Snowfall lifts skiing.

• Position: Western

The ski season in western North Carolina pushed off slowly, with many slopes not opening until early December due to a dearth of flakes. Then it slipped on an icy patch during the holidays. But the state's six ski resorts and two snow-tubing parks finished strong, thanks to major snowfalls in February and March. "The last four weeks of the season I don't think they could have been better timed," says Mike Doble, editor of SkiNC.com, a Web site that tracks the industry. "We'd have...