment rentals, private and group lessons, food, lodging, shopping and daycare.

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.

THIS is a good sight to see!

We talked yesterday about the crazy weather that Superstorm Sandy has brought us. One of the benefits is the early snow on the area's ski slopes! Here's an image from the webcam* at Appalachian Ski Mountain, via Ray's Weather Center%.



*The High Country is blessed with a host of great weather-related webcams. For conditions closer to Our Mountain Place, be sure to check out the Seven Devils webcam, looking back toward town hall:

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%And no trip to the mountains should be complete without first checking out Ray's Weather Center. Bookmark it TODAY!

From peak season to a foot of snow

First of all, thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by Superstorm Sandy. The latest sounds like she has dumped quite a bit of snow in the High Country. I can only imagine what it looks like up around Our Mountain Place. I'm sure it's gorgeous -- but I'm sure it's also treacherous. Be safe, everyone.

It's hard to imagine that this was our view up there just over a week ago (via Instagram).

We had a FANTASTIC time in the High Country, made all the better by spectacular weather. (The calm before the storm, perhaps?)  Oh, screw it; here are some more great autumn photos -- all taken from our place.

We packed a lot of cool things in a couple of days. The kids loved gem mining (once again) at Foscoe Gem Mining Co. The adults had a GREAT time at the Grandfather Winery. (The kids also had fun throwing rocks into the Watauga River -- coming *this close* to hitting the poor dog that apparently lives at the vineyard.) And we had a nice time in Blowing Rock, strolling around the bass lake at Moses Cone Park, enjoying the park behind the Mast General Store annex, and even a tasty (if slow-going) meal at Mr. Original's Gyros.

In short, I'm ready to get back up there. It is, after all, ski season (already)!

Green siding and blueberries

As advertised, we have completed the new siding and new gutters/paint trim. It is quite fine, don't you agree?

Also, the family recently enjoyed some very fun blueberry picking in Banner Elk. It was an extremely relaxing (and economical) way to spend a morning.

If you want to enjoy all that the High Country has to offer, please contact us at collards12@yahoo.com . Book today!

Grandfather Mountain Highland Games coming up

The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games are coming up July 12-15. I have never made it to this event, but it is one of those quintessential North Carolina Bucket List items. More than 100 Scottish clans and societies sponsor this celebration of Scottish dance, music and athletics at McRae Meadows in Linville --at the base of Grandfather Mountain.

This link will take you to information about the Games, as well as ticket info.

Unfortunately, Our Mountain Place is not available for this weekend. Sorry!

7D area 'a cyclist's paradise'

SteepClimbs.com has a piece on the Seven Devils/Hawksnest area -- and what it is like for a serious cyclist.

Aaronwest gives us the commentary:

The climb started in the nearby neighborhood of Seven Devils. This is a small resort town with an off-season population of a mere 129. The climb started easily enough when I turned from Highway 105, but it wasn’t long until it turned up into double digit grades and stayed there. It was a challenging climb, with a few tight switchbacks and steep pitches. Little did I know how much more would be coming ahead.

After navigating the steep grades for just under two miles, I found myself in the heart of Seven Devils. It really is a small town, an intersection really, with an apartment complex and a Town Hall. There were lots of small roads that led to other houses and resort facilities, which I didn’t try, although I imagine there are steep climbs throughout the town.

I followed [author] John’s [Summerson] instructions for what he calls the Hawksnest climb. This is a ski resort that boasts of snow tubing and the longest zipline in the Southeast. I turned onto Skyland Rd, which would take me almost to the resort. This was a much more moderate grade, maybe in the 3-4% range, with a downhill about midway and one steep hill just to keep me on my toes.

I could see the ski hills up ahead in the distance, and knew this meant my next turn onto Skiview Road would be coming up. I saw a seriously steep road to the right and thought that was probably a driveway. To my surprise and anguish, that was my turn. The steep grade hit me like a ton of bricks. It must have been right around 15%. It stayed in that vicinity for the majority of the climb. After getting past the first pitch, I saw was a retiree couple driving down the mountain. They looked at me curiously as I huffed and puffed slowly my way up the insanely steep hill.

I came across another pitch in the road, with a sign that said blind hill ahead. That can’t be good. It wasn’t. That was easily the steepest section. My Garmin showed that it was mostly in the 18% vicinity with a peak of 20% at the end.

After winding around for around a mile, the road narrowed to one lane. The steepness persisted around the 13-16% range, with occasional breaks to around 10%. There was one last road near the top, which was just a small hill, but John listed it just to extend the climb. This was Divine View Road. This was practically a driveway, as there was only one house on the road. I could tell that the so-called ‘Divine View’ was probably from their patio. I was tempted to cross the driveway if it weren’t for the No Trespassing sign. Not a good idea to disobey those signs in the mountains of NC.

All told, the climb was about 4 miles, of which I averaged between 5-6 mph.  ...

The descent wasn’t much better. With narrow roads and steep grades, I found myself sitting on the brakes, wearing out my hands. I had to stop a couple times. It was a relief to get back to Hawksnest, where the road eased off. Seven Devils was a technical, but manageable descent.

It was tough to leave. The Boone and Banner Elk area is a cyclists paradise. There were so many other climbs I wanted to try out, but alas, I had not the time, nor the legs. Another day.