Ski areas coping with iffy weather

Ski areas coping with iffy weather
By Bonnie Obremski, North Adams Transcript
12/27/2006 11:56:21 AM EST

Wednesday, December 27

Officials with two ski resorts in the region said Tuesday that while warm, wet weather has dampened lift-ticket sales, business is still good, and the slopes are set to "shred" — enthusiasts' lingo for ready for downhill speeding.

Man-made snow has more than made up for the dearth of the natural stuff at Jiminy Peak in Hancock, and close-by Mount Snow in Vermont picked up a few inches of powder Tuesday.

"People have the perception that there's no snow because they're looking in their backyards and not seeing any," Christopher Lenois, communications manager at Mount Snow in West Dover, Vt., said. "We're 3,600 feet up. Someone 25 minutes away in Bennington could say it's raining, and I look outside the window here and it's snowing."

Still, most of Mount Snow's fluffy stuff so far was blasted from the bellies of snow machines. Just 25 of the mountain's 106 trails are open — five of the open trails are "top-to-bottom" trails.

"We've been behind projections and we're not breaking sales records," Lenois said.
In an effort to boost the season's slow start, Lenois said several Vermont ski resorts gathered two weeks ago to mail out special-delivery packages to the state's meteorologists.

"We got some Cabot cheese and put it into coolers packed with snow from our slopes," he said. "It's to say, 'See? We've got snow. We'll even send it to you.'"

Jiminy Peak Mountain Ski Resort has 14 of its 44 trails open. Director of Marketing Betsy Strickler said overall sales are below average, but the lodge is completely booked through the new year and calls for reservations continue to stream in.

"We've noticed some interesting trends," Strickler said. "Our 'Get Skiing' and 'Get Boarding' learning programs have increased in participation numbers over last year."

She said the warm weather might actually be fostering a timid athlete's comfort with learning a new sport. "It's not the worst year," she said of the weather. "One year, five years ago, we didn't open until the second week in December." The resort opened this year just after Thanksgiving.

"We've had warm winters in the past," Strickler said. "But every year, we work our way through."

Forecasts show natural snow may fall again on Mount Snow and on Jiminy Peak this week as the daily high temperatures continue to drop. Efforts to reach officials at Bosquet Ski Area in Pittsfield and Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont for this article were unsuccessful.