The spring snowstorm is exciting ski resort operators in our region as it revitalizes enthusiasm for the sport near the end of the season.
Ski resorts across Vermont reported accumulations between 6 and 16 inches by midafternoon Thursday, according to Ski Vermont Director of Communications Bryan Rivard. He says every area in the state received several inches of snow for skiers to play in.
“Mother Nature’s really been kind of sneaking it under the wire lately for the last couple seasons because we’ve been seeing a lot of that snow really coming in hard in March,” noted Rivard. “And it is a bit later but most of the ski areas don’t even start dropping off until mid-or-later April and then you’ll have some of the bigger areas that will go on as long as they can. But the nice thing about the timing of this storm is the vast majority of ski areas are all still open. I talked with a couple and they were saying they were very excited. They were seeing a little bump in people attending and they’re expecting more people tomorrow, if you can, and then through the weekend. So it’s definitely going to be a benefit to the ski areas and it’s a good time to be a skier and a spring skier particularly.”
West Mountain in Queensbury, New York got six inches by midday and it was still snowing. General Manager Sara Montgomery says the new snow is a welcome bonus in advance of a planned festival this weekend, following a difficult and rainy season.
“We are closed right now during midweek operations,” said Montgomery. ”We will reopen for the weekend for our Northwest Fest which is for spring skiing and live music and it’s a really fun event at the end of the season. With this fresh snow I think people are more likely now to come out. Conditions were pretty rough prior to this snow. The amount of rain we’ve had since December has been unprecedented and yeah this snowstorm would have been better in December, right ahead of the holiday week, but better late than never and this will help us out for our events this weekend and for people coming out to ski and ride one last time before we close for the season.”
Gore Mountain Marketing Director Julia Johnson reports that about 16 inches of snow came down at the North Creek, New York resort.
“We’re starting to see larger, heavier storms kind of later in the season,” Johnson said. “We’ve been getting into this pattern where in March and April we’re seeing these really big snowstorms that deliver quite a lot of snow. I mean if these storms can help us stay open later that’s fantastic. The year before last we were open the latest we’ve ever been open before, which was all the way to May 1st.”
The winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service in Burlington remains in effect until 6 a.m. Friday for areas of northern New York and Vermont. Snow accumulations could total near 2 feet in the northern and central Green Mountains and the eastern Adirondacks.
