A FREE Daily Visitor Guide for the North Carolina Mountains and 50+ NC Mountain Cities: January 2017

Friday, January 27, 2017

NC Ski Slopes OPEN despite Persistent warm weather

Slope conditions and updates as of January 27, 2017:

Appalachian Ski Mountain is OPEN for the 2016-17 Season Skiing 9 slopes with 5 lifts on a base of 12 - 30 inches. 1/28-29 USASA Skier/Boarder X; 2/1 - Appalachian Cup Series; 2/4 - Burton Riglet Park Tour; 2/5, 3/5 - $10 Sunday Nights (half night)

Beech Mountain Ski Resort is OPEN for the 2016-17 Season Skiing on 8 slopes with 5 lifts on a base of 12 - 26 inches. Tubing is currently closed, ice skating is open. 2/4-12 College Week; 2/5 USASA Southeastern Series; 2/5 Superbowl Party at The Beech Tree Bar & Grille

Beech Mountain Slopes Trail Map

Cataloochee Ski Area is OPEN for the 2016-17 Season    Snowmaking in progress and moving up the mountain as cold weather continues Skiing on 4 slopes with 2 lifts on a base of 8-12 . Tube World is open. 1/26-27 Military Appreciation Weekend; 2/2-3 Law Enforcement Appreciation Days

Sapphire Valley Ski Area is OPEN for the 2016-17 Season    Call 828-743-7663 for the latest information on slope conditions, open trails and the Frozen Falls Tube Park.

Sugar Mountain Ski Resort is OPEN for the 2016-17 Season    Skiing on 7 slopes with 4 lifts on a base of 12 - 36 inches. Skating and Tubing are open. 2/5 High Country Junior Race Series Giant Slalom; 2/19 High Country Junior Race Series Giant Slalom

Wolf Ridge Ski Resort is OPEN for the 2016-17 Season   Skiing on 4 slopes with 3 lifts on a base of 20 inches. Tubing open.

Appalachian Ski Mountain

Get links for ALL NC Ski Resorts and Areas

with complete information on our

NC Ski Resorts and Ski Areas Guide

Thursday, January 26, 2017

The Blue Ridge Music Center Winter Music Series

February 5 at 6 PM - Winter Concert, The Blue Ridge Music Center : Art + Sound. For this concert The Blue Ridge Music Center will be working with the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art. $18 advance general admission, $28 VIP (reserve seating & letterpress poster) or $23 door, $33 VIP. Held at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC.

Lonnie Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity, manifest in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and sound. His music and lyrics are improvised on the spot and morph and evolve with every event, concert, and recording.

For Kentucky-born cellist and composer Ben Sollee, music and activism often intertwine. He has toured by bicycle, spoken about sustainability at festivals, and worked on a collaborative album to bring awareness about mountain top removal strip mining in Appalachia. With it all, his musicianship shines through. The New York Times wrote Sollee's "...meticulous, fluent arrangements continually morphed from one thing to another. Appalachian mountain music gave way to the blues, and one song was appended with a fragment from a Bach cello suite, beautifully played."

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

National Parks Foundation to Celebrate 50th Anniversary

The National Park Foundation is gearing up to celebrate another milestone in 2017 – their 50th anniversary! For the last half century, park lovers have been working at The Foundation to ensure America’s special places remain vibrant, relevant, and protected for future generations. In honor of this special birthday, NPF has collected some of the favorite park stories from their staff. Read all about these favorite places and experiences here.

2016 was a great year for the National Park Foundation and our national parks. Through grants of over $32 million, The Foundation helped protect these special places, were able to connect new audiences to these incredible places, created opportunities to inspire the next generation of national park supporters, and celebrated the centennial of the National Park Service. Also in 2016, NPF added several new sites to the National Park System including Stonewall National Monument and Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument. The Foundation continued to support and expand the Every Kid in a Park initiative to 9 focus cities and also supported 21st Century Conservation Service Corps at several parks in 2016. The National Park Foundation is proud of everything they accomplished in 2016 and very excited for all the great things to come in 2017, including celebrating NPF’s semi-centennial. Read more about the impact in 2016 on The National Park Foundation blog.

Winter is a great time to visit a National Park - just check the website for road closures due to inclement weather. Fewer visitors and exquisite scenery make this season a stunning and peaceful time to escape into national parks.

FREE National Park Owners Guide. Make your national park experience better than ever. These FREE downloadable national park Owner's Guides are filled with travel tips and inside information on what not to miss. It's your one-stop resource to discover all your national parks. Download any time.

The Blue Ridge Parkway at 469 miles long is the nation's longest scenic rural parkway. Now 70 years old it is administered by the National Park Service and host to approximately 20 million visits annually. It connects the Shenandoah Valley National Park with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. Along the route are opportunities for lodging, dining, camping, hiking and simply enjoying breathtaking views from easily accessible overlooks and picnic areas. For additional information visit :The Blueridge Parkway Association

The River Arts District is open year around with the opportunity to meet artists in their studios. Schedules are available online. This unique area along the French Broad River is home to more than 165 artists with working studios located in 18 turn-of-the-century industrial buildings. The artists of the River Arts District welcome you into their studios to talk with them, see their latest artwork, watch demonstrations, and experience for yourself the magic hidden inside the time-worn factories and warehouses along the French Broad River.

Chimney Rock Park is named for a 500 million-year-old giant granite monolith overlooking Hickory Nut Gorge. Visitors are awed by the breathtaking view that spreads 1200 vertical feet beneath them and 75 miles across the Carolinas. The now state owned park encompasses 1,000 acres offers the best of the mountains in one place with spectacular 75-mile views, hiking trails for all ages, a 404-foot waterfall, a variety of special events and much more. Chimney Rock NC

The National Scenic Byways Program is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. The program is a grass-roots collaborative effort established to help recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads throughout the United States. Since 1992, the National Scenic Byways Program has provided funding for almost 1500 state and nationally designated byway projects in 48 states. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation recognizes certain roads as All-American Roads or National Scenic Byways based on one or more archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational and scenic qualities.

Tsali Recreation Area is an outdoors lover's paradise. Probably the most popular features of Tsali Recreation Area are the 39 miles of trails suited for mountain bikers and horse-back riders, as well as hikers. The 4-loop system offers a variety of landscapes. You can climb 1-foot wide rugged paths or travel flat, well-beaten roads. The four trails--Right, Left, Mouse Branch, and Thompson Loops--meander through mixed pine and hardwoods on a peninsula stretching into Fontana Lake. Near Bryson City NC and Robbinsville NC.