Sapphire Valley
Sapphire Valley is a ski area located in the state of North Carolina in USA. The resort is in the town of Cashiers, NC.
Season Passes
Sapphire Valley is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Sapphire Valley. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Sapphire Valley's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Sapphire Valley around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Sapphire Valley Terrain Overview
Sapphire Valley has a total of 2 ski trails, which are serviced by 3 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Sapphire Valley is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 8 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 3 hectares, 0.0 square miles, or 0.0 square kilometers.
Sapphire Valley's slopes see on average 24 inches (0.6 meters) of snowfall a year.
Total Runs
2
Lifts
3
Skiable Acres
8(0 km2)
Annual Snowfall
24"(61 cm)
Sapphire Valley Elevation
Sapphire Valley has a summit elevation of 3,450 feet, or 1,052 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 3,200 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 250 feet (76 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Sapphire Valley's summit elevation is about average. There are a lot of ski slopes that are quite a bit higher, but also many that are much, much smaller.
Summit Elevation
3,450'(1,052 m)
Vertical Drop
250'(76 m)
Base Elevation
3,200'(975 m)
Sapphire Valley Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
15.6out 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
Sapphire Valley has 8 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Since Sapphire Valley is an extremely beginner-friendly ski area, it has 50% of its trails are rated as "beginner-level". 50% trails are rated as intermediate.
Beginner
50%(4 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
50%(4 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
0%(0 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 Sapphire Valley good for beginners?
Sapphire Valley 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. 50% of its trails are rated as "beginner".
Sapphire Valley Location
Sapphire Valley is located in the state of North Carolina, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Cashiers, NC.
Address:
Cashiers, NC 28717 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
sapphirevalley.com
GPS Coordinates:
35.12400, -83.06000
Getting to Sapphire Valley
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Sapphire Valley), its coordinates of 35.12400, -83.06000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Cashiers, 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 Sapphire Valley.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte Douglas International Airport | CLT | Charlotte, NC | 120 mi |
| Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport | ATL | Atlanta, GA | 129 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 Sapphire Valley.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asheville Regional Airport | AVL | Asheville, NC | 36 mi |
| Greenville Spartanburg International Airport | GSP | Greer, SC | 50 mi |
| McGhee Tyson Airport | TYS | Knoxville, TN | 71 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Sapphire Valley, 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 Sapphire Valley.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cataloochee | Maggie Valley, NC | 5,400 ft | 29% | 35 mi |
| Ober Gatlinburg | Galinburg, TN | 3,300 ft | 36% | 49 mi |
| Wolf Ridge | Mars Hill, NC | 4,700 ft | 29% | 65 mi |
| Sugar Mountain | Banner Elk, NC | 5,300 ft | 34% | 96 mi |
Sapphire Valley Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 3,450 ft |
| Base Elevation | 3,200 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 250 ft |
| Trails | 2 (50% Beginner, 50% Intermediate, 0% Expert) |
| Lifts | 3 |
| Skiable Acres | 8 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 24 inches |