Jan. 21, 2025
Skiing/Riding Beyond the Ordinary at Hatley Pointe
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 were 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 Smokies.
Hatley Pointe YouTube Channel
Mike Andress
Host, Exploration Local
828-551-9065
mike@explorationlocal.com
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Chapters
00:05 - Exploration Local
11:54 - Mountain Resort Experience Evaluation
21:24 - Mountain Lodge Resort Review
Transcript
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You're listening to Exploration Local, a podcast designed to explore and celebrate the people and places that make the Blue Ridge and Southern Appalachian Mountains special and unique.
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My name is Mike Andrus, the host of Exploration Local.
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Join us on our journey to explore these mountains and discover how they fuel a spirit of adventure.
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We encourage you to wander far, but explore local, let's go.
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So a couple of disclaimers as we get going here.
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Number one this is not going to be a full-length episode.
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This is going to be more of a sort of a mini episode.
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I've alluded to that on my socials when I was out on Hatley Point and I put it up on my story.
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So it's going to be a little bit more of sort of a mini.
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The second disclaimer is that I've never met Deb and David Hatley, who are the new owners, the new entrepreneurial owners of Hatley Point.
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So I do hope to have them on one day.
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I'd love to dive deeper into their story.
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I've read articles and I've seen some of their posts on YouTube and socials, but I'd really love to kind of know a little bit more about their story.
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So maybe one day.
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Third disclaimer for me I never skied a ski wolf, as they used to affectionately refer to it as.
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So I have been to Wolf Laurel a number of times.
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I have been up, I have walked some of the property, but I've never skied there.
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So when I share my experience with you, it's not really gonna be a comparison between what was before and what is now, but I think for if anybody has been following and has been intrigued by this new venture, they'll know that it has definitely changed, just with the snowmaking, just in general.
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The fourth is one of my big reasons and motivations.
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I've been watching this since March of 2023, when Deb and Dave Hatley purchased this property for about gosh, I think, a smooth $8.4, $8.5 million.
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So I've been watching their vision take place on social media, probably very similarly as you all have.
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So that's that.
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And then the fifth one is really kind of two-part.
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Number one I get a lot of questions from listeners and people around town just asking me if I have been up to the New Hatley Point, if I've experienced the mountain, if I've experienced the resort itself, the lodge.
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There's a lot of emphasis, obviously early on, with getting the lodge up to speed.
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And then the other thing is that some of the negativity that I've seen, I didn't go up there to ski it just to try to refute any of the negativity.
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But I just felt bad because you can tell they're they're pouring their heart or soul, their life, into this project.
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And then some of the people have been really kind of focused on, you know, saying focused on the negative part Well, you're putting all this money into this lodge.
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You know this isn't what you do.
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In the Southeast we have a short ski season.
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You know southeast we have a short ski season.
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You know you should be putting money into the mountain and if they really kind of paid attention beyond just a facebook or instagram post and this is no knock or ding on anybody, this, I'm just being real you'd know that they are putting money into the total mountain.
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So this is going to be just a little quick breakdown of what my experience is from my perspective of one of Hatley Point.
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I was really hoping to have my daughter on here too.
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We just weren't able to make that happen.
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But we were able to talk a lot about our experience both on site and then afterwards.
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It's the only thing that we could really talk about for just a few days.
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But let me kind of just break this down for you a little bit my experience.
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Now I will also say from the very onset that I did not get a chance to eat up there.
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So we had a four-hour pass we just had a four-hour pass and we wanted to experience as much of the mountain as we possibly could, especially because we had never been up there, she and I, carson.
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Especially because we had never been up there, she and I, carson, and I, had never been up there to ski, and so we wanted to experience as much of it as we possibly could.
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Really, one of the things if you've been up in this area, you know that just the drive and the approach is beautiful and it really helped that we had just had a three to six inch snow event, um, event like a couple of days before we got there, so it was wonderful.
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So, literally leaving from our house and driving the entire way to Hatley Point, it was beautiful and there was snow that was on the ground everywhere.
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As I mentioned in the last segment, it is really easy to get to, but it's also incredibly picturesque.
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So as we're driving, we have snow on both sides of the road snows on the car, snows on the cars coming off the mountain.
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The sun was out is one of the most beautiful, picture perfect bluebird days that you could possibly imagine.
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Now we purchased our tickets.
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They do limit there.
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They do limit the number of passes that they'll sell per day and we had purchased our tickets five, six days before knowing, as we watched the weather pattern and we knew the day that we wanted to go.
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I tell you we planned it absolutely perfectly.
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So as you kind of approach it, it's the same drives, with some of those roads in the parking lot.
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Those didn't change.
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But the beautiful thing was that it was just so covered with snow, every single one of these parking lots.
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But as you come up the final road in the approach and you see the lodge, y'all, I can't begin to describe to you actually how beautiful this place is.
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There's nothing like it here in Western North Carolina, in my opinion, when it comes to the lodge and some of the facilities.
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I mean Beach Mountain is wonderful.
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I love it.
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I'm an annual pass holder up at Beach.
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I love the little village, I love all of the bits.
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But as you approach this one you can tell that it's still kind of small, but it's definitely quaint.
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But you will definitely.
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One of the first things you'll tell is that it is a very modern facility.
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Color of it all around it is black.
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You have deck on the back.
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You have a huge beautiful porch on the front, comes to the point and that's where the Smoke and Timber restaurant is.
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Inside it's just beautiful.
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And then, as you approach the facility itself, you'll see fire pit off to the right.
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As you kind of go into the facility, one of the main things that you're going to see is this huge, beautiful welcoming desk and it's almost like you're going into this very nice, high-end hotel.
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Everybody there was super helpful.
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The line really wasn't that long, but those of us at the end of the line, if there was an open space, you would have somebody walk up to us and try to get us right up to the front to get our passes.
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We had already purchased online.
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So they brought us up to the front and they were able to uh, to check us in right off to the right.
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As you walk in this sort of at that main level, you have a uh, an amazing coffee shop.
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I did grab a mocha on the way out and it's as good as anything that I've ever had.
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So highly, highly, highly recommend that.
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But one of the biggest impressions uh, beyond that front desk area, the counter made on me is just how welcoming this whole place was and is.
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Y'all when I tell you it's nice, I mean it is super, super nice.
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You don't expect to walk into a ski resort in the East Coast and experience what I was experiencing, but they thought about all the things, all the features, these little cove areas that you can sit in with lights.
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There's a personal place that you can go into, a quiet room and if you're working that day and you had to take a call or whatever, you could go in and make a call in, like this little private sound booth.
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The bathrooms are right off that side.
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You can access the bathrooms both from the interior and the exterior.
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So it's incredibly well thought out from that perspective.
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Beautiful gas fireplace they don't have a wood fireplace in there.
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Perspective beautiful gas fireplace they don't have a wood fireplace in there.
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Doesn't matter, didn't it take away from anything for me?
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But you had this beautiful area to sit, you had nice seating around it and the thing that really sort of got my attention was the fact that you know, my wife used to, she used to ski all the time with me.
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She doesn't really ski that much anymore.
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I wish she would, if she's listening's listening.
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That's a nudge nudge.
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Teresa, I would love for you to come out there and ski with me.
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But my point in saying this is that there was a lot of people out there who the husband or the wife or somebody in their group wasn't skiing, but they had these beautiful areas where they could sit, they could sip on their coffee, they can have a beer, they could eat, they could work on their computers, they could do whatever they wanted to do.
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So they were kind of there and they were a part of the whole experience.
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They just weren't a part of that mountain experience, with them being on the slopes, and that's okay.
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And I have to tell you that that's one of the major things that I absolutely loved about this new setup in this lodge.
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So there's some seating there and then as you move your way out towards the lift, it's beautiful.
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I mean there's a covered deck out there, there's these beautiful Adirondack chairs to sit, there's some picnic tables, and then you get right into sort of that lift line.
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And I'm going to come back to that in a minute and I'm going to sort of kind of tell you a little bit about my experience.
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Now, upstairs, I have to tell you this is the part that really sort of got me Upstairs you have this huge open deck with these nice heaters, beautiful seating, like not rustic picnic tables or Adirondack chairs, we're talking about cushioned seating and it was full of people.
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It overlooks the lift, it overlooks the base of the mountain.
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And then one of the most incredible things I think this guy's name was DJ Thomas.
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Dj Thomas was out there and if you've ever been to or seen Apres Ski out West or Europe or whatever, this guy was just he was on his turntable, he was throwing the music up and it wasn't obnoxious whatsoever, it 100% fit.
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It 100% was part of the vibe and for me it kind of made that vibe.
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So DJ Thomas, I think that's who was out there on that particular day.
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I give you all the props in the world because it really was amazing.
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You could hear that halfway up the mountain, again, not in an obnoxious way but in a way that just kind of fit that whole vibe.
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And then downstairs you have your locker room area, your ski rentals, and for us we chose to get a locker.
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I thought it was very affordable.
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It was $12.
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We were able to kind of lock our stuff up, walk up, put our boots on inside the facility which is always amazing and then you can just proceed right on out to the lift line, okay, and then, lastly, upstairs, there's a whole nother grab and go food area.
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There's a, there's a bar, a full service bar, and then that's where the beautiful smoke and timber restaurant is.
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And, folks, I have to tell you there's nothing like this in Western North Carolina.
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As I mentioned before, there's about 15 runs.
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There's a pretty good mix of beginner runs and some intermediate runs that I think are going to rival anything around here, and then you have some of the black runs that have been opened back up.
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There are some beautiful views in our ski mountains, our ski resorts here in Western North Carolina.
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But y'all, I'm telling you the scenery here 10 out of 10, actually probably 11 out of 10 if I was giving it a rating.
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And the reason I say that is this Number one, there was snow everywhere.
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But number two, you had long range views.
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But the way that this mountain is positioned, think of beach and then pull all of those long range views close to you.
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So it seems like you're sitting into this little, not really a valley, it seems like all these mountains are really kind of right on top of you, just incredible.
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And then the other thing is, before I kind of get into some of the runs, I also want to say that we had a chance to talk to a lot of people that were riding the lifts up.
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I talked to a lot of people that were riding the lifts up.
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I tried to engage just about every single person that we were on the lift with and finding out, you know, are you from here?
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Is this your first time here?
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What do you think of this place?
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And I will tell you that there was a lot of excitement for the new Hatley Point, a tremendous amount of excitement.
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But there were many people like us that this is the first time that they had skied it, they had never experienced this mountain before.
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And there wasn't a person that we rode up on the lift with, or the person that we talked to, just around the property, around the resort, that wasn't blown away.
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And there was something that one of the people that we met he said, and this really kind of resonated with me.
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He said you know, it's not just the mountain itself, it's not just the mountain itself, it's not just the ski run, but he was talking about all the other things around it, the views, the lift, the music.
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What he was describing was the experience of Hatley Point.
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He wasn't just describing this run, he wasn't just describing the snow conditions, he was taking all of those things into consideration.
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And it dawned on me that he finally put words to exactly how I kind of evaluate, at my age now, some of these facilities.
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Now again, I've told you this is going to be the opinion of one right.
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So when I think about how I would rate, grade, evaluate Hatley Point, I'm taking all of those things into consideration as well.
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So it wasn't just about the runs as much as it was about just the whole feel, the whole vibe and everything.
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And then the other thing that he mentioned to me and I knew this obviously going into it but when they call it a boutique resort, when Deb Hadley says what is really boutique, what does that mean?
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And it was quality over quantity and y'all.
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That resonated with me and it stuck with me we're at this beautiful resort, skiing this beautiful terrain.
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That obviously we had a lot of natural snow, but the fact that they limited the number of tickets.
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There was the difference maker for me.
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And I'm not going to name the resort, and I get it.
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I get it, it's this time of year and a lot of people are trying to come ski.
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But when I'm not going to name the resort, and I get it, I get it, it's this time of year and a lot of people are trying to come ski.
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But when I'm sitting in lift lines that are disorganized and long and I feel like, you know, it doesn't have to necessarily be that way, you can get more people up the mountain quicker it just becomes frustrating.
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And then I go there and all of that went away, and this was a day that it was sold out, but it didn't feel that way.
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It felt as if you had the mountain all to yourself.
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So that was the experience that I had.
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Every single person that we rode up on the lift with was that way too.
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And let me also say something that just kind of comes to mind here.
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I know that there's been a lot of talk about this being a spendy place.
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You know, bougie, I think that's the wrong word.
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Boutique, I think, is the right word.
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It is a little bit pricier than some of the other resorts.
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But I'll pay that money, to be perfectly honest with you, for what I feel like you get out of that experience.
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But I'm going to tell you that there was a guy there that I wrote up with and this is the one that made the biggest impact on me and stay with me the entire time and still to this moment which is why I'm mentioning this and this guy lost everything.
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He lived in Swannanoa.
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He lost everything, and when I say everything, y'all, I mean every freaking thing he lost during Helene.
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And he made the choice to invest, to spend, to rent his snowboard, to come here for the first time.
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He didn't have the clothes, he didn't have the gear.
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All he had was a heart for that moment.
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He had a heart to want to experience something that was different than what he had experienced in the past.
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I ran across him.
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Our paths ran across each other a couple more times while we were there, but I will tell you, it made probably the biggest impression on me and it was such a dichotomy of what I was seeing online.
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Oh, you're only after the rich, you're only after this.
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And here I am seeing a guy who completely lost everything, was living out of a truck, a donated truck at that and he's been transient and he's been trying to do some jobs cutting trees.
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And yet here he and I are on the very same lift.
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I have newer equipment, I've got the gear, I have all the things.
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He has nothing.
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He's skiing, you know, he's snowboarding in jeans, but he had a heart for the place and a heart for the moment and a heart for the sport.
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So for me, that just kind of put all of that other stuff to rest, all right.
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So what I'm really here to do is I really, as I've been promising you, I want to talk about the actual mountain itself, about the runs and about the terrain.
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One of the things that sort of put this behind a little bit y'all is that when they purchased this property part of that extra $12 million that they had to put on y'all they had to completely redesign the entire snowmaking system.
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You'll see in some of these videos, which I think are really, really cool, it's called the making of the mountain.
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They'll talk about how some of these old snow guns were homemade and they lasted years.
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But it is anybody who is close to anybody that knows how expensive it is to manage, run and own a ski resort.
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It's not for the faint of heart at all.
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So millions of dollars have been put into this place and I don't know how many millions of dollars were put into the actual pump station itself, the ability to move the water through the mountain, to move water to all of the brand new high-tech snowmaking machines, but it was extensive, and so some of the terrain that it appears that has been closed down for years, like Southern Express.
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These are black diamonds and then Flame Out.
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These were just like shut down and it appears that all the snowmaking is on them.
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I know that those are closed right now.
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Hopefully they will be open.
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The bowl has been.
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I don't know if they really did any more work to the actual terrain, but I understand that a lot of regrading had to be done.
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So the money is there, the infrastructure is there, the colder weather is upon us.
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It's been a great season so far.
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So we wish them nothing but the best in the future.
00:17:15.105 --> 00:17:23.144
But the good news is that they should be able to make a lot of snow and they should be able to have a lot of their mountain open, and they also.
00:17:23.144 --> 00:17:27.557
It sounds as if they're going to be opening a different aspect or different sides of that mountain.
00:17:27.557 --> 00:17:30.143
So what it appears to be today.
00:17:30.143 --> 00:17:32.749
It looks like they have some plans to expand in the future.
00:17:32.815 --> 00:17:38.708
But first impressions of the mountain shooting up the quad lift going all the way up to the top, breathless, it's just beautiful.
00:17:38.708 --> 00:17:40.781
Turn behind you and get some video.
00:17:40.781 --> 00:17:43.503
Just get a look, take it all in.
00:17:43.503 --> 00:17:45.803
That's exactly what we did, absolutely amazing.
00:17:45.803 --> 00:17:48.343
So you have your blues towards the top.
00:17:48.343 --> 00:17:49.049
You, that's exactly what we did, absolutely amazing.
00:17:49.049 --> 00:17:49.281
So you have your blues towards the top.
00:17:49.281 --> 00:17:59.388
You have upper viewfinder you have up there, and then you also have lower viewfinder and a really fun run for me was actually coming down in between upper and lower, just hitting that little slant, very, very fun.
00:18:00.214 --> 00:18:06.267
We made our way down to Upper Streak and then down into Lower Streak and then down into Broadway, wide open.
00:18:06.267 --> 00:18:08.614
So good, so, so good, so, so good.
00:18:08.614 --> 00:18:21.707
And then you have the Howling and you have the Hatley Highway, which I think has been there for a while, and then you have Redemption Run and then Way Out, which is not open, but Redemption Run, which is man, I was just smiling all the way down this.
00:18:21.707 --> 00:18:32.701
So there's really good terrain for both beginners, intermediate and then when they open up the top, southern Express, flame Out and the Bowl, those are going to be absolutely phenomenal.
00:18:32.701 --> 00:18:36.125
And again, I apologize, I did not know the Bowl was closed.
00:18:36.125 --> 00:18:39.469
The signs weren't up there, I didn't see it open on social media.
00:18:39.469 --> 00:18:42.491
But I did have this group of people that said, hey, we think it's open.
00:18:42.491 --> 00:18:49.384
So we did ski down it with them, did it once, wasn't going to go do it again because I felt a little sus about it, but I apologize.
00:18:49.384 --> 00:18:52.429
So please, don't, please sell me another ticket if I come there.
00:18:52.429 --> 00:18:55.842
But I cannot wait to ski that whole mountain.
00:18:55.842 --> 00:18:58.548
So the runs are solid, the runs are good.
00:18:58.607 --> 00:19:00.057
The grooming was amazing.
00:19:00.057 --> 00:19:09.438
You can see a bunch of the whales that they had set up for way out and it looks like they'll be grooming those down and getting that part of the mountain ready.
00:19:09.438 --> 00:19:12.830
But it just gave the sense and this feel as if you are.
00:19:12.830 --> 00:19:14.699
It gave you the sense like you're in this place.
00:19:14.699 --> 00:19:16.748
That's like a private, secluded area.
00:19:16.748 --> 00:19:29.003
The lift lines were absolutely amazing, easy to navigate, they were never too busy, I don't, I never stopped or started my watch, but we couldn't have waited for more than three minutes.
00:19:29.003 --> 00:19:32.300
I mean to get back on the lift and get right back up to the top.
00:19:32.300 --> 00:19:36.077
I felt like everything we saw there was just incredibly efficient.
00:19:36.077 --> 00:19:41.459
And the other thing is you'll love being in the line here, dj Thomas, just spinning the tunes up top.
00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:45.729
I'm telling y'all amazing experience, amazing facilities.
00:19:45.729 --> 00:19:53.736
They've done everything the right way, they'll continue to do everything the right way and I think this is going to be a pretty special place for years to come.
00:19:53.736 --> 00:20:00.519
So I think the way that I would really kind of sum up the whole mountain number one incredible terrain.
00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:02.868
There's a great variety of terrain.
00:20:02.868 --> 00:20:06.942
There's something for all different user groups and there's something for all different abilities.
00:20:06.942 --> 00:20:13.196
This really truly is a mountain that has the potential to be something extraordinarily successful.
00:20:14.179 --> 00:20:21.582
All right, so I hope I've given you some small glimpse of what this whole resort is about Again through my lens.
00:20:21.582 --> 00:20:22.183
I get that.
00:20:22.183 --> 00:20:35.962
I completely understand that, but I hope you come away with an understanding that this is an area that has a vision, not only for now, but it has a vision for the future and it's visionary from people who are very entrepreneurial.
00:20:35.962 --> 00:20:43.608
So everything that they have touched has been successful and there is no doubt in my mind that this experience Hatley Point, a ski resort.
00:20:43.608 --> 00:20:48.153
A 500 acre property in Mars Hill is going to be exactly that as well.
00:20:48.153 --> 00:20:52.183
A 500 acre property in Mars Hill is going to be exactly that as well.
00:20:52.183 --> 00:20:56.660
In regards to the future outlook, well, that's going to be anybody's guess, to be perfectly honest with you, but I don't foresee people not going to this resort.
00:20:56.660 --> 00:20:59.526
I see this only continuing to get bigger.
00:20:59.526 --> 00:21:04.405
Not in the sense of well, maybe in the sense of acreage, I have no idea but in terms of the offerings.
00:21:04.405 --> 00:21:20.723
So, more than just a place to ski, more than just a place to snowboard, more than some place to just kind of have a nice meal, when you start talking about a four-season resort and understand that mountain biking is going to be a part of that, you're talking about a complete difference maker for this particular area.
00:21:20.723 --> 00:21:24.233
All right, that's going to do it.
00:21:24.314 --> 00:21:26.874
I just wanted to kind of give you a little bit of a recap of what my experience was like at Hathaway Point.
00:21:26.874 --> 00:21:27.496
Right, that's going to do it.
00:21:27.516 --> 00:21:30.144
I just wanted to kind of give you a little bit of a recap of what my experience was like at the point.
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