Snowshoe has sponsored informal spring break events before, but this year the resort will be hosting the first ever Ballhooter Spring Break from March 8 through 11.

Dave Dekema, marketing director at Snowshoe, said they've never taken spring break to this level before. This year, they've teamed up with some sponsors, and they've got a full weekend planned.

“There's a lot of schools within a reasonable drive from here that are out for spring break, so we targeted this as a chance to get a little wild here,” Dekema said. “We have partners that are participating — Captain Morgan, Redbull — they're going to bring some fun to the party. Throughout the weekend there's going to be skiing, music, a live comedy show, drink specials, a beach party, contests — all that good stuff.”

Dekema said the festivities will take place all around the mountain.

“On the slopes, off the slopes, in the bars and restaurants,” he said. “Out in the middle of the village are where the concerts are going on. There's going to be a big festival stage set-up there.”

According to Dekema, the music line-up is going to feature some great bands.

“There's going to be some good college-touring type acts,” Dekema said. “MiM0SA — for people that are into electronic dance music — MiM0SA is pretty big. Good Old War, Dirty Guv-nahs, Boombox — they're a different kind of music we've got planned. The band Trapped, we just signed them for late night Sunday. They've had some hits on the radio the past few years, so people will probably recognize that when they hear it.”

All the music is free except for the Trapped concert — that event is an indoor, after-hours party.

Dekema said the weekend kicks off Friday morning.

“The first morning, there's arrival-day skiing,” he said. “Then at nine that night, there's a party in the Big Top. Also there's gonna be a big Snuggie pub-crawl on Friday. I don't know if you know what a Snuggie is, but you don't want to miss that.”

“At the bottom of the Ballhooter chairlift, we're setting up a beach party — hot tubs, snow volleyball, games, prizes. Up in the village we have a zip-line now, so we'll be doing some bomb-run kind of challenges on the zip line — taking shots, then dropping into targets off the zip-line.”

Other events lined up for the weekend include video contests, DJs, a fashion show and VIP parties, but a bash at Snowshoe wouldn't be complete without fun on the slopes.

“We're gonna have racing on the slopes — it's called NASTAR racing. So we'll do some fun stuff, colleges versus each other,” Dekema said.

According to www.nastar.com, NASTAR is an acronym for NAtional STandard Race and is the largest, public grassroots ski race program in the world.

Dekema said for anybody that isn't interested in the wild festivities, they can still come up and stay at the resort and hit the slopes, then hang out and listen to some great live music afterwards for free.

In years past, spring break at Snowshoe was never an organized event, and they're expecting a good turnout.

“Ski conditions are cooperating,” Dekema said. “We know it's going to be better than last winter. We've got a lot of folks interested in making the trip up. It's really just gonna be good skiing and playtime on the mountain.”

For more information visit www.snowshoemtn.com