Welcome to the High Country

North Carolina’s High Country provides the best vacation experience in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Our area includes 100 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway and these popular tourist destinations: Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, Beech Mountain, Grandfather Mountain, Linville, N. Wilkesboro, Sparta, Valle Crucis, West Jefferson and Wilkesboro. Visitors enjoy hiking, rafting, arts & crafts, shopping, skiing and the famous Tweetsie Railroad.

Click Here for information about NC High Country Ski Resorts

Sugar Mountain to Host Giant Slalom Competition

Skiers and snowboarders are encouraged to enter the Richard Trundy Memorial Sugar Cup Giant Slalom Competition on March 7 at Sugar Mountain Resort.

The Sugar Cup Competition has been held annually since 1987. It's a fundraising event to celebrate the lives of people whose contributions have made a lasting impression at Sugar Mountain Resort. Trundy was director of operations at Sugar Mountain Resort from 1987-2000. He passed away in 2002 from cancer. Since his death, 100% of the entry fees from this event have been donated to the American Cancer Society.

Registration takes place that morning from 7:30-8:30 a.m. Competition begins at 9 a.m. on the Big Red Slope. Entry fee is $15, and lift tickets for participants are $25. Prizes are awarded to the top three skiers and snowboarders in 13 age categories.
For info, call 800-SUGAR-MT or visit: www.skisugar.com/calendar.

Youth Sledding Hill Open Daily atop Beech Mtn.

Beech Mountain's youth sledding hill has opened for the winter season. The hill draws families from across the Southeast for sledding on a daily basis. Conditions are generally very good throughout the winter. Beech Mountain (elevation 5,506 feet) averages more than 80 inches of snowfall per year, and the town has its own gun for blowing snow when Mother Nature isn't.

The Beech sledding hill is located next to the Chamber of Commerce. It is open daily at no charge for kids 12 and under, although parents may ride with smaller
children. Plastic sleds are required. Folks are encouraged to bring their own sleds, or they may be purchased at stores on the mountain. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Parking and restrooms are provided by the chamber. People are encouraged to call the chamber at (800) 468-5506 to receive live updates on sledding conditions. "All I have to do is look out the window," says the chamber's Peggy Coscia. "We're that close."

Additional info on the Beech Mountain sledding hill is available at: www.beechmtn.com.

I-40 Rock Slide Information

Travelers can still reach Western North Carolina via a number of routes. An official detour has been set up for inter-state traffic. Motorists traveling west to Tennessee should take I-40 West to I-240 West (Exit 53b) in Asheville to I-26 West (Exit 4a). Follow I-26 West from Asheville to I-81 South (Exit 8a) in Tennessee, back to I-40. Eastbound motorists will follow the reverse directions.

A map is available at https://apps.dot.state.nc.us/TIMS/default.aspx.
More information about the I-40 Rock Slide is available here.