Cyndy, I would have commented long ago on your post but we’ve been debugging my inability to reply without being called a spammer!

I love your note because it proves what I know as a Southern skier—that it’s much easier to try the sport and end up loving it if close-to-home slopes are nearby. As prices rise and exclusivity soars in the ski industry post COVID and increasing corporate consolidation, it’s likely that fewer people than ever will decide to hop on a plane to Vail just to see if they like skiing. But thanks to an increasingly sophisticated list of slopes in the South, the nation’s youngest, most populous region is feeding skiers on to other ski regions as never before.

Among those folks are people whose passion for the sport takes them out West and up North and on to lives and careers in snowsports. Today, southern accents are ubiquitous all over ski country, and so are the of people like you, who can recall early days at southeastern ski areas that are still seeding the dream. So your story is not too unique, but it’s gratifying indeed. Last thought—The region you left behind increasingly sustains a skier’s lifestyle right here at home. Thanks for your wonderful note.

Hi Steve, thanks for asking. I didn’t receive Wisp’s input until after I posted, and I’m still working out some bugs in my ability to reply to reader comments.

Wisp reports that they’ve added 18 new snow guns on the Central Park Terrain Park just above the base lodge (which gets a new music system in the McHenry Room), and another seventeen low energy stick guns on the long green run Possum. Wisp also debuts a new PistenBully 400 Park Pro groomer, and a new race training center for the Deep Creek Winter Sports Team. There will also be a new web cam coming online aiming at the Mountain Park snow tubing facility.

Looks like some nice improvements at Southeastern slopes this ski season, which, just got started at Sugar Mountain, NC this morning with skiing to the top on six trails and two of the resort’s high speed lifts in operation. A little natural and what looks like an upcoming week of good snowmaking temps bodes well for the upcoming weekend. Randy (via webmaster)

I started my ski instruction career at Massanutten in 1981 while I was an undergraduate student at James Madison University (JMU). Great memories and still have friends from Massanutten.

Still teaching 41 years later at Copper Mountain with the Over the Hill gang!