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Holiday Storms Bring Snorkel Skiing To The East
No jokes please. The recent weather to batter the eastern seaboard has turned skiing on the right coast into a quiet experience. it happened just as the crucial December holiday break got underway.
Snowfalls were reported in the one to two foot range all over eastern ski country. Just in the St. Nick of time, conditions literally went from green to white almost overnight in many places. The snow depths were enough to temporarily bury talk of the pending fiscal cliff.
“What perfect timing,” exclaimed a giddy Okemo, Vt. spokesperson Bonnie MacPherson to SnoCountry.com. “The holiday storm arrived the day after a big travel day and ended with enough time to clean up the roads and get ready for the arrival of the weekend warriors. In all 13-15 inches of powder fell on Okemo, allowing us to double our trail count and be 99 percent open for the weekend.”
Most years, that’s unheard of in December. For good measure, a smaller, secondary storm was about to hit on Saturday and Sunday, bringing another six to eight inches of fluff eastward ho.
Further to the southwest, Windham Mountain in New York’s Catskills got their holiday present in the form of 15 inches of the soft white gold.
“The first snowstorm of the 2012-2013 season was a big one ... with a little more on the way for Saturday,” remarked Windham’s Beth Barry to SnoCountry.com exclusively. “In less than 48 hours Mother Nature allowed (us) to open 18 additional trails, with our acreage continuing to expand by the day.”
Cold weather allowed Windham to back up the natural with more man-made snow, and by the weekend, the resort had top to bottom on their menu with 38 trails available including World Cup, Whiteway, Wing’n It and Assembly Line.
Meanwhile, Bromley Mountain Resort in Peru, Vt., said its snow report was brought to you by the letter “O” ... as in "outstanding." Vermont’s sun mountain (south facing slopes) touted a natural drop of 18 inches.
“It could not have come at a better time,” said Bromley Director of Marketing Michael van Eyck. "Reservations in both our condos and our ski school look very strong. It’s really awesome stuff.”
Okemo's MacPherson concurred.
“On-mountain lodging is near full capacity and skier visit numbers are every bit indicative of a strong finish to a snow-filled vacation week. The demand is alive and well, and we're seeing a very encouraging response in spite of the economic uncertainty that the fiscal cliff predicts. You know, if you're going to go over a cliff, it might just as well be covered in snow.”
Photos: Top: Another Powder Day at Jay Peak thanks to to more than four feet of snow / Jay Peak Photo; Bottom photo: Fresh snow at Okemo has allowed the resort to open 99 percent of it's terrain / Okemo Photo
Comments
Hello David:
Thanks for reading the piece.
Actually I intended to use the word "quiet", but I understand your comment. The intention was to contrast the quiet of skiing on lots of soft snow with the opposite, meaning the grating sound one gets when skiing over boilerplate.
I hope that explains it.
Happy New Year in skiing and riding.
Sandy
I don't think Sandy has skied in New England in a while. Grating sounds? Boilerplate? I honestly haven't seen or heard that in years. The snowmaking just keeps getting better and better, I had the best skiing of my life last season on 100% manmade snow. It never snowed, but they made snow so regularly that it was actually better, just always fresh snow. I'm sure it cost the resorts a lot to make it, and skiers like sandy who imagine ice just didn't go out skiing, but I prefer the man made snow.
Do us a favor, Sandy the Dandy, get back to your racing roots and realize that the east coast has some of the best snowmaking and skiing in the US, and that grating sounds are a thing of the past. And a 12" storm in December is "unheard of"? Does your memory not go back to 2010? I think you meant Okemo is at 90%, this is seriously one of the worst articles I've read on snocountry, and that's a pretty low standard.
Purchase
This statement: "The recent weather to batter the eastern seaboard has turned skiing on the right coast into a quiet experience" is puzzling...did you mean "quite an experience"?