CityView Magazine

Sugar Mountain in Banner Elk foot long lanes. The resort has a 10,000-square foot outdoor skating rink. Dereka's Sugar Mountain Accommodations has about 250 rental units, ranging from lodge rooms to luxury homes. There are about 400 other lodging rooms available. The resort is 11 miles from Boone, a thriving, progressive arts city, where additional lodging can be found. Appalachian Ski Mountain, located in Blowing Rock, is the second-oldest ski area in the state, has a 46,000-square foot lodge, 11 slopes and has invested more than $2 million in snowmaking equipment. It boasts of having the largest snow- making capacity per acre of any ski resort in the Southeast. Between 450 and 600 inches of manufactured snow hits the slopes during an average season. The longest run, Orchard Run, is half a mile long. The facility has two terrain parks and ice-skating. The resort has four slope-side homes for rent and additional accommodations can be found within a few miles in Blowing Rock or in Boone. Wolf Ridge Ski Resort, located five miles from Interstate 26 in Mars Hill, 30 miles north of Asheville, has 23 runs; the most in the state, and five liſts on its 54 acres of rideable trails. Wolf Lodge is located at the top of the mountain. Wolf Base is at the foot of the mountain. The terrain park is popular with 38 | January/February • 2012 tubing fanatics. Snowboarding is also a big draw at the resort, which does not directly handle lodging needs of customers. Three companies take care of cabins around the resort. Six chain hotels are located in Mars Hill and many more options are available in Asheville. The Sapphire Valley Ski Area in Sapphire is part of a four- season enterprise. Look for shorter liſt lines at this two-run facility that has a vertical drop of 200 feet. An indoor pool, sauna, hot tubs, fitness center and meeting and banquet rooms draw groups throughout the year. Don't underesti- mate this facility based on the fact that it is smaller than the rest of the ski resorts in the state. It has its own appeal. Hawksnest Golf and Ski Resort in Seven Devils, specializes in snow tubing and likes to be billed as the largest snow tub- ing park on the East Coast. It has 42-aces of rideable trails, with the longest run measuring nearly half a mile. It has 20 snow tubing lanes, which range from 400 to 1,000 feet in length. More than 300 vacation homes, condos and rental units are within close proximity of the resort. Officials at the facility say they have the longest zip line network in the state, with 19 cables, four of which are classified in the zip line in- dustry as super or mega zips. CV

• Cover