After leading Sugar Mountain Ski Resort for nearly 50 years, North Carolina Secretary of Commerce, Lee Lilley and Visit NC Director, Wit Tuttell presented Gunther Jochl with the Winner’s Circle Award at a special luncheon during the 2026 Visit North Carolina Tourism Conference held March 16-18 at the Omni Grove Park Inn & Spa in Asheville, North Carolina.

Sugar Mountain Ski Resort in Avery County, North Carolina will open tomorrow, November 11 for the 2025-26 winter season, not an unusually early opening for the ambitious Southern ski area. Other early openings occurred November 11, 2018, and November 9, 2019. And as recently as 2012, Sugar Mountain Resort dropped the ropes on Halloween.

Sugar Mountain Ski Resort, North Carolina – Tuesday, September 16, 2025 –Sugar Mountain Ski Resort lights up this winter season with the installation of twenty new LED slope lights. All twenty will be positioned on the Lower Flying Mile slope.

Sugar Mountain Resort, North Carolina. Tuesday, August 12, 2025 – Polka Dance your way to Sugar Mountain Resort’s 35th annual Oktoberfest celebration, Saturday & Sunday, October 11 & 12 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Festival goers will enjoy beautiful fall foliage, cool mountain temperatures, and a weekend full of family fun activities. Admission, parking, and shuttle service are free.