January 21, 2025 • 22 mins
Come along with me as I embark on a snowy adventure at the newly revamped Hatley Pointe Ski Resort in Western North Carolina. Set against a picturesque winter backdrop, we explore this mountain gem, which has been transformed since Deb and David Hatley purchased it in March 2023. While I haven’t yet met the Hatleys, I’m already inspired by their vision and the distinct charm they've brought to this once-overlooked resort.
Guests are treated to breathtaking views, cozy facilities, and a boutique vibe that sets Hatley Pointe apart from the usual ski spots in the Southeast. By limiting ticket sales and focusing on guest experience over overcrowding, this resort offers a refreshing escape for skiers, riders and families alike. From upgraded snowmaking infrastructure to reopened terrains, every investment has been made with quality in mind.
Whether you're a seasoned skier or boarder or new to the slopes, Hatley Pointe is a must-visit destination. Tune in to hear all about our unforgettable adventure and why I wholeheartedly recommend this hidden gem in the heart of the Western North Carolina.
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Mike Andress
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to Exploration Local, a podcast
designed to explore andcelebrate the people and places
that make the Blue Ridge andSouthern Appalachian Mountains
special and unique.
My name is Mike Andrus, thehost of Exploration Local.
Join us on our journey toexplore these mountains and
discover how they fuel a spiritof adventure.
We encourage you to wander far,but explore local, let's go.
(00:30):
So a couple of disclaimers aswe get going here.
Number one this is not going tobe a full-length episode.
This is going to be more of asort of a mini episode.
I've alluded to that on mysocials when I was out on Hatley
Point and I put it up on mystory.
So it's going to be a littlebit more of sort of a mini.
The second disclaimer is thatI've never met Deb and David
(00:51):
Hatley, who are the new owners,the new entrepreneurial owners
of Hatley Point.
So I do hope to have them onone day.
I'd love to dive deeper intotheir story.
I've read articles and I'veseen some of their posts on
YouTube and socials, but I'dreally love to kind of know a
little bit more about theirstory.
So maybe one day.
Third disclaimer for me I neverskied a ski wolf, as they used
(01:12):
to affectionately refer to it as.
So I have been to Wolf Laurel anumber of times.
I have been up, I have walkedsome of the property, but I've
never skied there.
So when I share my experiencewith you, it's not really gonna
be a comparison between what wasbefore and what is now, but I
think for if anybody has beenfollowing and has been intrigued
by this new venture, they'llknow that it has definitely
(01:35):
changed, just with thesnowmaking, just in general.
The fourth is one of my bigreasons and motivations.
I've been watching this sinceMarch of 2023, when Deb and Dave
Hatley purchased this propertyfor about gosh, I think, a
smooth $8.4, $8.5 million.
So I've been watching theirvision take place on social
media, probably very similarlyas you all have.
(01:57):
So that's that.
And then the fifth one is reallykind of two-part.
Number one I get a lot ofquestions from listeners and
people around town just askingme if I have been up to the New
Hatley Point, if I'veexperienced the mountain, if
I've experienced the resortitself, the lodge.
There's a lot of emphasis,obviously early on, with getting
the lodge up to speed.
And then the other thing isthat some of the negativity that
(02:20):
I've seen, I didn't go up thereto ski it just to try to refute
any of the negativity.
But I just felt bad because youcan tell they're they're
pouring their heart or soul,their life, into this project.
And then some of the peoplehave been really kind of focused
on, you know, saying focused onthe negative part Well, you're
putting all this money into thislodge.
You know this isn't what you do.
In the Southeast we have ashort ski season.
(02:42):
You know southeast we have ashort ski season.
You know you should be puttingmoney into the mountain and if
they really kind of paidattention beyond just a facebook
or instagram post and this isno knock or ding on anybody,
this, I'm just being real you'dknow that they are putting money
into the total mountain.
So this is going to be just alittle quick breakdown of what
my experience is from myperspective of one of Hatley
Point.
(03:02):
I was really hoping to have mydaughter on here too.
We just weren't able to makethat happen.
But we were able to talk a lotabout our experience both on
site and then afterwards.
It's the only thing that wecould really talk about for just
(03:24):
a few days.
But let me kind of just breakthis down for you a little bit
my experience.
Now I will also say from thevery onset that I did not get a
chance to eat up there.
So we had a four-hour pass wejust had a four-hour pass and we
wanted to experience as much ofthe mountain as we possibly
could, especially because we hadnever been up there, she and I,
(03:45):
carson.
Especially because we had neverbeen up there, she and I,
carson, and I, had never been upthere to ski, and so we wanted
to experience as much of it aswe possibly could.
Really, one of the things ifyou've been up in this area, you
know that just the drive andthe approach is beautiful and it
really helped that we had justhad a three to six inch snow
event, um, event like a coupleof days before we got there, so
(04:07):
it was wonderful.
So, literally leaving from ourhouse and driving the entire way
to Hatley Point, it wasbeautiful and there was snow
that was on the groundeverywhere.
As I mentioned in the lastsegment, it is really easy to
get to, but it's also incrediblypicturesque.
So as we're driving, we havesnow on both sides of the road
(04:27):
snows on the car, snows on thecars coming off the mountain.
The sun was out is one of themost beautiful, picture perfect
bluebird days that you couldpossibly imagine.
Now we purchased our tickets.
They do limit there.
They do limit the number ofpasses that they'll sell per day
and we had purchased ourtickets five, six days before
(04:47):
knowing, as we watched theweather pattern and we knew the
day that we wanted to go.
I tell you we planned itabsolutely perfectly.
So as you kind of approach it,it's the same drives, with some
of those roads in the parkinglot.
Those didn't change.
But the beautiful thing wasthat it was just so covered with
snow, every single one of theseparking lots.
But as you come up the finalroad in the approach and you see
(05:10):
the lodge, y'all, I can't beginto describe to you actually how
beautiful this place is.
There's nothing like it here inWestern North Carolina, in my
opinion, when it comes to thelodge and some of the facilities
.
I mean Beach Mountain iswonderful.
I love it.
I'm an annual pass holder up atBeach.
I love the little village, Ilove all of the bits.
(05:30):
But as you approach this oneyou can tell that it's still
kind of small, but it'sdefinitely quaint.
But you will definitely.
One of the first things you'lltell is that it is a very modern
facility.
Color of it all around it isblack.
You have deck on the back.
You have a huge beautiful porchon the front, comes to the
point and that's where the Smokeand Timber restaurant is.
Inside it's just beautiful.
(05:52):
And then, as you approach thefacility itself, you'll see fire
pit off to the right.
As you kind of go into thefacility, one of the main things
that you're going to see isthis huge, beautiful welcoming
desk and it's almost like you'regoing into this very nice,
high-end hotel.
Everybody there was superhelpful.
The line really wasn't thatlong, but those of us at the end
(06:13):
of the line, if there was anopen space, you would have
somebody walk up to us and tryto get us right up to the front
to get our passes.
We had already purchased online.
So they brought us up to thefront and they were able to uh,
to check us in right off to theright.
As you walk in this sort of atthat main level, you have a uh,
an amazing coffee shop.
I did grab a mocha on the wayout and it's as good as anything
(06:34):
that I've ever had.
So highly, highly, highlyrecommend that.
But one of the biggestimpressions uh, beyond that
front desk area, the countermade on me is just how welcoming
this whole place was and is.
Y'all when I tell you it's nice, I mean it is super, super nice
.
You don't expect to walk into aski resort in the East Coast and
(06:54):
experience what I wasexperiencing, but they thought
about all the things, all thefeatures, these little cove
areas that you can sit in withlights.
There's a personal place thatyou can go into, a quiet room
and if you're working that dayand you had to take a call or
whatever, you could go in andmake a call in, like this little
private sound booth.
The bathrooms are right offthat side.
You can access the bathroomsboth from the interior and the
(07:17):
exterior.
So it's incredibly well thoughtout from that perspective.
Beautiful gas fireplace theydon't have a wood fireplace in
there.
Perspective beautiful gasfireplace they don't have a wood
fireplace in there.
Doesn't matter, didn't it takeaway from anything for me?
But you had this beautiful areato sit, you had nice seating
around it and the thing thatreally sort of got my attention
was the fact that you know, mywife used to, she used to ski
(07:39):
all the time with me.
She doesn't really ski thatmuch anymore.
I wish she would, if she'slistening's listening.
That's a nudge nudge.
Teresa, I would love for you tocome out there and ski with me.
But my point in saying this isthat there was a lot of people
out there who the husband or thewife or somebody in their group
wasn't skiing, but they hadthese beautiful areas where they
could sit, they could sip ontheir coffee, they can have a
beer, they could eat, they couldwork on their computers, they
(08:01):
could do whatever they wanted todo.
So they were kind of there andthey were a part of the whole
experience.
They just weren't a part ofthat mountain experience, with
them being on the slopes, andthat's okay.
And I have to tell you thatthat's one of the major things
that I absolutely loved aboutthis new setup in this lodge.
So there's some seating thereand then as you move your way
out towards the lift, it'sbeautiful.
(08:23):
I mean there's a covered deckout there, there's these
beautiful Adirondack chairs tosit, there's some picnic tables,
and then you get right intosort of that lift line.
And I'm going to come back tothat in a minute and I'm going
to sort of kind of tell you alittle bit about my experience.
Now, upstairs, I have to tellyou this is the part that really
sort of got me Upstairs youhave this huge open deck with
(08:44):
these nice heaters, beautifulseating, like not rustic picnic
tables or Adirondack chairs,we're talking about cushioned
seating and it was full ofpeople.
It overlooks the lift, itoverlooks the base of the
mountain.
And then one of the mostincredible things I think this
guy's name was DJ Thomas.
Dj Thomas was out there and ifyou've ever been to or seen
(09:07):
Apres Ski out West or Europe orwhatever, this guy was just he
was on his turntable, he wasthrowing the music up and it
wasn't obnoxious whatsoever, it100% fit.
It 100% was part of the vibeand for me it kind of made that
vibe.
So DJ Thomas, I think that'swho was out there on that
particular day.
(09:27):
I give you all the props in theworld because it really was
amazing.
You could hear that halfway upthe mountain, again, not in an
obnoxious way but in a way thatjust kind of fit that whole vibe
.
And then downstairs you haveyour locker room area, your ski
rentals, and for us we chose toget a locker.
(09:47):
I thought it was veryaffordable.
It was $12.
We were able to kind of lockour stuff up, walk up, put our
boots on inside the facilitywhich is always amazing and then
you can just proceed right onout to the lift line, okay, and
then, lastly, upstairs, there'sa whole nother grab and go food
area.
There's a, there's a bar, afull service bar, and then
(10:09):
that's where the beautiful smokeand timber restaurant is.
And, folks, I have to tell youthere's nothing like this in
Western North Carolina.
As I mentioned before, there'sabout 15 runs.
There's a pretty good mix ofbeginner runs and some
(10:33):
intermediate runs that I thinkare going to rival anything
around here, and then you havesome of the black runs that have
been opened back up.
There are some beautiful viewsin our ski mountains, our ski
resorts here in Western NorthCarolina.
But y'all, I'm telling you thescenery here 10 out of 10,
actually probably 11 out of 10if I was giving it a rating.
(10:54):
And the reason I say that isthis Number one, there was snow
everywhere.
But number two, you had longrange views.
But the way that this mountainis positioned, think of beach
and then pull all of those longrange views close to you.
So it seems like you're sittinginto this little, not really a
valley, it seems like all thesemountains are really kind of
right on top of you, justincredible.
(11:15):
And then the other thing is,before I kind of get into some
of the runs, I also want to saythat we had a chance to talk to
a lot of people that were ridingthe lifts up.
I talked to a lot of peoplethat were riding the lifts up.
I tried to engage just aboutevery single person that we were
on the lift with and findingout, you know, are you from here
?
Is this your first time here?
What do you think of this place?
And I will tell you that therewas a lot of excitement for the
(11:37):
new Hatley Point, a tremendousamount of excitement.
But there were many people likeus that this is the first time
that they had skied it, they hadnever experienced this mountain
before.
And there wasn't a person thatwe rode up on the lift with, or
the person that we talked to,just around the property, around
the resort, that wasn't blownaway.
And there was something that oneof the people that we met he
(11:58):
said, and this really kind ofresonated with me.
He said you know, it's not justthe mountain itself, it's not
just the mountain itself, it'snot just the ski run, but he was
talking about all the otherthings around it, the views, the
lift, the music.
What he was describing was theexperience of Hatley Point.
He wasn't just describing thisrun, he wasn't just describing
(12:19):
the snow conditions, he wastaking all of those things into
consideration.
And it dawned on me that hefinally put words to exactly how
I kind of evaluate, at my agenow, some of these facilities.
Now again, I've told you thisis going to be the opinion of
one right.
So when I think about how Iwould rate, grade, evaluate
(12:40):
Hatley Point, I'm taking all ofthose things into consideration
as well.
So it wasn't just about theruns as much as it was about
just the whole feel, the wholevibe and everything.
And then the other thing that hementioned to me and I knew this
obviously going into it butwhen they call it a boutique
resort, when Deb Hadley sayswhat is really boutique, what
(13:00):
does that mean?
And it was quality overquantity and y'all.
That resonated with me and itstuck with me we're at this
beautiful resort, skiing thisbeautiful terrain.
That obviously we had a lot ofnatural snow, but the fact that
they limited the number oftickets.
There was the difference makerfor me.
(13:21):
And I'm not going to name theresort, and I get it.
I get it, it's this time ofyear and a lot of people are
trying to come ski.
But when I'm not going to namethe resort, and I get it, I get
it, it's this time of year and alot of people are trying to
come ski.
But when I'm sitting in liftlines that are disorganized and
long and I feel like, you know,it doesn't have to necessarily
be that way, you can get morepeople up the mountain quicker
it just becomes frustrating.
And then I go there and all ofthat went away, and this was a
(13:41):
day that it was sold out, but itdidn't feel that way.
It felt as if you had themountain all to yourself.
So that was the experience thatI had.
Every single person that werode up on the lift with was
that way too.
And let me also say somethingthat just kind of comes to mind
here.
I know that there's been a lotof talk about this being a
spendy place.
You know, bougie, I thinkthat's the wrong word.
(14:06):
Boutique, I think, is the rightword.
It is a little bit pricier thansome of the other resorts.
But I'll pay that money, to beperfectly honest with you, for
what I feel like you get out ofthat experience.
But I'm going to tell you thatthere was a guy there that I
wrote up with and this is theone that made the biggest impact
on me and stay with me theentire time and still to this
moment which is why I'mmentioning this and this guy
lost everything.
He lived in Swannanoa.
He lost everything, and when Isay everything, y'all, I mean
(14:30):
every freaking thing he lostduring Helene.
And he made the choice toinvest, to spend, to rent his
snowboard, to come here for thefirst time.
He didn't have the clothes, hedidn't have the gear.
All he had was a heart for thatmoment.
He had a heart to want toexperience something that was
(14:51):
different than what he hadexperienced in the past.
I ran across him.
Our paths ran across each othera couple more times while we
were there, but I will tell you,it made probably the biggest
impression on me and it was sucha dichotomy of what I was
seeing online.
Oh, you're only after the rich,you're only after this.
And here I am seeing a guy whocompletely lost everything, was
(15:11):
living out of a truck, a donatedtruck at that and he's been
transient and he's been tryingto do some jobs cutting trees.
And yet here he and I are onthe very same lift.
I have newer equipment, I'vegot the gear, I have all the
things.
He has nothing.
He's skiing, you know, he'ssnowboarding in jeans, but he
(15:32):
had a heart for the place and aheart for the moment and a heart
for the sport.
So for me, that just kind ofput all of that other stuff to
rest, all right.
So what I'm really here to dois I really, as I've been
promising you, I want to talkabout the actual mountain itself
, about the runs and about theterrain.
One of the things that sort ofput this behind a little bit
y'all is that when theypurchased this property part of
that extra $12 million that theyhad to put on y'all they had to
completely redesign the entiresnowmaking system.
(15:56):
You'll see in some of thesevideos, which I think are really
, really cool, it's called themaking of the mountain.
They'll talk about how some ofthese old snow guns were
homemade and they lasted years.
But it is anybody who is closeto anybody that knows how
expensive it is to manage, runand own a ski resort.
(16:16):
It's not for the faint of heartat all.
So millions of dollars havebeen put into this place and I
don't know how many millions ofdollars were put into the actual
pump station itself, theability to move the water
through the mountain, to movewater to all of the brand new
high-tech snowmaking machines,but it was extensive, and so
(16:38):
some of the terrain that itappears that has been closed
down for years, like SouthernExpress.
These are black diamonds andthen Flame Out.
These were just like shut downand it appears that all the
snowmaking is on them.
I know that those are closedright now.
Hopefully they will be open.
The bowl has been.
I don't know if they really didany more work to the actual
(17:00):
terrain, but I understand that alot of regrading had to be done
.
So the money is there, theinfrastructure is there, the
colder weather is upon us.
It's been a great season so far.
So we wish them nothing but thebest in the future.
But the good news is that theyshould be able to make a lot of
snow and they should be able tohave a lot of their mountain
(17:21):
open, and they also.
It sounds as if they're goingto be opening a different aspect
or different sides of thatmountain.
So what it appears to be today.
It looks like they have someplans to expand in the future.
But first impressions of themountain shooting up the quad
lift going all the way up to thetop, breathless, it's just
beautiful.
Turn behind you and get somevideo.
Just get a look, take it all in.
(17:43):
That's exactly what we did,absolutely amazing.
So you have your blues towardsthe top.
You, that's exactly what we did, absolutely amazing.
So you have your blues towardsthe top.
You have upper viewfinder youhave up there, and then you also
have lower viewfinder and areally fun run for me was
actually coming down in betweenupper and lower, just hitting
that little slant, very, veryfun.
We made our way down to UpperStreak and then down into Lower
Streak and then down intoBroadway, wide open.
(18:06):
So good, so, so good, so, sogood.
And then you have the Howlingand you have the Hatley Highway,
which I think has been therefor a while, and then you have
Redemption Run and then Way Out,which is not open, but
Redemption Run, which is man, Iwas just smiling all the way
down this.
So there's really good terrainfor both beginners, intermediate
and then when they open up thetop, southern Express, flame Out
(18:29):
and the Bowl, those are goingto be absolutely phenomenal.
And again, I apologize, I didnot know the Bowl was closed.
The signs weren't up there, Ididn't see it open on social
media.
But I did have this group ofpeople that said, hey, we think
it's open.
So we did ski down it with them, did it once, wasn't going to
go do it again because I felt alittle sus about it, but I
apologize.
So please, don't, please sellme another ticket if I come
(18:52):
there.
But I cannot wait to ski thatwhole mountain.
So the runs are solid, the runsare good.
The grooming was amazing.
You can see a bunch of thewhales that they had set up for
way out and it looks likethey'll be grooming those down
and getting that part of themountain ready.
But it just gave the sense andthis feel as if you are.
(19:12):
It gave you the sense likeyou're in this place.
That's like a private, secludedarea.
The lift lines were absolutelyamazing, easy to navigate, they
were never too busy, I don't, Inever stopped or started my
watch, but we couldn't havewaited for more than three
minutes.
I mean to get back on the liftand get right back up to the top
.
I felt like everything we sawthere was just incredibly
(19:35):
efficient.
And the other thing is you'lllove being in the line here, dj
Thomas, just spinning the tunesup top.
I'm telling y'all amazingexperience, amazing facilities.
They've done everything theright way, they'll continue to
do everything the right way andI think this is going to be a
pretty special place for yearsto come.
So I think the way that I wouldreally kind of sum up the whole
(19:57):
mountain number one incredibleterrain.
There's a great variety ofterrain.
There's something for alldifferent user groups and
there's something for alldifferent abilities.
This really truly is a mountainthat has the potential to be
something extraordinarilysuccessful.
All right, so I hope I've givenyou some small glimpse of what
(20:18):
this whole resort is about Againthrough my lens.
I get that.
I completely understand that,but I hope you come away with an
understanding that this is anarea that has a vision, not only
for now, but it has a visionfor the future and it's
visionary from people who arevery entrepreneurial.
So everything that they havetouched has been successful and
(20:39):
there is no doubt in my mindthat this experience Hatley
Point, a ski resort.
A 500 acre property in MarsHill is going to be exactly that
as well.
A 500 acre property in MarsHill is going to be exactly that
as well.
In regards to the futureoutlook, well, that's going to
be anybody's guess, to beperfectly honest with you, but I
don't foresee people not goingto this resort.
I see this only continuing toget bigger.
Not in the sense of well, maybein the sense of acreage, I have
(21:02):
no idea but in terms of theofferings.
So, more than just a place toski, more than just a place to
snowboard, more than some placeto just kind of have a nice meal
, when you start talking about afour-season resort and
understand that mountain bikingis going to be a part of that,
you're talking about a completedifference maker for this
particular area.
All right, that's going to doit.
(21:24):
I just wanted to kind of giveyou a little bit of a recap of
what my experience was like atHathaway Point.
Right, that's going to do it.
I just wanted to kind of giveyou a little bit of a recap of
what my experience was like atthe point.
I will tell you that it was 100positive.
I loved everything that weexperienced there, from the
drive-in to the snowy parkinglots to walking up to the lodge,
to the convenience of gettingour lift tickets, whether you do
that online or whether you wantto purchase.
They do set aside some of thesetickets that you could buy on
(21:45):
the day of, but I, I highly,highly encourage you if you
think you're going to go getthose tickets in advance.
They have the ski oscs that areright out front.
You have the, you know, thebeautiful fire pit.
You have all the things thatcan make this one of the best
family experiences imaginable,and I do hope to have one day
Deb and David Hatley on the showto talk a little bit more about
(22:06):
their heart, so you can hear itmore from them, less from me.
I hope you get a chance toexperience it.
I know that you're not going tobe disappointed and I cannot
wait to get back.
Thank you.
You're listening to Exploration Local, a podcast
designed to explore andcelebrate the people and places
that make the Blue Ridge andSouthern Appalachian Mountains
special and unique.
My name is Mike Andrus, thehost of Exploration Local.
Join us on our journey toexplore these mountains and
discover how they fuel a spiritof adventure.
We encourage you to wander far,but explore local, let's go.
(00:30):
So a couple of disclaimers aswe get going here.
Number one this is not going tobe a full-length episode.
This is going to be more of asort of a mini episode.
I've alluded to that on mysocials when I was out on Hatley
Point and I put it up on mystory.
So it's going to be a littlebit more of sort of a mini.
The second disclaimer is thatI've never met Deb and David
(00:51):
Hatley, who are the new owners,the new entrepreneurial owners
of Hatley Point.
So I do hope to have them onone day.
I'd love to dive deeper intotheir story.
I've read articles and I'veseen some of their posts on
YouTube and socials, but I'dreally love to kind of know a
little bit more about theirstory.
So maybe one day.
Third disclaimer for me I neverskied a ski wolf, as they used
(01:12):
to affectionately refer to it as.
So I have been to Wolf Laurel anumber of times.
I have been up, I have walkedsome of the property, but I've
never skied there.
So when I share my experiencewith you, it's not really gonna
be a comparison between what wasbefore and what is now, but I
think for if anybody has beenfollowing and has been intrigued
by this new venture, they'llknow that it has definitely
(01:35):
changed, just with thesnowmaking, just in general.
The fourth is one of my bigreasons and motivations.
I've been watching this sinceMarch of 2023, when Deb and Dave
Hatley purchased this propertyfor about gosh, I think, a
smooth $8.4, $8.5 million.
So I've been watching theirvision take place on social
media, probably very similarlyas you all have.
(01:57):
So that's that.
And then the fifth one is reallykind of two-part.
Number one I get a lot ofquestions from listeners and
people around town just askingme if I have been up to the New
Hatley Point, if I'veexperienced the mountain, if
I've experienced the resortitself, the lodge.
There's a lot of emphasis,obviously early on, with getting
the lodge up to speed.
And then the other thing isthat some of the negativity that
(02:20):
I've seen, I didn't go up thereto ski it just to try to refute
any of the negativity.
But I just felt bad because youcan tell they're they're
pouring their heart or soul,their life, into this project.
And then some of the peoplehave been really kind of focused
on, you know, saying focused onthe negative part Well, you're
putting all this money into thislodge.
You know this isn't what you do.
In the Southeast we have ashort ski season.
(02:42):
You know southeast we have ashort ski season.
You know you should be puttingmoney into the mountain and if
they really kind of paidattention beyond just a facebook
or instagram post and this isno knock or ding on anybody,
this, I'm just being real you'dknow that they are putting money
into the total mountain.
So this is going to be just alittle quick breakdown of what
my experience is from myperspective of one of Hatley
Point.
(03:02):
I was really hoping to have mydaughter on here too.
We just weren't able to makethat happen.
But we were able to talk a lotabout our experience both on
site and then afterwards.
It's the only thing that wecould really talk about for just
(03:24):
a few days.
But let me kind of just breakthis down for you a little bit
my experience.
Now I will also say from thevery onset that I did not get a
chance to eat up there.
So we had a four-hour pass wejust had a four-hour pass and we
wanted to experience as much ofthe mountain as we possibly
could, especially because we hadnever been up there, she and I,
(03:45):
carson.
Especially because we had neverbeen up there, she and I,
carson, and I, had never been upthere to ski, and so we wanted
to experience as much of it aswe possibly could.
Really, one of the things ifyou've been up in this area, you
know that just the drive andthe approach is beautiful and it
really helped that we had justhad a three to six inch snow
event, um, event like a coupleof days before we got there, so
(04:07):
it was wonderful.
So, literally leaving from ourhouse and driving the entire way
to Hatley Point, it wasbeautiful and there was snow
that was on the groundeverywhere.
As I mentioned in the lastsegment, it is really easy to
get to, but it's also incrediblypicturesque.
So as we're driving, we havesnow on both sides of the road
(04:27):
snows on the car, snows on thecars coming off the mountain.
The sun was out is one of themost beautiful, picture perfect
bluebird days that you couldpossibly imagine.
Now we purchased our tickets.
They do limit there.
They do limit the number ofpasses that they'll sell per day
and we had purchased ourtickets five, six days before
(04:47):
knowing, as we watched theweather pattern and we knew the
day that we wanted to go.
I tell you we planned itabsolutely perfectly.
So as you kind of approach it,it's the same drives, with some
of those roads in the parkinglot.
Those didn't change.
But the beautiful thing wasthat it was just so covered with
snow, every single one of theseparking lots.
But as you come up the finalroad in the approach and you see
(05:10):
the lodge, y'all, I can't beginto describe to you actually how
beautiful this place is.
There's nothing like it here inWestern North Carolina, in my
opinion, when it comes to thelodge and some of the facilities
.
I mean Beach Mountain iswonderful.
I love it.
I'm an annual pass holder up atBeach.
I love the little village, Ilove all of the bits.
(05:30):
But as you approach this oneyou can tell that it's still
kind of small, but it'sdefinitely quaint.
But you will definitely.
One of the first things you'lltell is that it is a very modern
facility.
Color of it all around it isblack.
You have deck on the back.
You have a huge beautiful porchon the front, comes to the
point and that's where the Smokeand Timber restaurant is.
Inside it's just beautiful.
(05:52):
And then, as you approach thefacility itself, you'll see fire
pit off to the right.
As you kind of go into thefacility, one of the main things
that you're going to see isthis huge, beautiful welcoming
desk and it's almost like you'regoing into this very nice,
high-end hotel.
Everybody there was superhelpful.
The line really wasn't thatlong, but those of us at the end
(06:13):
of the line, if there was anopen space, you would have
somebody walk up to us and tryto get us right up to the front
to get our passes.
We had already purchased online.
So they brought us up to thefront and they were able to uh,
to check us in right off to theright.
As you walk in this sort of atthat main level, you have a uh,
an amazing coffee shop.
I did grab a mocha on the wayout and it's as good as anything
(06:34):
that I've ever had.
So highly, highly, highlyrecommend that.
But one of the biggestimpressions uh, beyond that
front desk area, the countermade on me is just how welcoming
this whole place was and is.
Y'all when I tell you it's nice, I mean it is super, super nice
.
You don't expect to walk into aski resort in the East Coast and
(06:54):
experience what I wasexperiencing, but they thought
about all the things, all thefeatures, these little cove
areas that you can sit in withlights.
There's a personal place thatyou can go into, a quiet room
and if you're working that dayand you had to take a call or
whatever, you could go in andmake a call in, like this little
private sound booth.
The bathrooms are right offthat side.
You can access the bathroomsboth from the interior and the
(07:17):
exterior.
So it's incredibly well thoughtout from that perspective.
Beautiful gas fireplace theydon't have a wood fireplace in
there.
Perspective beautiful gasfireplace they don't have a wood
fireplace in there.
Doesn't matter, didn't it takeaway from anything for me?
But you had this beautiful areato sit, you had nice seating
around it and the thing thatreally sort of got my attention
was the fact that you know, mywife used to, she used to ski
(07:39):
all the time with me.
She doesn't really ski thatmuch anymore.
I wish she would, if she'slistening's listening.
That's a nudge nudge.
Teresa, I would love for you tocome out there and ski with me.
But my point in saying this isthat there was a lot of people
out there who the husband or thewife or somebody in their group
wasn't skiing, but they hadthese beautiful areas where they
could sit, they could sip ontheir coffee, they can have a
beer, they could eat, they couldwork on their computers, they
(08:01):
could do whatever they wanted todo.
So they were kind of there andthey were a part of the whole
experience.
They just weren't a part ofthat mountain experience, with
them being on the slopes, andthat's okay.
And I have to tell you thatthat's one of the major things
that I absolutely loved aboutthis new setup in this lodge.
So there's some seating thereand then as you move your way
out towards the lift, it'sbeautiful.
(08:23):
I mean there's a covered deckout there, there's these
beautiful Adirondack chairs tosit, there's some picnic tables,
and then you get right intosort of that lift line.
And I'm going to come back tothat in a minute and I'm going
to sort of kind of tell you alittle bit about my experience.
Now, upstairs, I have to tellyou this is the part that really
sort of got me Upstairs youhave this huge open deck with
(08:44):
these nice heaters, beautifulseating, like not rustic picnic
tables or Adirondack chairs,we're talking about cushioned
seating and it was full ofpeople.
It overlooks the lift, itoverlooks the base of the
mountain.
And then one of the mostincredible things I think this
guy's name was DJ Thomas.
Dj Thomas was out there and ifyou've ever been to or seen
(09:07):
Apres Ski out West or Europe orwhatever, this guy was just he
was on his turntable, he wasthrowing the music up and it
wasn't obnoxious whatsoever, it100% fit.
It 100% was part of the vibeand for me it kind of made that
vibe.
So DJ Thomas, I think that'swho was out there on that
particular day.
(09:27):
I give you all the props in theworld because it really was
amazing.
You could hear that halfway upthe mountain, again, not in an
obnoxious way but in a way thatjust kind of fit that whole vibe
.
And then downstairs you haveyour locker room area, your ski
rentals, and for us we chose toget a locker.
(09:47):
I thought it was veryaffordable.
It was $12.
We were able to kind of lockour stuff up, walk up, put our
boots on inside the facilitywhich is always amazing and then
you can just proceed right onout to the lift line, okay, and
then, lastly, upstairs, there'sa whole nother grab and go food
area.
There's a, there's a bar, afull service bar, and then
(10:09):
that's where the beautiful smokeand timber restaurant is.
And, folks, I have to tell youthere's nothing like this in
Western North Carolina.
As I mentioned before, there'sabout 15 runs.
There's a pretty good mix ofbeginner runs and some
(10:33):
intermediate runs that I thinkare going to rival anything
around here, and then you havesome of the black runs that have
been opened back up.
There are some beautiful viewsin our ski mountains, our ski
resorts here in Western NorthCarolina.
But y'all, I'm telling you thescenery here 10 out of 10,
actually probably 11 out of 10if I was giving it a rating.
(10:54):
And the reason I say that isthis Number one, there was snow
everywhere.
But number two, you had longrange views.
But the way that this mountainis positioned, think of beach
and then pull all of those longrange views close to you.
So it seems like you're sittinginto this little, not really a
valley, it seems like all thesemountains are really kind of
right on top of you, justincredible.
(11:15):
And then the other thing is,before I kind of get into some
of the runs, I also want to saythat we had a chance to talk to
a lot of people that were ridingthe lifts up.
I talked to a lot of peoplethat were riding the lifts up.
I tried to engage just aboutevery single person that we were
on the lift with and findingout, you know, are you from here
?
Is this your first time here?
What do you think of this place?
And I will tell you that therewas a lot of excitement for the
(11:37):
new Hatley Point, a tremendousamount of excitement.
But there were many people likeus that this is the first time
that they had skied it, they hadnever experienced this mountain
before.
And there wasn't a person thatwe rode up on the lift with, or
the person that we talked to,just around the property, around
the resort, that wasn't blownaway.
And there was something that oneof the people that we met he
(11:58):
said, and this really kind ofresonated with me.
He said you know, it's not justthe mountain itself, it's not
just the mountain itself, it'snot just the ski run, but he was
talking about all the otherthings around it, the views, the
lift, the music.
What he was describing was theexperience of Hatley Point.
He wasn't just describing thisrun, he wasn't just describing
(12:19):
the snow conditions, he wastaking all of those things into
consideration.
And it dawned on me that hefinally put words to exactly how
I kind of evaluate, at my agenow, some of these facilities.
Now again, I've told you thisis going to be the opinion of
one right.
So when I think about how Iwould rate, grade, evaluate
(12:40):
Hatley Point, I'm taking all ofthose things into consideration
as well.
So it wasn't just about theruns as much as it was about
just the whole feel, the wholevibe and everything.
And then the other thing that hementioned to me and I knew this
obviously going into it butwhen they call it a boutique
resort, when Deb Hadley sayswhat is really boutique, what
(13:00):
does that mean?
And it was quality overquantity and y'all.
That resonated with me and itstuck with me we're at this
beautiful resort, skiing thisbeautiful terrain.
That obviously we had a lot ofnatural snow, but the fact that
they limited the number oftickets.
There was the difference makerfor me.
(13:21):
And I'm not going to name theresort, and I get it.
I get it, it's this time ofyear and a lot of people are
trying to come ski.
But when I'm not going to namethe resort, and I get it, I get
it, it's this time of year and alot of people are trying to
come ski.
But when I'm sitting in liftlines that are disorganized and
long and I feel like, you know,it doesn't have to necessarily
be that way, you can get morepeople up the mountain quicker
it just becomes frustrating.
And then I go there and all ofthat went away, and this was a
(13:41):
day that it was sold out, but itdidn't feel that way.
It felt as if you had themountain all to yourself.
So that was the experience thatI had.
Every single person that werode up on the lift with was
that way too.
And let me also say somethingthat just kind of comes to mind
here.
I know that there's been a lotof talk about this being a
spendy place.
You know, bougie, I thinkthat's the wrong word.
(14:06):
Boutique, I think, is the rightword.
It is a little bit pricier thansome of the other resorts.
But I'll pay that money, to beperfectly honest with you, for
what I feel like you get out ofthat experience.
But I'm going to tell you thatthere was a guy there that I
wrote up with and this is theone that made the biggest impact
on me and stay with me theentire time and still to this
moment which is why I'mmentioning this and this guy
lost everything.
He lived in Swannanoa.
He lost everything, and when Isay everything, y'all, I mean
(14:30):
every freaking thing he lostduring Helene.
And he made the choice toinvest, to spend, to rent his
snowboard, to come here for thefirst time.
He didn't have the clothes, hedidn't have the gear.
All he had was a heart for thatmoment.
He had a heart to want toexperience something that was
(14:51):
different than what he hadexperienced in the past.
I ran across him.
Our paths ran across each othera couple more times while we
were there, but I will tell you,it made probably the biggest
impression on me and it was sucha dichotomy of what I was
seeing online.
Oh, you're only after the rich,you're only after this.
And here I am seeing a guy whocompletely lost everything, was
(15:11):
living out of a truck, a donatedtruck at that and he's been
transient and he's been tryingto do some jobs cutting trees.
And yet here he and I are onthe very same lift.
I have newer equipment, I'vegot the gear, I have all the
things.
He has nothing.
He's skiing, you know, he'ssnowboarding in jeans, but he
(15:32):
had a heart for the place and aheart for the moment and a heart
for the sport.
So for me, that just kind ofput all of that other stuff to
rest, all right.
So what I'm really here to dois I really, as I've been
promising you, I want to talkabout the actual mountain itself
, about the runs and about theterrain.
One of the things that sort ofput this behind a little bit
y'all is that when theypurchased this property part of
that extra $12 million that theyhad to put on y'all they had to
completely redesign the entiresnowmaking system.
(15:56):
You'll see in some of thesevideos, which I think are really
, really cool, it's called themaking of the mountain.
They'll talk about how some ofthese old snow guns were
homemade and they lasted years.
But it is anybody who is closeto anybody that knows how
expensive it is to manage, runand own a ski resort.
(16:16):
It's not for the faint of heartat all.
So millions of dollars havebeen put into this place and I
don't know how many millions ofdollars were put into the actual
pump station itself, theability to move the water
through the mountain, to movewater to all of the brand new
high-tech snowmaking machines,but it was extensive, and so
(16:38):
some of the terrain that itappears that has been closed
down for years, like SouthernExpress.
These are black diamonds andthen Flame Out.
These were just like shut downand it appears that all the
snowmaking is on them.
I know that those are closedright now.
Hopefully they will be open.
The bowl has been.
I don't know if they really didany more work to the actual
(17:00):
terrain, but I understand that alot of regrading had to be done
.
So the money is there, theinfrastructure is there, the
colder weather is upon us.
It's been a great season so far.
So we wish them nothing but thebest in the future.
But the good news is that theyshould be able to make a lot of
snow and they should be able tohave a lot of their mountain
(17:21):
open, and they also.
It sounds as if they're goingto be opening a different aspect
or different sides of thatmountain.
So what it appears to be today.
It looks like they have someplans to expand in the future.
But first impressions of themountain shooting up the quad
lift going all the way up to thetop, breathless, it's just
beautiful.
Turn behind you and get somevideo.
Just get a look, take it all in.
(17:43):
That's exactly what we did,absolutely amazing.
So you have your blues towardsthe top.
You, that's exactly what we did, absolutely amazing.
So you have your blues towardsthe top.
You have upper viewfinder youhave up there, and then you also
have lower viewfinder and areally fun run for me was
actually coming down in betweenupper and lower, just hitting
that little slant, very, veryfun.
We made our way down to UpperStreak and then down into Lower
Streak and then down intoBroadway, wide open.
(18:06):
So good, so, so good, so, sogood.
And then you have the Howlingand you have the Hatley Highway,
which I think has been therefor a while, and then you have
Redemption Run and then Way Out,which is not open, but
Redemption Run, which is man, Iwas just smiling all the way
down this.
So there's really good terrainfor both beginners, intermediate
and then when they open up thetop, southern Express, flame Out
(18:29):
and the Bowl, those are goingto be absolutely phenomenal.
And again, I apologize, I didnot know the Bowl was closed.
The signs weren't up there, Ididn't see it open on social
media.
But I did have this group ofpeople that said, hey, we think
it's open.
So we did ski down it with them, did it once, wasn't going to
go do it again because I felt alittle sus about it, but I
apologize.
So please, don't, please sellme another ticket if I come
(18:52):
there.
But I cannot wait to ski thatwhole mountain.
So the runs are solid, the runsare good.
The grooming was amazing.
You can see a bunch of thewhales that they had set up for
way out and it looks likethey'll be grooming those down
and getting that part of themountain ready.
But it just gave the sense andthis feel as if you are.
(19:12):
It gave you the sense likeyou're in this place.
That's like a private, secludedarea.
The lift lines were absolutelyamazing, easy to navigate, they
were never too busy, I don't, Inever stopped or started my
watch, but we couldn't havewaited for more than three
minutes.
I mean to get back on the liftand get right back up to the top
.
I felt like everything we sawthere was just incredibly
(19:35):
efficient.
And the other thing is you'lllove being in the line here, dj
Thomas, just spinning the tunesup top.
I'm telling y'all amazingexperience, amazing facilities.
They've done everything theright way, they'll continue to
do everything the right way andI think this is going to be a
pretty special place for yearsto come.
So I think the way that I wouldreally kind of sum up the whole
(19:57):
mountain number one incredibleterrain.
There's a great variety ofterrain.
There's something for alldifferent user groups and
there's something for alldifferent abilities.
This really truly is a mountainthat has the potential to be
something extraordinarilysuccessful.
All right, so I hope I've givenyou some small glimpse of what
(20:18):
this whole resort is about Againthrough my lens.
I get that.
I completely understand that,but I hope you come away with an
understanding that this is anarea that has a vision, not only
for now, but it has a visionfor the future and it's
visionary from people who arevery entrepreneurial.
So everything that they havetouched has been successful and
(20:39):
there is no doubt in my mindthat this experience Hatley
Point, a ski resort.
A 500 acre property in MarsHill is going to be exactly that
as well.
A 500 acre property in MarsHill is going to be exactly that
as well.
In regards to the futureoutlook, well, that's going to
be anybody's guess, to beperfectly honest with you, but I
don't foresee people not goingto this resort.
I see this only continuing toget bigger.
Not in the sense of well, maybein the sense of acreage, I have
(21:02):
no idea but in terms of theofferings.
So, more than just a place toski, more than just a place to
snowboard, more than some placeto just kind of have a nice meal
, when you start talking about afour-season resort and
understand that mountain bikingis going to be a part of that,
you're talking about a completedifference maker for this
particular area.
All right, that's going to doit.
(21:24):
I just wanted to kind of giveyou a little bit of a recap of
what my experience was like atHathaway Point.
Right, that's going to do it.
I just wanted to kind of giveyou a little bit of a recap of
what my experience was like atthe point.
I will tell you that it was 100positive.
I loved everything that weexperienced there, from the
drive-in to the snowy parkinglots to walking up to the lodge,
to the convenience of gettingour lift tickets, whether you do
that online or whether you wantto purchase.
They do set aside some of thesetickets that you could buy on
(21:45):
the day of, but I, I highly,highly encourage you if you
think you're going to go getthose tickets in advance.
They have the ski oscs that areright out front.
You have the, you know, thebeautiful fire pit.
You have all the things thatcan make this one of the best
family experiences imaginable,and I do hope to have one day
Deb and David Hatley on the showto talk a little bit more about
(22:06):
their heart, so you can hear itmore from them, less from me.
I hope you get a chance toexperience it.
I know that you're not going tobe disappointed and I cannot
wait to get back.
Thank you.
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