Maggie Valley, NC
With a 4” of new snow on the still bright autumn leaves, Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley, North Carolina cranked up the guns once again to be one of the first areas to open in the nation for this year’s winter snow sports season. One of the East Coast’s most Southern resorts, Cataloochee will be the one of the first areas in North Carolina to make snow and open for skiers and riders in 2010/2011. The resort will open for its 49th season today at 8:30am. Saturday’s opening marks the fifth year the North Carolina resort has been among the first resorts to open. Snowmaking began at 4pm on Thursday afternoon at a temperature of 30 degrees.
North Carolina’s first ski area has invested over $1.2 million into capital improvements this summer, including the purchase of 2 new Pisten Bully snow groomers and the installation of 13,000 ft. of snowmaking pipeline. The area has also replaced 24 snowmaking guns with new, more efficient, automatic fanguns and installed a new efficient six stick automatic snowgun system on the Alley Cat Racing Trail. Additional improvements have been made to the area’s rental fleet with the replacement of all adult boots and 700 adult skis in their main rental shop. Cataloochee has also added a second terrain park on the mountain with four new snow guns.
“We continue to expand our snowmaking system which allows us to utilize these early colder temperatures and allow us to open as early as we can”, says Chris Bates, Cataloochee’s Vice President and General Manager. “We remain committed to our customers in providing the most skiing and riding time we can each season and will continue to make snow and open early each year.”
Additional snowmaking will occur as temperatures permit.
For an up-to-date snow report and more information about the 2010/2011 season, go to www.cataloochee.com