I'm thinking of taking the family to the Boone/Blowing Rock area for a few days of skiing in early January.

Any recommendations for a nice inn or B&B in the area? Does anyone know the Yonahlossee Inn or Smoketree Lodge? Both have indoor pools and look nice on their websites.

Opinions on Sugar Mountain, Beech Mountain or Hawksnest for skiing? I'm a New Englander and have never skiied in NC, but that's where we are now. Have heard that the skiing is decent but the crowds can be horrendous. We really need a change of scenery and some outdoor activity this New Year's!

Thanks for your help.

Sorry, I am not a skier. But maybe topping this will help.

NC mountain ski enthusiasts? Are you out there?

Where are all of our NC Fodorites? NCGirl??

to the top, one more time?

I don't ski so I can't answer that question, but a great inn in Blowing Rock is the Chetola Resort, 1-800-243-8652, www.chetola.com. It, too, has a heated indoor pool.

Thanks, Arabella. Chetola looks wonderful, I'll check it out.

Any other ideas, anybody?

Would recommend you ski either Beech or Sugar. Hawksnest is pretty small. All will be very crowded on week-ends. Yonahlossee is nice (our daughter went to camp there before the developers took it!) and Smoketree was lovely years ago--probably still is. They are pretty far to drive for Beech--OK for Sugar. You might want to google and look for rentals at Sugar and Beech. Hopefully there will be enough cold days soon for them to make snow and get the terrain covered. I would recommend you stay on the mountain you are skiing--just easier than dealing with the parking lots, etc.

Susan, check out www.skinorthcarolina.com for good up to the minute info. I think Hawksnest has switched to all tubing (no skiing).

And unless it gets colder here in a hurry, you may not be able to ski in early Jan.

Susan-With the mild weather we have been having you will be lucky to get snow there. With all New England's resorts, I can't believe you are going to go to North Carolina. Have you thought about going out west? Steamboat is a great family place.

Another thought is Mt. Tremblant in Canada near Montreal. Check out the Hotel Frontenac (sp?) wonderful place, lots to do and great food.

Sorry, Hotel Fronenac is in Quebec City not Tremblant. Near Quebec City is Mt. St. Anne, comparable to skiing Vermont. Tremblant is 1.5 hours from Montreal. Just checked their website, they don't have snow yet either, but they should get it. IMO, your best bet is to go north or out west to find snow that early.

Whoa, folks, don't sell NC short on the ski snow front. All the resorts make their snow and it just has to get cold. Actually the resorts prefer NOT to have natural snow since that bolloxes up the highway drive to the slopes. Susan will need to check on the temps and conditions closer to the time. And I interpret what she says is that she is living here now and is skiing close to home. Oh, Susan, you might also consider Winterplace and Snowshoe in West Virginia. Can't help on arrangements there.

We taught our kids to ski in that area and always had a great time. We either stay at Chetola (wonderful place) and ski Appalachian Mountain (small but nice) or The Pinnacle on at Sugar Mountain. It's ski in and ski out. There's more to choose from in that area as far as dining.

Just back from our ski vacation and wanted to give y'all a report.

We ended up staying 2 nights in a condo right on the slopes of Sugar Mountain.

The kids had a fabulous time skiing. The conditions were good and the slopes were not crowded. The ski-in, ski-out was incredibly convenient. Also enjoyed the indoor pool.

It didn't occur to me to find out if the condo was a non-smoking unit, and sure enough it was not. It smelled pretty bad and put a damper on the time indoors. We tried to change units, but were not able to as everything was completely booked.
But the place itself was nice enough and had a great view of the slopes.

We had fun exploring Boone and Banner Elk and discovered that Beech Mountain has a lot more charm than Sugar Mountain. We'll try it next year.

Thanks to Gretchen, Brian, Arabella, and Sal for your helpful advice!

Cheers,
Susan