AVERY COUNTY, N.C.—”It’s hero snow today,” Kimberley Jochl said after making her first descent of the day at Sugar Mountain Resort in Banner Elk, North Carolina.
“Hero snow” is a term the former downhill racer for the U.S. Alpine Ski Team uses to describe conditions so forgiving that anyone can feel incredible on their skis, like a hero on the slopes.
But for Jochl—who runs the resort with her husband and other business operators in western North Carolina, the snow itself is considered a hero of a different kind this season.
After a villainous storm that shut down vital fall tourism in the region, they hope this year’s snow is the hero that reignites the economy….