This story by Chris Mays was published by the Brattleboro Reformer on Oct. 26.
[W]EST DOVER — Mount Snow is opening Saturday — the earliest opening in the ski resort’s 64-year history.
“We’re just excited to welcome everyone to the start of this season on Saturday,” said Jamie Storrs, resort communications manager. “We’re excited to see the faces we haven’t seen since last April.”
For the achievement, Storrs credits the new snow-making system and getting “great temperatures” early on. He is expecting a big crowd. He said he has seen a “great response” from passholders.
The resort announced this week it would open for skiing and riding from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday “with the most skiable terrain in the east.”
“Mother Nature came through with the right temperatures allowing our team to utilize the $30 million investment we made in our snowmaking system during our West Lake Water Project to celebrate the earliest opening day in our 64 year history,” Erik Barnes, vice president and general manager of Mount Snow, said in a news release. “We know that skiers and riders all over the east are champing at the bit to get out there and enjoy the slopes, and we can’t wait to welcome them all on Saturday.”
The plan is to open for weekends now.
“We hope to open to seven days as soon as possible,” Storrs said, but that will be announced later.
Killington Resort, which prides itself on being the first Vermont ski area to open each year, opened Oct. 19 and has one lift and four trails open, according to its website. Other resorts have yet to open, according to the Vermont Ski Areas Association.
Mount Snow said no beginner trails will be open but additional terrain may be added as temperatures allow for more snowmaking. Lifts that will be open will be announced Friday on the Snow Report at mountsnow.com.
Snow is being made on the Canyon, River Run, Cascade and Free Fall trails.
“And for the kids that ride and ski park, we are going to have a small early season park over on Cascade,” Storrs said Wednesday. “And we’re actually going to start up snowmaking again tonight at 7 p.m. in the hopes of making snow up to the start of skiing on Saturday morning.”
He noted, “You can always find cheaper tickets online on our website rather than purchasing at the ticket window.”
As far as the new Carinthia lodge goes, it is still “coming along” on schedule, Storrs said. “We’re not going to be operating out of the Carinthia base area because we don’t have any trails running down to the Carinthia base area with snow on them.”
He did not have an opening date for the new lodge yet.
On Oct. 18, Storrs announced Mount Snow had started making snow on four trails using 133 snow guns.
“As you might remember, we just finished a $30 million upgrade to our snowmaking system at the start of last season, which doubled our capacity to make snow and increased our water storage six-fold, and once again it’s paying off big,” he wrote in an email.
