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Behind much of the day-to-day identity of Sugar Mountain during its first years in operation was Eric Bindlechner, Sugar’s first ski school director, and his wife Lucy. The couple worked hard and played hard—”Eric and Lucy brought the color and
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charisma you had to have at a ski area,” said Dedy.
buses had to drop off luggage at hotels so that their coaches could make it up Sugar’s steep grade with the passengers. Austrians came over by the dozen to work as ski instructors—a practice made common at Beech—and those employees bought homes and added a flavor of Europe to the budding scene. The added prestige brought new dreams, of course, one of which was a second, championship golf course and elite eatery atop Flat Top Mountain, located directly behind Sugar Mountain, present day Linville Ridge. The mood was playful, carefree. Almost like a summer camp for kids, Dedy said. Skiers donned ponchos made from burlap sacks when it rained too much, and it was a regular sight to see late-night partygoers sliding down main roads on inner tubes. Beyond the Sugar Hollow Club, merrymakers could find their way to the Hub Pub Club, another drinking establishment located in the present-day Alpine Ski Center. To get groceries, you had to travel to Linville or Banner Elk, and for a liquor store, well, you had to drive up Shull’s Mill or around Grandfather to get to Blowing Rock. And then, of course, not drink anything to console yourself on 24
High Country Magazine
Februar y 2010