This past weekend my husband and I planned a trip to North Carolina to go skiing and escape for our 9 year dating anniversary and 7 month wedding anniversary. In normal times around this time of year, a big group of my friends go to the west coast for a skiing trip. Obviously, due to Covid, we were not able to make that trip happen. We still wanted to get our ski fix in and travel safely. On this trip we stayed in a local AirBnb so we wouldn’t have contact with others. While at the slopes we always wore our masks and kept our distance. We cooked/brought the majority of our own food for the trip to reduce going out to eat and contact with others.

Budget:

We didn’t want to splurge on this trip but really just enjoy each other’s company. So to keep this trip affordable, find a place for a total of less than $300 for 3 days. We stayed at this AirBnb, but we also considered the Best Western in Banner Elk. Making bagels for breakfast, PB&J sandwiches and snacks packed in a backpack for lunches, and for dinners we cooked at the AirBnb. I brought my instant pot to cook pasta with leftover pasta sauce and rice for homemade poke bowls.

Day 1- Beech Mountain

If you can, taking Friday off work allows you to ski on a weekday since the prices are significantly cheaper. We left on Thursday afternoon from Atlanta and it took about 5 hours to get there. On Friday morning we woke up and got to Beech Mountain resort by 9 am. Beech Mountain lets you buy your lift tickets online ahead of time, which I highly recommend, especially on a holiday weekend.

Beech Mountain Costs

We waited in line for 20 minutes to pick up our lift tickets even though we ordered them online. Tip, go to the group sales office up the stairs because they can check you in since fewer groups are there during this time. We waited for an hour and a half to get our rentals. It is in a separate location which is very unfortunate and does not streamline the process. I recommend getting your ski rentals offsite the night before or the morning of at an offsite location like Alpine Ski Center, Beech Meadows Ski Shop.

Here are some quick budget facts about it:

-$43 Friday lift ticket, $ 72-weekend lift ticket

-helmets not included

-$34 every day for rentals

Friday’s total: $154

Saturday’s total: $212

Total for 2 days: $366

Beech Mountain Experience

It was very crowded on the Friday we went, even early in the morning. If you look at the map, there is a play yard for people to learn to ski. It was a small space to learn on and it was very overcrowded. The main lift beginners used for the Freestyle route took 20-30 minutes to get through the line. The lift’s for the blue and black routes moved quickly compared to the green ones. The whole day my pass only got checked twice and only some workers were asking people to put on their masks in line. On the lift ride up you could tell people trashed this place. There were alcohol cans and bottles all up the lift ride.

I enjoyed the runs Oz Run and White Lightening the most. Beech Mountain trails were a mixture of a small layer of snow and ice. Not much fresh powder anywhere on the trails. We started skiing at 10:30, took a quick 30-minute lunch break, and finishing skiing around 3 pm. I didn’t love it here, but for the price and the availability to ski on the east coast, it did the job.

Day 2 – Sugar Mountain

After our first day of skiing, we decided to sleep in Saturday morning. By the time we rolled out of bed, it wasn’t worth it to head to Sugar Mountain for day tickets. Being the holiday weekend it was going to be even more crowded so we decided to show up for the night session. You can’t buy your lift tickets for Sugar Mountain ahead of time online. If you want to go during the day session it is recommended you arrive around 7:30 am to guarantee a spot. You can also purchase them the night before at 8 pm.

Sugar Mountain Costs

We showed up at 4:30 pm at Sugar Mountain to grab a drink and buy tickets for the night session. Unfortunately, the tickets don’t go on sale until 5 pm so we waited in line. What I liked about Sugar Mountain, there was one line where you could buy your lift tickets and your rentals all in the same place. It makes it much more streamlined. By the time we got our tickets and fitted for everything, it was 6 pm and time for the night session to begin.

Here are some quick budget facts about it:

– $46 Friday lift ticket, $77 Saturday lift ticket. 

-$26 Friday rental, $36 Saturday rental

-helmets not included

Friday’s total: $144

Saturday’s total: $226

Total for 2 days: $370

Sugar Mountain Experience

There were still a fair share of people at the nighttime session. What I loved the most was the trails at Sugar Mountain have lots of fresh powder, almost no ice. The green routes were great for my husband to practice on and every route was at least double the length of the ones at Beech. One of the downsides is many of the trails were closed due to not having lights on them. The lifts and the lines moved very quickly so I was able to get 3-4 runs done within an hour.

My favorite runs were the Northridge to the Switchback and Omar’s Meadow. They scanned your pass every time you were in line and they had security guards making sure you had masks on at all times. I highly recommend going to the top of the mountain at sunset for one of the best views I’ve ever seen. We started skiing around 6 pm, took a quick bathroom/food break, and finished skiing around 8:30 pm.

Equipment

For this ski trip, we brought pretty minimal equipment. Many items we pre-owned like my ski pants and goggles but some we had to buy. Here are some links to items we wore incase you are needing them:

• Columbia Women’s Ski Jacket – love that the inner and outer shells can be split
• Mens’s Ski Jacket– I always recommend going up a size so it’s comfortable under layers.
• Men’s Ski Pants – run a little long on my husband but perfect with ski boots
• Helmets – order early from amazon, but this is their company website
• Gloves – bought these when I went hiking in Utah and perfect for 30s-40s weather

Weekend Summary

Overall, it was a great weekend to get some skiing in during this crazy time and also a very affordable trip! If you are wanting to plan a trip here, March is a great time to visit as well because both Sugar and Beech mountain offer lower ticket pricing! Hopefully, this might inspire you to hit the slopes but on a budget!