ANSWERS TO ALL YOUR QUESTIONS
GENERAL FAQS
Use our “Getting Here“ page to help find the best route for you!
AAA – Ober Mountain offers a $1.00 discount off the price of a round trip Aerial Tram ticket for the cardholder and immediate family members (maximum six).
AARP – Ober Mountain offers a $1.00 discount off the price of a round trip Aerial Tram ticket for the cardholder and spouse.
Groups – Group rates are available for groups of 15 or more. Please contact our Group Reservations Department at 865-436-5423 , ask for “Group Sales”. Group rates NOT AVAILABLE for WALK-IN GROUPS … must be pre-arranged through our Group Sales Dept.
Military – Ober Mountain offers U.S. Military members (active or retired) a FREE wristband or Tram Only if not interested in any activities at our Mountaintop park.
Ober Mountain also offers U.S. Military members (active or retired) a 15% discount off the price of Ski Area Tickets & Ski or Snowboard Equipment Rentals*. With the military person present (unless currently deployed), the same discount is extended to their spouse & dependent children. *Discounts do not apply to Night Session (already greatly discounted).
In person, we accept Cash, Travelers Checks, Visa, MasterCard & Discover … AmEx also accepted for Tickets & Merchandise from Ober owned shops (not for dining, though). Our parking lots also accept these cards or cash.
ATM machines are located in the Downtown Tramway Mall next to the River Road entrance, and in the Ober Mountain Mall near the hallway entrance to the Ober’s Snackbar (ATM 1) and to the left side of the Fudge Shop (ATM 2).
No firearms or weapons are permitted on Ober Mountain premises.
Pets are not permitted in the Tramway Mall, the Aerial Tramway or on ANY premises at Ober Mountain. Service Animals for guests with disabilities, as defined under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) are permitted on the Tram and most public areas, but, due to basic Ride Restrictions and/or safety concerns, are Not Allowed on individual rides (or ice rink) at our mountaintop park.
PLEASE NOTE: ” While Emotional Support Animals or Comfort Animals are often used as part of a medical treatment plan as therapy animals, they are not considered service animals under the ADA.” …therefore, Not Permitted at Ober Mountain.
Sorry, we do not rent strollers or wheelchairs at this time.
The Aerial Tramway and most of our Mountaintop Park are wheelchair/scooter accessible, unless limited by individual Ride Restrictions. Attendant help (if needed) is always readily available in all areas. Please call (7 days a week) for current and/or more specific information.
Outside food and beverages including alcoholic beverages are not allowed on to the Aerial Tramway or Ober Mountain premises. Beer is available for consumption in Ober’s Snackbar and alcoholic beverages are available in the Seasons of Ober Restaurant and The Loft Lounge. If you have consumed any substance that might impair you we suggest that you do not participate in Ober Mountain activities.
Ober Mountain reserves the right to refuse participation in its activities to anyone that is considered a danger to themselves or others.
Parking is $15.00 per vehicle downtown.
Parking on the mountain is $20 per vehicle, but is not available for buses and over-sized vehicles on weekends & holidays. Sorry … one time in, one time out.
The Tram leaves every 20 minutes, taking you on a beautiful 10 minute, 2.1 mile long ride between our downtown tram terminal and our resort on top of the mountain.
Many activities at Ober Mountain are “high activity”. These activities involve inherent risk that may be increased by some conditions. If you have any conditions that hinder your skill level or physical ability we advise that you do not participate.
Each rides restrictions are available here.
In accordance with Tennessee State Law smoking and vaping are not permitted in enclosed public spaces. Smoking or vaping are only permitted in outdoor areas.
Ober Mountain staffs the Operations Office with medical personnel during operating hours. The Operations Office is located at the end of the walkway near the Alpine Slide/Scenic Chairlift entrance.
Additionally, in the winter months, the Ober Mountain Ski Patrol is available during all slope hours. The Ski Patrol consists of approximately 60 paid and unpaid volunteers all trained in Outdoor Emergency Care – a certification course in first aid, CPR, and other pre-hospital care and treatment for possible injuries – and are part of a larger international organization, the National Ski Patrol System (NSPS) which includes almost 30,000 patrollers.
If you lose something while at Ober Mountain please stop by the Guest Services Office located next to the Bear Shop near the entrance to the Wildlife Encounter. If you lose something in the Downtown Aerial Tramway Mall, please check with the Tram Supervisor’s Desk, located near the entrance to the Tramway. At the end of every day items are sent to Guest Services on the mountain. Please contact that office at 865-436-5423 ext. 238.
For a lost parent or child please inform the first Ober Mountain or shop employee you encounter. As our facilities are small and self-contained, we will do our utmost to see that you are reunited with your missing family member in an expedient manner.
The Guest Services Office is located next to the entrance to the Bear Shop near the Wildlife Encounter (to the right when you exit the Tram). Please feel free to stop by to ask questions, get your season pass made, and/or to offer your comments. Our staff is here to serve our guests and to see to your safety and enjoyment while visiting our facilities.
Ober Mountain receives thousands of complimentary admission requests each year from a wide variety of charitable causes. While we would like to respond positively to each request, unfortunately we are unable to and therefore only consider requests within a certain radius that meets our guidelines.
We support numerous non-profit charities (i.e. United Way, March of Dimes, American Cancer Society, etc.) but are unable to expand beyond the local level. Our committee meets at the beginning and middle of each month and reviews all requests based on patronage of our facilities, non-profit status, and location. Requests are limited to one donation per organization within a twelve month period. Must be registered as a 501(c)(3) organization.
Please Fax or Email donation requests on company letter head, including all available information about your fundraiser (contact name, mailing address, event dates, etc..) to: Fax # 865-430-3920 or fun@obergatlinburg.com
Due to safety and privacy concerns, Ober Adventure LLC prohibits the operation or use on or above Park property of unmanned aerial systems, drones, by the general public- including model aircraft by recreational users and hobbyists- without the prior written authorization from Ober Mountain. This prohibition includes drones used for filming or videotaping, as well as any drone used by media or journalists operating above or within the area boundaries. This prohibition extends to any devices launched 0r operated from Resort property, as well as any launched outside the Resort boundaries. Please contact Clarke Chambers at 865-436-5423 if you have any questions or if you seek prior authorization to operate any such devices. Any authorized operation of drones on or above Park property will be governed by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules and regulations, local law enforcement, as well as those policies separately established by this Resort, which may include certification, training, insurance coverage, indemnification requirements, and waivers or releases of liability. Any violation of this policy may involve suspension of your access privileges to the Resort, or the revocation of your Season Pass, as well as confiscation of any prohibited equipment, and may subject violators to any liability for damages, including, but not limited to damages for trespass, violations of privacy, and physical injuries to persons and/or property, as well as legal fees.
WINTER ACTIVITY FAQS
Yes, we are open on every Holiday of the year, with extended hours on and around many of these. The only exception is shorter hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but we are OPEN both days.
Please note that, like most every resort area and resort attraction anywhere, during holiday periods and most weekends, you should be prepared for longer waits at ticket booths and some attractions. We recommend that you get an early start each day and allow extra time for these unavoidable delays.
Please click here to see our winter holiday periods and special hours at upper right of the page.
We encourage you to plan you trip to Ober Mountain for Weekdays, night sessions, and non-holiday periods. If you want to get the most out of your experience with the least amount of people, make sure to build in extra time for parking and purchasing tickets.
We will utilize our Twitter feed for parking, operational, and weather updates. Make sure to turn those tweet notifications on! We will, of course, continue our slope reporting program every day.
We will have a maximum of 10 people per group lesson. We encourage guests to remain in the groups they arrived with. We also encourage you to invest in private lessons that allow you to have a more personalized learning experience.
The best way to learn downhill skiing or snowboarding is to take a lesson from one of our qualified instructors.
- Stop in ticketing and purchase your ski area ticket, rental equipment & lesson. You will then proceed to the rental shop to pick up your equipment.
- Go to the counters to be assigned your equipment.
- Exit the Rental Shop onto the snow and proceed to the Ski School area located just beyond the Slope Gate.
- Coin lockers are available throughout our facilities to safely store your personal items. If you need assistance at any time during this process, please do not hesitate to ask any of our employees.
We usually open around mid-December and our typical closing date is early March. We open as soon as we have made enough snow to cover most of the trails. The opening and closing dates vary depending on the weather.
Always check our website for the most current slope report.
Ober Mountain offers 10 ski trails serviced by two quad and one double chairlift which keeps you out of lift lines and on the slopes. When temperatures drop, our snowmaking equipment blankets 100% of our slopes. Slopes are maintained with the latest in snow-grooming equipment to provide a smoother, more consistent surface creating enjoyable skiing conditions.
- SUMMIT ELEVATION: 3300 feet
- BASE ELEVATION: 2700 feet
- VERTICAL DROP: 600 feet
- LONGEST RUN: 5000 feet
- 10 Trails and 1 Terrain Park
- 2 Quad Chairlifts, 1 Double Chairlift, 1 Surface Lift
The best way to dress for winter is to wear layers. This gives you more flexibility to add or remove layers, depending on the weather and your activity.
Turtleneck shirts, sweaters, long underwear and footless tights work well as under-layers. Wear one pair of socks. Ski boots and snowboard boots have liners. Wear appropriate hats, goggles, gloves, sunglasses, etc. for the weather conditions.
Be sure to wear pants or jacket/shirt with a hole or loop to fasten the lift or tubing ticket such as a zipper pull, button-hole or belt loop.
We do rent snow pants for $17/$50 deposit, ski jackets for $17/$50 deposit, and helmets for $12/$50 deposit. All items are rented on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Ski boots run Child’s 6-13, Junior 1-3 and Adult 4-16. Snowboard boots run Child’s 11-13, Junior 1-3 and Adult size 4-14.
Skiing can be enjoyed in many ways. At ski areas you may see people using alpine, snowboard, telemark, cross country, & other specialized ski equipment, such as that used by disabled skiers.
Regardless of how you decide to enjoy the slopes, always show courtesy to others & be aware that there are elements of risk in skiing that common sense & personal awareness can help reduce.
Observe the code listed below & share responsibility with others for a great skiing experience.
Your Responsibility Code
- Always stay in control. Be able to stop or avoid other people or objects.
- People ahead of you have the right of way. It is your responsibility to avoid them.
- You must not stop where you obstruct a trail, or aren’t visible from above.
- Whenever starting downhill or merging into a trail, look uphill & yield to others.
- Always use devices that prevent runaway equipment.
- Observe all posted signs & warnings. Keep off closed trails & out of closed areas.
- Prior to using any lift, you must have the knowledge & ability to load, ride, & unload safely.
Snow condition, or surface condition, refers to the type of snow on the slope-
- Primary Surface: An indication that at least 70% of the slopes are covered with a particular type of snow.
- Secondary Surface: The next most prevalent type of snow on the slopes.
- New Snow: Snow that has fallen within the past 24 hours.
- Powder: Cold, new loose powdery, fluffy or flaky snow.
- Packed Powder: Loose powder snow compacted by mechanical apparatus or by skier traffic which leaves little air space between particles.
- Loose Granular: Loose, sandlike grains of snow usually formed after powder snow thaws, refreezes and crystallizes. May also characterize surface conditions produced by mechanical conditioning of frozen granular or icy surfaces.
- Wet Granular: Loose or frozen granular snow which has become wet and soft from a thaw or rainfall.
- Frozen Granular: Wet or wet granular snow which has frozen forming a solid or crusty textured surface. It can return to loose granular after thawing or being worked by a grooming machine or from the effect of skier traffic.
- Icy: May be created by freezing rain, by rain saturating the snow followed by a freeze, heavy skier traffic, or by ground water seeping into the snow base and freezing.
- Wet Snow: Powder or packed powder snow that has become moist during a thaw or from rainfall, or snow that was moist, heavy and sticky as it fell and clings together when compacted.
- Corn: Large granules, sometimes the size of corn kernels, formed by freeze-thaw cycles typical of spring.
- Groomed: A surface which has been mechanically changed.
- Variable Conditions: A variety of conditions which cannot be accurately described using the usual primary and secondary condition terms. When no single surface type covers at least 70% of skiing terrain, this term may be used.
Ober Mountain ski reports also provide the number of slopes, trails and lifts open, temperatures and weather conditions and amount of machine-made snow and natural snow accumulated. Ski base is given in inches from an average minimum to an average maximum and can vary on some slopes.
Ski reports are posted and updated daily. Temperature and snow conditions are constantly changing due to weather and skier traffic. Please take these factors into consideration.
The orange oval is a symbol, which identifies freestyle terrain on the hill. Check out the sample signage and vocabulary to make sure you’re up to speed on the basics. Smart Style is a terrain park safety initiative, which you need to understand in order to use terrain parks safely.
FREESTYLE TERRAIN MAY INCLUDE HALF-PIPES, AS WELL AS TERRAIN PARKS AND TERRAIN FEATURES. THEY ARE PROVIDED FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT AND OFFER ADVENTURE, CHALLENGE AND FUN. HOWEVER, FREESTYLE TERRAIN USE, LIKE ALL SKIING AND RIDING, EXPOSES YOU TO THE RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY. PRIOR TO USING FREESTYLE TERRAIN, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH ALL INSTRUCTIONS AND WARNINGS AND TO FOLLOW “YOUR RESPONSIBILITY CODE”.
- Freestyle Terrain contains man-made and natural terrain variations.
- Freestyle Terrain changes constantly due to weather and use.
- Inspect Freestyle Terrain before using and throughout the day.
- In jumping and using this terrain, you assume the risk of serious injury.
- Be courteous and respect others.
- One user on a Terrain feature at a time.
- Never jump blindly – use a spotter when necessary. Look Before You Leap!
- It is your responsibility to control your body on the ground and in the air.
- Always clear the landing area quickly.
- Always ride or ski in control and within your ability.”
Check terrainparksafety.org for more info and educational videos!
No, we do not offer rental snowblades.
Sorry, sleds are not allowed on our slopes or anywhere on Ober Mountain property.
Yes – they are permitted.
Ski Bikes are powered by gravity and are not motorized. The Ski Bike owner/operator and the bike can ride the lift and ski down our slopes, with purchase of a Ski Area ticket during operational hours.
Ober Mountain does not allow motorized vehicles on the slopes, except for company vehicles that are operated by Ober Mountain staff.
Criteria for Ski Bikes :
- Devices must be equipped with metal edges.
- Devices must be configured to stop immediately if rider falls or be equipped with retention device (such as a leash).
- Rider must be able to load and unload the lift without stopping the lift or impeding the normal flow of traffic.
- Equipment varies in design and Ober Mountain reserves the right to inspect all equipment before allowing it to be used on our property.
