Best Ski School in NC? (yes, I said North Carolina)

[snocat]

Divas,
In pursuit of making my niece and nephew ski junkies, I am taking them to North Carolina Saturday for their first ski experience. At ages 12 and 15, my sister has only put their vacation feet on sand (sounds like child abuse to me ). I am going to have them do a 2 or 3 hour private lesson but am at a loss for which ski school. We are staying in Boone and I am thinking either Sugar, Beech or Appalachian (I have an inclination towards App and Sugar but that is simply because Beech does not have a magic carpet). This will be a two day trip and, no pressure, I want them to love it. The right ski school is key to making this happen.

OK, Divas, help an Aunt out! Unleash those suggestions (or any warnings of where to avoid)!

(note: I am pretty limited to NC this trip; my sister said "no" to my initial trip of taking them to Beaver Creek CO. Winterplace WV is the furthest we can go this weekend. People who are not exposed to enough snow apparently become bitter, dark little individuals. I hope to address this when I take my sister to Chile for her surprise birthday ski trip...:ROTF: )

 

[Robyn]

If you're taking your sister for surprise ski trips to Chile I'll happily stand in for her! :D

Sorry, I haven't a clue about any ski schools in NC.

 

[Little Lightning]

I can't help you with ski instructors but how do the conditions compare? No matter how good the instructor is it won't matter if the condtions are crappy.

My friend who is a level one ski instructor at Keystone recommends that kids that age tend to do better with their own peers, so I would look for a ski school that has a focus on that age group. He says they are more comfortable in groups of their peers, no adults, they have kids their age to relate to, than in private lessons. Finding the right group lesson will enable you to give them 2 days of lessons rather than one.

I'm a retired teacher and have worked with this age group, I know they can be difficult. Good luck in finding someone who understands how to work with them.

 

[FLGIRL]

Ok, I can comment on skiing in North Carolina...

We have another home near Cataloochee which is West of Asheville in the Smokey Mountains and they have skiing there.

So my husband says, "Why don't you save us money on all those ski trips you take and just ski here? It's only 8 miles from our home."

So I gave it a couple shots and boy, after you've skiied CO or UT or like anywhere else in the world....it's really hard to ski NC. I found that this particular place had poorly groomed trails (and not too many of them at that) and old chair lifts and incompetent chair lift operators. One old chair lift came around at 20 MPH for me and my son (8 at the time) and they didn't slow it down. Well it whipped around and he didn't get quite on and it partially scooped him up and he's dangling and we're lifting up and I'm holding his hand and he's screaming. It was pretty scary until someone shut it down. I've always had more attentive lift operators in other places.

Also you have to watch out for the inexperienced skiiers. You got your day skiiers or mountain people who never take a lesson and they start at the top of the hilll and just free-fall down and say "WATCH OUT!!!!" and crash to the bottom. This happened both times I was there. Or you have your first-time snowboarders that don't wear a cord and their boards go free falling.

The second time I was at Cataloochee I was skiing their Black run (ahem....yeah right) and one of those crazy skiiers ran into me coming straight down and knocked me down. That night my elbow was in such pain and it was swollen and black and blue for days. This was 2 year ago and I cannot rest my right elbow on a table or I shriek in pain....something is just not right with it. Something just got messed up with the bone. Otherwise it doesn't bother me. But it's a reminder to never go back there.

So now I tell my husband we can have our lovely mountain home..but no skiing in NC for me! I'll just fly to a place where they know what they are doing. But hey, not everyone can and I understand that.

I do hear Sugar Mountain is nicer than Cataloochee. Please tell your young relatives that there are some other fantastic places out there too!

Take care.