Skiing: Resorts open early thanks to cold weather

Iseult Devlin | Special to NorthJersey.com

Black Friday skiing, anyone? Instead of battling crowds at the malls, why not head to the slopes and enjoy the outdoors.

Local resorts around the Bergen County area are gearing to open Friday, Nov. 23 with a variety of ski trails and some great early conditions—provided temperatures stay cold for snowmaking.

“We call it White Friday,” joked Jim Tust, Pennsylvania’s Shawnee Mountain marketing director, noting it’s one of the earliest openings ever. “Enthusiasm is always so high early season especially after we got a foot of snow at the top last week—our phones were ringing off the hook.”

One cold night prior to the storm, Shawnee’s snowmakers were able to make a substantial amount of snow to lay down a good base before the natural stuff fell. If all goes well, Tust said they should have several top-to-bottom trails open including Pennsylvania, the longest trail at almost a mile long.

The pent-up demand for winter has skiers and riders heading out earlier than expected. Last weekend, the parking lots started filling up before the lifts started spinning at Mount Snow, in southern Vermont.

“We’ve had 9 inches of snow since Sunday night,” said Jamie Storrs, communications manager. Mount Snow opened for the season on Oct. 27, the earliest in its 64-year history, thanks to a powerful new $30 million snowmaking system. But real snow has factored in, too, with 21 inches in the last two weeks, allowing some natural snow trails to open in addition to the manmade terrain.

Optimal snowmaking conditions have made it hard for snowcats to keep up with the grooming, Storrs added. “It’s the kind of weather snowmakers dream of with temperatures in the teens and low humidity,” he said.

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It was snowing in Killington earlier in the week, too. About a four-hour drive from north Jersey, Killington has had over a foot of snow in the last week and 26 inches so far this season. The new snow should also allow for some beginner terrain to open this weekend. Other Vermont areas are open including Stowe, Okemo and Sugarbush while the majority of other spots open this week. Even Trapp Family Lodge and Rikert Nordic Center opened for cross-country skiing fun.

Travel even further north for more snow. Boasting an early season record of over three feet of snow so far, Maine’s Sunday River reported 46 trails open, with beginner terrain opening this weekend to supplement a large variety of trails, including a terrain park with 10 features.

In New Hampshire, ski season is underway at Loon and Bretton Woods with many more opening this weekend.

Closer to home, Windham Mountain in the Catskills opened last Saturday with top-to-bottom skiing on two lifts thanks to 9 inches of fresh snow from last Thursday’s storm. It’s the resort’s earliest opening in 14 years.

Other New York areas opened last weekend like Gore, Hunter, Belleayre and Whiteface. Snowmakers at Mountain Creek in New Jersey have been hard at work and hope to open soon as well.

Back in Pennsylvania, several other mountains plan to open Friday including Montage Mountain in nearby Scranton, which introduces airboarding, a new sledding type sport, for the coming season. Opening day at Blue Mountain is also this Friday with discounted lift tickets.

And speaking of discounts, most of the resorts have less expensive tickets for Thanksgiving weekend, plus lodging deals to boot. If you are anxious to start your season, it’s a good time to go with conditions more like mid-winter than mid-November.