Thursday morning’s weather in New York’s North Country began with a slushy snow, previewing the winter and sparking thoughts of skiing down nearby slopes. Most of the region’s ski areas are busy prepping for the winter season, and one in Vermont has already opened.
Killington Resort is known for being the first ski resort in Vermont to open each season and this year kicked off its operations on November 3rd. Other areas will open closer to Thanksgiving or in December.
Ski VermontDirector of Communications Bryan Rivard says people are enthusiastic about the upcoming season.
“I’m definitely hearing a lot of buzz from the areas," said Rivard. "They’re ramping up. We’ve got a lot of snowmaking going on across the state. And we’re already getting a lot of phone calls from people interested in coming from our neighboring states and coming and checking out the slopes as soon as they’re open.”
Ski Areas of New York president Scott Brandi says every year it’s the first snowfall that gets people excited about skiing. He says most New York resorts are watching for opportunities to make snow.
“A lot of our ski areas, the larger ones for the most part that target early opening you know being open for Thanksgiving, will make snow when the temperatures are obviously cold," Brandi said. "Highs in the 20’s or lower and low humidity. And they’ll start putting a base down on key trails. We have a lot of horsepower and technology, great grooming equipment. We have a very reliable and sufficient water supply. Our snowmaking is really second to none and it’s just about having the cold weather. But a little snow in the backyard certainly does get the people out and gets the enthusiasm up.”
Rivard reports that several Vermont resorts significantly upgraded their snowmaking operations over the last couple years.
“The efficiency has really, really stepped up where you can look at an 80 percent increase in efficiency in a lot of the snow guns from even just ten years ago," said Rivard. "But what that means is that while the snowmaking crews are a lot more nimble and they’re able to move and make snow in different areas at much warmer temperatures than previously. So if they have a four hour window during the evening where they can make snow they can do that now. It’s not a matter of taking twelve hours to set up. They’re able to jump around the mountain, fill in snow where needed. I think that’s really going to help a lot more this coming season and moving forward.”
This is an El Nino year and Brandi says while the impact is uncertain it could bring more moisture to the region.
“The El Nino, if we hit it right, could mean more natural snow," said Brandi. "If you look at the past El Nino years that we’ve had in upstate New York we have had significant snowfalls, some significant Northeasters, some significant snow events. So history being something for predicting the future I think we could have some big storms resulting from this.”
