North Carolina has three main ski resorts: Appalachian Ski Mountain, Beech Mountain, and Sugar Mountain. Having visited both App and Beech in 2021, we were ready to check Sugar Mountain off our list in 2022.
We went to Sugar Mountain as a day trip in early January, looking for a warm-up before our big trip to Keystone, CO in February. My husband and I own ski gear now but we still had to rent for the kids. We rented their equipment at an Alpine Ski Center at the base of the mountain and made it to the mountain a little after 9am.
The parking lot was almost full but we grabbed our spot, geared up, and headed over to the shuttle stop. The shuttles are old school buses retrofitted with ski holders on the outside. And they are packed. There were a ton of people, little ventilation, and no mask wearing. With Covid-19 still running rampant, it made us super uncomfortable.
But we took the shuttle up the hill and got out. My husband got lift tickets while I took the boys inside to get a quick breakfast snack. The wait for either wasn’t bad and we were on the slopes quickly.
It was a beautiful day for skiing. The sky was a perfect clear blue and the temperature was not too cold.
We took our first few runs on Easy Street. The Easy Street Lift really only services its namesake run and while it was a really nice run, we got bored of it relatively quickly. After a few trips up and down this section of the mountain, the boys were ready for a little more of a challenge.
There are 6 lifts at Sugar Mountain – two service the top of the mountain and the rest just go up a section of the mountain. We went to the Big Birch Lift because it had some blue runs off of it. It was starting to get more crowded by this point and there was a bit of a wait for the lift. But it was much worse at the top of the lift. It was packed with people – some ready to go down the mountain but others seemingly just hanging out. The entrance to the trail from the top of the lift was really narrow and steep. The mass of people made it really dangerous. My youngest really struggled to get through that first section until the trail opened up below.
Feeling frustrated by that run, both boys wanted to take a break. They headed inside to get a drink and a snack while my husband and I took the Summit Express Lift to the top. There are mostly black diamond trails from the top but there is one route you can take down on blues. I have to say that the view from the top of Sugar Mountain is the best ski view in NC. It was stunning. I actually felt for a moment like we were skiing out west.
After this run, we met the boys and headed back to the car to eat the picnic lunch we had packed. We took the shuttle down but decided to walk back up (both because the shuttle made us uncomfortable and because the wait was so long). While we were eating, we could see car after car being turned away because there was no more parking available. Presumably they were still selling lift tickets but with no place to park, there were a lot of frustrated would-be skiers.
After lunch, we made another run on Easy Street and then headed back to Big Birch. This proved to be a mistake, as it had gotten even more crowded and dangerous at the top. My husband got his pole tangled getting off the lift trying to avoid someone who had fallen in front of him. He twisted his neck pretty badly and had to lay down for a while before attempting to ski down to the base. When we started making our way down, my oldest really struggled in the congested trail head. It was steep and narrow and people kept bumping into him. He fell several times and his frustration flared. That entire run from the second we got off the lift was a nightmare. It felt crowded and dangerous and just not fun anymore. We called it a day prematurely after that.
From a condition perspective, this was probably the best skiing we have had in North Carolina. It had snowed recently so there was a nice base layer and the normal iciness associated with NC skiing was not an issue. The day was sunny and beautiful and not too cold. Everything looked to be lining up perfectly for a great skiing day. Unfortunately, things don’t always end up as nicely as they should and we did not have a good experience. There isn’t a ton of great beginner/intermediate skiing at Sugar. Easy Street was a great run but there are only so many times you can do the same short trail over and over. Big Birch was a nightmare at the top so even though the run itself was eventually a good intermediate run, the start of it was too dangerous for my kids. And most of the runs from the top are black diamonds. So if you are advanced beginner or intermediate skiers, there really isn’t much for you at Sugar.
