Skiing in North Carolina with kids
I am sure these questions pop up in many a mind living in the South-east US and wanting to go skiing, especially with beginners or kids who have never skied.
Do I have to get on a plane to go skiing?
Not necessarily – there are many skiing resorts within a day’s drive that offer skiing good enough for beginners. North Carolina and Tennessee have the southern-most ski resorts in the south-east US. As we go north, ski resorts in Virginia and West Virginia offer a lot more in the way of altitude, difficulty, terrain and the number of ski lifts and trails.
Is it very expensive?
- Skiing does tend to be more expensive sport/hobby than most because of the necessary ski lift tickets, equipment rentals, lessons, etc. However, it would still compare favorably to a Disney vacation in terms of cost.
- Driving to the ski resort also reduces the flight and car rental costs which brings down the overall cost.
What’s a good age for kids for a ski trip?
Assuming that you live in the south like us or not in the vicinity of a ski resort, it means our kids do not have the opportunity to go a couple of times a month to practice their skiing. They would probably get, at most, once a year opportunity to ski for a few days. While all kids are different and have different abilities to pick up a new sport, we found that 8 or 9 years of age is a good age to start skiing. We introduced them the first time when they were 6 and 8 years of age and our 6 year old struggled to learn, even with 2 full days of ski school. The equipment was too cumbersome for her with all the snow gear on that she was not used to. This time around, at almost 9 years of age, she was on the ski lift and skiing down the green run at the end of her second day.
How many days is a good duration for the first ski trip?
We found 3 days to be a good duration for our first couple of ski trips. The first 2 days, enthusiasm conquers the discomfort of unaccustomed cold, bulkiness of the clothing and boots and skis, and the exhaustion of falling and getting up again. By the end of second day, they also see lots of progress and results of their hard work. For our kids, half of the third day was spent on practicing their skills and then they were done. We spent the rest of the day hiking and sight seeing in Asheville before heading back.
Skiing or Snowboarding?
This would depend on the child’s interest. Our daughter picked up skiing and our son picked up snowboarding. It is said by many and has also been our experience that snowboarding takes longer to learn than skiing. However, the advantage with snowboarding is that its easier to get up after falling than with skiing. Just watching the green trail from the resort, we could see the snowboarders of all ages tumbling down the hill, getting up and falling again. The skiers tended to be more stable.
Rent or buy snow pants/bibs/jackets
That will depend on how many days you plan to ski. Most places rent snow-bibs for 10 bucks a day. If you only plan to ski one day, then definitely rent. If you plan to ski 2 days or more, it makes more sense to buy one. Target sells kids snow pants for 20 dollars. You can get snow pants from Columbia for under 30 dollars on sale after Christmas. We also bought a size slightly bigger than their normal fit. That allowed them to use the same snow pants for ski trips over 2 years.
Rent or buy ski boots/skis/snow boards
It is always more cost effective to rent the shoes and skis unless you plan to ski multiple times a season. A decent pair of ski boots cost upward of 200 dollars and rentals cost a 10th of that. Once the kids’s feet stop growing and we find that they are still skiing every year, we may buy them a pair of good boots and equipment to cut the time spent in renting and fitting the equipment.
Group lesson or private lesson?
- Group lessons are cheap and have upwards of 10 people in a class. It usually lasts 90 minutes.
- This is the way to go for the first ever lesson. You learn how to put on and remove your skis, walk and shuffle on skis, safety rules, and a few rounds on the smallest bunny hill. It is not worth spending dollars on a private lesson to learn what you can for less than half the price.
- Private lessons are at least two times as expensive as group lessons. It usually lasts 60 minutes and can be normally extended for a lesser amount if needed.
- This is the fastest way to learn and practice the basics of skiing/snowboarding with the instructor fully focused on you. Since our kids had gone to ski school a couple of years back, we got private lessons this time and they were skiing and snowboarding by end of their first day.
Which ski resort to choose?
This depends on many things:
- People in your party with multiple skill level need different kinds of trails
- Access to the ski-resort – do you need 4 wheel drive?
- Need child-care?
- Family friendly
- Do you like smaller setups or a large ski resort with tubing, ice-skating, evening camp-fires, etc.
- Driving distance from your home/air-port
Coming from Florida, we looked at the three closest ski resorts in North Carolina
Cataloochee
Pros
- Family friendly
- Great for beginners
Cons
- Access road is steep, part gravel with no side rail and requires a 4 wheel drive to drive safely in rain/snow conditions.
- Equipment rental is done across three different buildings and can take from 1-2 hours based on how busy they are.
- Ski lift tickets and equipment rental are a lot more expensive than the other ski resorts near by.
Sapphire Valley
Pros
- Family friendly
- Great for beginners
Cons
- Only a couple of trails
Wolf Ridge Ski Resort
Pros
- Easy access with paved road all the way
- Full-service resort with 1 small and 1 bigger bunny hill, a long green trail with slopes and level areas that works well for both skiers and snow boarders, multiple lifts and trails with various difficulty levels.
- Cheapest rentals, ski lift tickets and lessons in the area.
- Hot lunch with lots of choices at reasonable cost.
Cons
- Its the farthest up-north of the three resorts. But its only 30 minutes north of Asheville which would be a great place to stay.
We had originally planned to go to Cataloochee because of it’s reputation as a good place for beginners. However, after more research, we decided to go to Wolf Ridge resort as we did not feel comfortable driving to Cataloochee on our mini-van with half worn treads. The time to get through rentals and the high cost was another reason we chose Wolf Ridge. And it turned out to be a great choice!
Skiing in North Carolina with kids – Story of our trip
Our 9 hour drive from Tampa to Lake Junaluska was uneventful and we reached our HomeAway rental before sun-down. This was a well learnt lesson from our previous visit to Maggie Valley, the smokey mountain area is hilly! There are narrow roads with blind hairpin turns with no street lights so its always a good idea to reach while there is daylight. Most of these areas also don’t have good cell phone reception so it’s always a good idea to find your rental before sundown.
Lake Junaluska is a scenic region near Maggie Valley, NC, on the east side of the Smoky Mountains National Park and a favorite place of ours to visit. We had decided to stay here because of its proximity to Cataloochee Ski resort but it was only another 30 minutes to Wolf Ridge. The next time we come here for skiing, we are definitely staying in Asheville, NC. It is closer to Wolf Ridge and has more to offer for the the evenings.
We lucked out on weather, at about 34 degrees F and sunny skies for the majority of the day. The ski resort had plenty of snow making machines and they were all on the first day we were there.
With private lessons, the kids learnt fast. By day 2 and 3, they were going up the green run on the ski lift.
There were 2 bunny hills and the green run was a long one with plenty of slopes and level surfaces to give the newbies some practice and confidence. There were plenty of falls along the way but overall it was safe; we didn’t see any injuries during our three days there.
We also got a chance to go tubing at Zip N Slip Snow Tubing Park near Wolf Ridge Ski resort. It had plenty of man-made snow, enough height and slope to give the kids and young at heart some excitement as they flew down the lane! Wolf Ridge has a smaller tubing area that would be more suitable for toddlers.
But the best of all, they had a screened-in, heated, sun-room to sit and watch the kids in comfort, sipping hot coffee, hot chocolate or an amazing cup of hot cinnamon apple cider. There was a fire pit outside to roast marshmallows and overall a great stop for the family.
What are some of your favorite skiing places?
More on packing tips for a skiing trip.
See our other adventures here.