Early snow has New England skiing
Ski buffs have much to be thankful for on holiday
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Early season snow and cold temperatures are helping New England ski resorts open early, carving out a blizzard of a start to the 2018-2019 season.
Many hitting the slopes are finding great November conditions across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
The early season snow bounty is being combined with tens of millions of dollars in improvements at resorts across the three states that include new chairlifts, snow-making upgrades and more off-slope activities for winter enjoyment. Another bonus is the storms have hit southern New England and the New York area, which helps generate interest in winter sports from people who live far from the mountains.
All the new amenities are being highlighted by the cold weather that allows snow-making machines to blanket the slopes — plus the free, natural snow that has been covering the region in a series of early storms. All this has combined to produce rarely seen mid-november conditions, said Sarah Hyde of Wilmington, who has been out on the slopes a half dozen times already at southern Vermont’s Mount Snow, which had its earliest opening ever on Oct. 27.
“In the old days I would take a pair of rock skis out for early in the season because you’d rather see the sparks fly on something old rather than something new,” said Hyde, who added that she hasn’t seen any bare spots on the slopes thus far.
The snowfall in Maine threatened records for November in some parts of the state. Beth Ward, general manager of the Camden Snow Bowl, said the early snowfall had residents “chomping to ski.”
Ward said the combination of early