North Carolina's Hatley Pointe Ski Resort Won't Open This Season

Ella Boyd
·3 min read
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Hatley Pointe Ski Resort, a half-hour's drive from Asheville, NC, has an elevation of 4,700 feet, with 50 acres of skiable terrain, and is currently getting a face lift from its new owners as we speak.

Sadly, the Boutique Resort will not be opening its high-end doors this winter to excited guests, citing setbacks with updating resort facilities and weather issues causing continual delays.

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Officials at Hatley Pointe write, "We have continued to face setbacks with our project, we are making the difficult decision to miss this winter season."

The project refers to the redoing of the resort previously known as Wolf Ridge (now Hatley Pointe).

The North Carolina ski resort struggled in past seasons due to factors both controllable (snowmaking equipment, infrastructure) and uncontrollable (weather, like tons of resorts in America these days, it seems like).

So, "local skiers were elated on March 4th, 2023 when Wolf Ridge's social media accounts published a press release announcing that Deborah and David Hatley from Johnson City, TN had purchased the resort."

The new owners also renamed the mountain... after themselves.

As Matt Lorelli wrote in the original POWDER article detailing the purchase and name change of what is now Hatley Pointe, Lorelli wrote "It's a bold move to name a ski resort after yourself, but one could argue that purchasing a struggling ski resort in the southeast is bold in and of itself."

I could not agree more.

However, Hatley Pointe Boutique Mountain Resort was unveiled as a luxurious mountain escape, where skiing was on tap, alongside fine dining, bars, and scenic views.

These days, improvements to the snowmaking equipment and infrastructure are causing problems for the owners.

"While our crews managed to resolve the problem with our pump house, we still have several minor kinks to work out to dial in our new automated guns. Combined with unfavorable weather and a ripple effect causing delays to other aspects of our mountain operations, we have realized that on our current timeline, opening this season will not allow us to provide the excellent guest experience we have set out to achieve."

Officials at Hatley Pointe expressed their sadness at missing the mark on their original goal. "While we are no doubt disappointed, the future of Hatley Pointe is still very bright."

They also promise that changes are near, regardless of what happens this winter. "Please stay tuned as we will announce some exciting plans for this Spring and Summer including some unique offerings and opportunities to visit us, as well as the opening of our new restaurant!"

"We can’t wait to welcome you back when Project Hatley is complete! Thank you so much for following and supporting our journey, we promise it will be worth the wait."

For those in North Carolina, having a resort with updated facilities will be a welcome change, whether it happens this winter or, in this case, next.

Related: New Owners Name Struggling North Carolina Ski Resort After Themselves

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