Sapphire Valley North Carolina Ski Report

By Jake Grove
Sunday, January 20, 2008

Despite last week’s brief flirtation with snow, the first half of winter 2007-2008 here in the Upstate has been more about 60-degree days and bright sunshine. So it’s little wonder people aren’t exactly clamoring to hit the ski slopes.

Most of us are probably daydreaming about picnics and a pick-up basketball game rather than a hot chocolate by the lodge fire or an impromptu race down the bunny run.
That said, there are those thinking about snow. Specifically, the proprietors of snow recreation establishments in western North Carolina, just a couple of hours from the Upstate.
And for them, this winter has been brutal so far.

“We usually can blow snow by late November, early December,” said Dave Barry, director at Sapphire Valley Ski Resort in Sapphire, N.C., near Cashiers, approximately two hours from Anderson. “This year, we didn’t get any snow on the hill until early January.”

Mild, even warm, temperatures, extra rain and few cold nights forced Sapphire Valley into an early-season closing. Because it’s one of the farthest south skiing locations on the east coast, the folks at Sapphire are used to weather challenges. But they haven’t had anything like this before, Mr. Barry said.

In order for them to make and maintain snow, the weather must cooperate. Warm temperatures melt the snow slowly and mild, overnight temps are killers of existing bases. And rain, though needed, literally eats snow alive, he said.

Earlier this winter, the ski slopes at Sapphire Valley were relatively barren, but the snow tubing areas require only a base of snow that is able to freeze. Thankfully, the recent sweep of cold weather dressed the slopes in white gold and allowed Sapphire Valley to finally open its slopes Friday. With four inches of natural snow and continued cold weather, Mr. Barry said there is now a 25-inch base on the slopes and they will be blowing snow from their 13 snow guns all over the resort’s seven acres.

And since this weekend’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is so popular and important for skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing, it couldn’t have come at a better time. “I’m feeling a lot better now,” Mr. Barry said in a telephone interview Friday. “We have had people calling and calling, but we should be OK going forward at this point.”

Sapphire Ridge-Sapphire Valley/Cashiers, NC

I've decided to write a little review of my own when I take a tour of a community. I think it's important in deciding what to buy, and where to buy, to take a look at different areas and price ranges. Like the show "What you get for the money". This is my version!