Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

And Then There Were Three

Hawksnest Resort Decides To Discontinue Skiing Because of Problems with Town

Story by Sam Calhoun

After more than four decades of offering skiing, Hawksnest Resort is not opening its ski slopes for the 2008-09 season because of frustrations with citizens of the Town of Seven Devils. Although the resort is not offering skiing for the 2008-09 season, Hawksnest is expanding its snow tubing area and will be open for tubing seven days a week during the upcoming season.

“We’ve been fighting with the town for so long to expand our ski area, and the fight just finally got to us,” said Lenny Cottom, co-owner of Hawksnest Resort. “My father [Leonard Cottom] has been doing this for a while and he doesn’t want to fight anymore. It’s been four years trying now. And with the economy, investing $3 million or $4 million into a mountain is not possible.”

After four years of tensions, meetings, permit denials and appeals between Hawksnest Resort and the Town of Seven Devils, the Town of Seven Devils Board of Adjustment approved plans on May 13 to allow Hawksnest Resort to expand its tubing run and beginner ski area.

The lengthy battle made headlines across the High Country and within the North Carolina ski industry, and the Cottoms and the town thought the fight had ended after the decision. But a group called the Seven Devils Community Association is now appealing the Seven Devils Board of Adjustment’s decision to Superior Court.
Established more than a year ago, the Seven Devils Community Association proposed reopening the Hawksnest golf course, even though the Cottoms own the property and have stated repeatedly that they have no intention of reopening the course. In 2007, the Seven Devils Community Association made a failed attempt to take the golf course property away from the Cottoms through eminent domain.

“Even though one group finally came to their senses, another did not,” said Cottom. “The fight continues.”

Cottom said that, at this time, he is not expecting Hawksnest to offer skiing for the 2009-10 season or beyond unless his resort gets better treatment from the Town of Seven Devils and its citizens. The Cottoms, though, have no plans to sell any of the property and Cottom said, “It can all be done again,” speaking about reopening the ski slopes.

“I want customers to understand that it was not an easy decision; I spent many sleepless nights over this,” said Cottom. “We’ve spent 17 years investing in skiing and tourism up here and we’ve been fighting the town along the way. In these tough economic times, it’s hard to invest more money into a ski slope when the town is not behind you. The ski business is hard enough as it is without having to fight the town.”

Cottom said he feels terrible about having to cut many jobs from his workforce now that Hawksnest Resort is dropping skiing.

“It wasn’t anything taken lightly,” said Cottom. “I always wanted to do [both skiing and tubing] but with the town against us, we could only choose to do one and that’s tubing—we did more tubers last year than skiers anyway. For less money, I can invest in making a great tubing park that can be the largest on the East Coast.”

While the High Country has lost one of its four ski slopes, it is gaining a landmark snow tubing destination. Hawksnest used to be home to six tubing lanes, but for the 2008-09 season, the resort is offering 20 lanes of tubing, making the location the largest snow tubing park on the East Coast.

“We are more than doubling, probably tripling, our snow tubing offerings,” said Cottom. “We are putting some lanes in some older areas so we’ll have four separate tubing areas. We’ll have plenty of different lanes—not all right beside each other—from 400 feet long to 1,000 feet long.”

When the season begins, 1.75-hour snow tubing sessions will be offered at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on the weekdays at Hawksnest, and at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on the weekends.

Hawksnest is purchasing new snowmaking equipment for its tubing areas, as well as using former ski slope snowmaking equipment for its new tubing park.
For more information, call 828-963-6561 or click to www.hawksnest-resort.com.