Additions Keep Coming at Appalachian Ski Mountain

New Season Features New Terrain Park and Slope, Late-Night Lift Tickets, Improved Snowmaking, More Ways to Learn

Story by Sam Calhoun

Appalachian Ski Mountain’s in-house welder is nearing completion on the 50th custom feature for Appalachian’s terrain parks. Once the season begins, Appalachian will debut one signature park feature per month. All of the features include custom artwork by designers Chris Reynolds and Sei Ray Ho; the two designers pick a common theme—this year’s theme is nature—and then create variations of the theme while keeping with Appalachian’s blue and orange color scheme.

Forty-six years ago when Appalachian Ski Mountain first opened, no one—not even the most gracious of psychics—could have foreseen what the resort would become. Once the stronghold of skiers and skiers only, Appalachian is now a welcoming epicenter for not only skiing, but also ice skating and, most significantly, snowboarding. With $3 million in improvements over the past three years, the resort is unveiling an impressive offering of new programs and infrastructure for the 2009-10 season, including a new, third terrain park, the Southeast’s only offering of late-night skiing, heated sidewalks, new rental equipment, a night-only season pass and the longest scheduled season in North Carolina history.

Ski 142 Days
According to Appalachian Ski Mountain General Manager Brad Moretz, the opening day for the resort is expected to be Friday, November 20, just before Thanksgiving. Moretz said the resort will stay open until Sunday, April 11, the Sunday after Easter. If the resort opens on November 20, the 2009-10 ski season at Appalachian will last 142 days, excluding Christmas.

“We recognize that Easter is an important family holiday and want to accommodate vacationing families throughout the Southeast region,” said Moretz. “We believe this will be the longest scheduled ski and snowboard season in the 48-year history of North Carolina skiing.”

Midnight Blast Weekends
Akin to the beloved Night Hawk sessions at Hawksnest back in the 1980s and 1990s, Appalachian is bringing late-night skiing back to the High Country through nine Midnight Blast Weekends between December 26 and the weekend after Presidents’ Day, February 20.

On Midnight Blast Weekends, the usual 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. hours will be extended to midnight for all skiers and boarders at no additional cost.

“With challenging economic times, people looking for a good value will discover that this is the best ticket value that we offer, at a time that is actually convenient,” said Moretz. “As the closest ski destination to significant markets within a two-hour drive, such as Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point, Hickory and Gastonia, we feel that Appalachian Ski Mountain is in the best position to offer many skiers and riders a night option that wouldn’t otherwise be possible without a longer night session.”

Appalachian is the only ski area in the Southeast region to offer late-night skiing.

New Burton Progression Terrain Park, New AppalTop Slope
In an effort to make it easier than ever for skiers and snowboarders to learn how to ride freestyle terrain this winter, Appalachian Ski Mountain is thinking out-of-the-box and becoming the home for Burton Snowboards’ first Progression Park in North Carolina. Appalachian’s Progression Park is one of 14 in the world, one of 11 in North America and the only one south of Maryland. To house the park, Appalachian built a new slope, AppalTop, this summer, located on the eastern side of Upper Big Appal between the Big Appal and AppalJack slopes.

The new terrain park will feature smaller versions of freestyle terrain features such as jibs, rails, bonks and boxes, just inches off the ground.

The Burton Progression Park will be different from most parks where riders hit one feature after another without stopping. Designed for entry-level park riders, the park will feature “Stop and Drop Zones,” which allow riders to check out the feature and see the proper method of riding that feature before committing, with a grade similar to beginner slopes and low-to-the-ground features.

Signage in each zone provides guidance with a “trick tip,” or a picture of a rider hitting a feature and a smart style message from the National Ski Areas Association’s terrain park responsibility code that encourages people to ride parks with safety and style. In addition to the trick tip signs, Drew Stanley, Appalachian Terrain Park director, and his staff designed custom metal signs for the Burton Progression Park and the other two terrain parks at Appalachian. The stylized, easy-to-read signs denote if the park contains small, medium or large features and include information on freestyle skills and park etiquette.

Each Stop and Drop Zone will be fenced in, which separates riders from other park traffic and allows riders to slow down before approaching each new feature.

“[These zones] allow riders to focus on one thing at a time,” said Stanley.

“It’s a slower-paced learning environment,” added Moretz.

The new park will be used as a tool for Appalachian’s French Swiss Ski College to incorporate freestyle terrain into its teaching programs.

“I don’t think anyone else is advertising terrain park lessons [on the East Coast],” added Moretz.

The park will also be open to the general public.

Rental Equipment Upgrades
For the upcoming season, Appalachian features a fresh stock of rental snowboards and twin-tip ski boards, and its staff is currently converting its collection of Salomon snow blades to be park rental equipment. What’s more, Appalachian partnered with Burton to bring in a rental selection of Burton Blunt snowboards, which feature double-rocker technology that makes takeoffs and landings more forgiving, according to Stanley.

Appalachian also expanded its helmet rental operation in preparation for the upcoming season.

Snowmaking Improvements
On the heels of two seasons of state-of-the-art snowmaking improvements, Appalachian furthered its commitment to creating stellar snow conditions this summer as it installed two fully automated snowguns on Orchard Run and Big Appal. Assisting Appalachian in its desire to not blow snow when customers are on the mountain, the new guns’ computerized start-and-stop and weather-monitoring systems allow them to be turned on remotely when weather conditions are just right for snowmaking—even if its in the middle of the night.

“The guns are self regulating, which maximizes our window of opportunity. We even can set parameters for snow quality [on the guns’ computers],” explained Moretz, who added that most of the mountain’s guns are on towers, so if snowmaking must occur during regular hours, manmade snow will not be blowing in skiers’ faces, such as is the case with ground-mounted guns.

Nights-Only Season Pass
As another example of out-of-the-box thinking, Appalachian is introducing the Nights-Only Season Pass for the 2009-10 season.

In consideration of the challenging economic situation, the new pass gives skiers and riders their lowest cost season pass option ever at Appalachian. For someone who might be struggling with the decision to buy the $465 Adult or $405 Student Unlimited passes, this $280 Nights-Only pass for all ages is good up to 112 scheduled nights, including weekend and holiday nights. This pass will also give people the opportunity to take advantage of the extended hours on the nine new Midnight Blast Weekends.

Although Appalachian’s season is scheduled to run from November 20 through April 11, night skiing will start on Friday, November 27, and end on Saturday, March 20.

New Stairways and Heated Sidewalks
During the off-season, Appalachian conducted a sidewalk and stairway replacement project at the main second floor entrance to its Base Lodge. Designed by Greene Architecture, the front entrance now has a secondary handicapped-accessible entranceway, which starts at the upper paved driveway and ends at the second floor automatic door entrance.

As part of the project, 100 feet of sidewalk on the ground level was replaced along with all of the concrete entrance sidewalk at the automatic doors. The ground level sidewalk replacement allowed crews to tie into the existing hot water sidewalk heating system. For the first time, all of the sidewalks surrounding the lodge are now heated, including the new handicap-grade entrance to the second floor.

Also, all three stair sets at the main entrance were replaced with Grip strut stair treads and double-sided stainless steel handrails.

New Events
Appalachian’s popular Fresh Fridays, Ladies Park Nights and Shred for the Cup Series will all be back for the 2009-10 season, as well as some new events, such as a Red Bull Buttercup Series Event and a Rome Snowboards Pre Jib Event.

For more information, call 828-295-7828 or click to www.appskimtn.com.