Cataloochee
Cataloochee is a ski area located in the state of North Carolina in USA. The resort is in the town of Maggie Valley, NC.
Season Passes
Cataloochee is a part of the INDY Ski Pass system. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all of the slopes that are also a part of the group.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Cataloochee around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Cataloochee Terrain Overview
Cataloochee has a total of 18 ski trails, which are serviced by 5 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Cataloochee is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 50 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 20 hectares, 0.1 square miles, or 0.2 square kilometers.
Cataloochee's slopes see on average 50 inches (1.3 meters) of snowfall a year.
Total Runs
18
Lifts
5
Skiable Acres
50(0 km2)
Annual Snowfall
50"(127 cm)
Cataloochee Elevation
Cataloochee has a summit elevation of 5,400 feet, or 1,646 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 4,660 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 740 feet (226 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Cataloochee's summit elevation is higher than average. There are a lot of ski slopes that are much higher than this one (some stretch to 12,000 feet!), but it is not small by any stretch of the imagination.
Summit Elevation
5,400'(1,646 m)
Vertical Drop
740'(226 m)
Base Elevation
4,660'(1,420 m)
Cataloochee Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
29.2out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Cataloochee has 50 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Since Cataloochee is an extremely beginner-friendly ski area, it has 44% of its trails are rated as "beginner-level". 39% trails are rated as intermediate.
Beginner
44%(22 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
39%(20 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
17%(9 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Cataloochee good for beginners?
Cataloochee is a very beginner-friendly course. In fact, it is one of the easiest ski slopes in all of North America, ranking in the bottom 10% of overall difficulty. 44% of its trails are rated as "beginner".
Cataloochee Location
Cataloochee is located in the state of North Carolina, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Maggie Valley, NC.
Address:
Maggie Valley, NC 28785 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
cataloochee.com
GPS Coordinates:
35.63000, -83.09000
Getting to Cataloochee
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Cataloochee), its coordinates of 35.63000, -83.09000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Maggie Valley, NC to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Cataloochee.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte Douglas International Airport | CLT | Charlotte, NC | 124 mi |
| Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport | ATL | Atlanta, GA | 157 mi |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Cataloochee.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asheville Regional Airport | AVL | Asheville, NC | 34 mi |
| McGhee Tyson Airport | TYS | Knoxville, TN | 52 mi |
| Tri-Cities Regional TN/VA Airport | TRI | Bristol/Johnson/Kingsport, TN | 70 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Cataloochee, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Cataloochee.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ober Gatlinburg | Galinburg, TN | 3,300 ft | 36% | 27 mi |
| Sapphire Valley | Cashiers, NC | 3,450 ft | 16% | 35 mi |
| Wolf Ridge | Mars Hill, NC | 4,700 ft | 29% | 40 mi |
| Sugar Mountain | Banner Elk, NC | 5,300 ft | 34% | 77 mi |
| Beech Mountain | Banner Elk, NC | 5,505 ft | 39% | 79 mi |
| Appalachian | Blowing Rock, NC | 4,000 ft | 35% | 88 mi |
Cataloochee Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 5,400 ft |
| Base Elevation | 4,660 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 740 ft |
| Trails | 18 (44% Beginner, 39% Intermediate, 17% Expert) |
| Lifts | 5 |
| Skiable Acres | 50 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 50 inches |