On Sunday, October 18th at 9am EST, Killington Mountain in Vermont became the first ski resort to open* in the nation, officially starting the 2015-16 ski season for all of North America. 24 hours later, Sunday River in Maine opened to the public, offering top to bottom skiing on Locke Mountain. A handful of other ski resorts in Northeast were able to make snow for nearly 48 continuous hours thanks to a arctic blast of air that lasted through the weekend; on the Western front, Copper Mountain, Loveland Ski Area, and the usual early season suspects had been trying to do the same but came up unsuccessful. Chalk it up as a big win for the East this year.
When Sunday River first announced they planned to open on October 19th (Their Facebook post was made on Wednesday 10/14 at 3pm), the Sugarloafer** in me scoffed at the idea. There was simply no way they could pull it off. The temps would be too warm there. The humidity too high. It's just a publicity stunt. I was convinced the forecast will change for the worse, they would back off on the claim and settle for the attention they got Wednesday afternoon. And if by some miracle they did manage to pull it off, there was no way I was going to be caught dead skiing there. No way.
Then the inevitable came. Killington announced the next evening that they would, of course, be opening the day before Sunday River. They had an admittedly clever video to go along with their announcement. If any resort is confident enough to claim that winter starts when THEY say so, there was no way they were going to let someone else beat them at their own game (Do you know how much of their marketing collateral would go to waste?). I should have seen it coming. Once again, I was sour.
Much to my initial dismay the forecasts continued to improve as we moved into the weekend. Temperatures would be very favorable and guns were ready to rock all over the place. The race to lay down the first white ribbon of death would commence at any moment. Ski season was closing in and I was still jaded for no good reason. And then a switch flipped.
Skiing is back. Winter is coming. Enjoy it.
*K-town opened to season passholders and "express card" holders only on Sunday. They opened to the public Monday morning.
** "Sugarloafer" defines a person associated with Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. The Loaf and Sunday River are sister mountains both owned by Boyne Resorts, but a pretty rooted rivalry still exists between those that associate with one or the other.
When Sunday River first announced they planned to open on October 19th (Their Facebook post was made on Wednesday 10/14 at 3pm), the Sugarloafer** in me scoffed at the idea. There was simply no way they could pull it off. The temps would be too warm there. The humidity too high. It's just a publicity stunt. I was convinced the forecast will change for the worse, they would back off on the claim and settle for the attention they got Wednesday afternoon. And if by some miracle they did manage to pull it off, there was no way I was going to be caught dead skiing there. No way.
Then the inevitable came. Killington announced the next evening that they would, of course, be opening the day before Sunday River. They had an admittedly clever video to go along with their announcement. If any resort is confident enough to claim that winter starts when THEY say so, there was no way they were going to let someone else beat them at their own game (Do you know how much of their marketing collateral would go to waste?). I should have seen it coming. Once again, I was sour.
Much to my initial dismay the forecasts continued to improve as we moved into the weekend. Temperatures would be very favorable and guns were ready to rock all over the place. The race to lay down the first white ribbon of death would commence at any moment. Ski season was closing in and I was still jaded for no good reason. And then a switch flipped.
Skiing is back. Winter is coming. Enjoy it.
*K-town opened to season passholders and "express card" holders only on Sunday. They opened to the public Monday morning.
** "Sugarloafer" defines a person associated with Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. The Loaf and Sunday River are sister mountains both owned by Boyne Resorts, but a pretty rooted rivalry still exists between those that associate with one or the other.
