Sugar Mountain Resort Reviews

• Overall Rating 4
• Family Friendly 4
• Downhill Terrain 4
• Terrain Park
• Nightlife

Pros: local, convenient lodging, fun atmosphere, alpine

Cons: weather not dependable

Recommended Skill Level: Intermediate
Recommended For: Families
Date Visited: Nov, 2008

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Full review

This was our family's first trip to Sugar Mountain. We are generally intermediate skiers (though I enjoy some steeper stuff) from the Nashville area (about 5 1/2 hours). This was a last minute trip, and we skied 2 days - november 30 and december 1. Our trip was a tale of two days, dictated primarily by changing weather conditions. On the 30th, there was drizzle. This was not fun to ski in, but we made the best of it, considering our desperation to carve a few early season turns. Surprisingly the slopes stayed in decent condition. We skied some fun runs from the top of the mountain. There was practically nobody on the mountain.

Overnight, snow began to fall, and we had 4-6 inches of fresh natural snow to ski on for the 1st. Also, it became cold enough for snowmaking. The conditions stayed great all day, and it seemed as if there was always fresh powder to float on. Any bare spots were erased, particularly at the top of the advanced slope (tom terrific) that was open at the time. The variation of the terrain was fun, with a narrow switchback type trail at the top with sloped sides that my kids loved, and wide open blues and greens the rest of the way down. Tom terrific was pretty steep at the start and then mellowed into a fairly tough intermediate slope.

Overall, there was more than enough terrain to keep us entertained for a couple of days, even though only half the mountain was open. The 1200 foot vertical drop was reminiscent of western slopes - about as long as I would want to ski before needing some muscle burn recovery time. Our accommodations were slopeslide (bee branch condos on easy street) and convenient, though the connections between the beginner slope (easy street) and the rest of the mountain were limited due to slope coverage. The employees were friendly, including those speaking english as a second language - a smile and a thank you goes a long way. The snow patrol was very helpful and friendly - generally more conversational than other places I've skied, willing to stop and help the fallen skier with a smile, offer words of encouragement, etc.

The constant snowmaking on the 1st was a bit annoying, but I understand in this area you've got to take what you get, and snow laid down today is insurance for another day of rain like we had the 30th. Many reviews are critical of the slow lifts. There are no high speed lifts here, and no quads. This has obvious disadvantages, but looking on the bright side - it gives your muscles time to rest, time for conversation with your 7 year old, and helps to manage the crowds on the slopes by keeping half of them on the lift! We were lucky during our trip that we had no lift lines to speak of.

We have our own gear, so can't comment on that whole process. Food was kind of expensive, but respectable. The lodge was clean and well maintained. The pro shop staff was helpful, and if we had time, we could have killed a ton of time shopping bargains on the Spyder sample sale. Banner Elk has a resort town feel, the grocery store (food lion, i think) had stuff that I wouldn't expect to find in a small town grocery (organic produce, decent wine selection, etc.).

We had a great time. We will be back - probably this season between trips west. I think this will become our "local" mountain. I'd say this place is excellent for where it is, and is the best place I've skied close enough for a weekend trip from Nashville - worth an extra hour's drive further than other places. I rate it "good" instead of "excellent" simply because you can't compare a trip here to one to the Rockies. Sorry so wordy, hope this is helpful...