BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – When he heard a snowstorm was coming, Vincent Mascia gathered his ski gear and set an alarm.
“I went to bed early last night,” Mascia smiled. “I was here at eight.”
Robert Forenza of South Hero couldn’t believe his eyes when he hit the slopes Sunday morning.
“Everything is so much better, I can’t explain,” Forenza said. “Night and day between yesterday and today.”
The season started strong with lots of snow but dipped after December’s flooding. John Bleh with Sugarbush Resort says it doesn’t exactly inspire people to ski.
“Not something you want, realistically, because it affects so many people, and it’s not something you want from an optics standpoint because it doesn’t make you think about winter,” Bleh explained.
Bleh says Sunday was one of the busiest days of the season. Roughly eight inches of thick, fluffy snow coating the mountain drew a massive crowd.
Teddy Pitluck and Otto Kiplok with Sugarbush’s backcountry ski group Ski Mountaineers were psyched for the snow day.
“When I see the snow, I feel like it’s time to actually start skiing instead of staying on gatehouse,” Kiplok said, Pitluck nodding. “It’s time we start lapping the top and getting in the good snow.”
Elizabeth Novak, who regularly visits Vermont to ski, says Sunday was a clear standout.
“This is definitely the best day so far this season,” Novak said.
According to the Vermont Climate Assessment, the state’s winters are getting wetter and heating up 2.5 times faster than average annual temperatures. Bleh says Sugarbush spends millions on snowmaking equipment to make up for the lack of steady snow.
“That’s what you really use, A, to build your depths to be able to have a long season and B, to be able to combat warm weather and a lack of natural snowfall,” Bleh said of snowmaking.
Sunday’s snow could be short lived, with a possible bout of snow and rain on Tuesday. The resort says they’re hoping for as little rain as possible.
