New England's biggest ski resort to have its earliest opening in four years due to recent snow
The Vermont mountains tend to receive around 159" of snow per year and average between 1-2 months of snowy days.
Ski resorts prepare for an El Nino winter
Brendan Gibbons from Palisades Tahoe joins FOX Weather to talk about how the ski resort is preparing for the upcoming winter season.
New England’s largest ski resort is crediting the early arrival of wintry precipitation and cold temperatures across Vermont for helping to create enough of a base to open the facility to skiers and snowboarders by the weekend – a full two weeks earlier than last year.
Below-freezing temperatures have allowed the Killington Resort to make enough of a base that sports enthusiasts will have a couple of trails and lifts to utilize during the opening weekend, with more routes that could come online if Mother Nature allows.
The opened trails are designated for advanced skiers, and the resort did not provide a timeline for when less challenging routes would be opened.
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The Vermont mountains tend to receive around 159" of snow per year and average between 1-2 months of snowy days.
The resort will host the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Tour in late November, where some of the best alpine skiers in the world will compete.
Tourist destinations in the Green Mountain State are coming off a tough year, with warm temperatures that limited the length of the ski season in 2022-23 and flooding rain during the off-season.
Despite the adverse conditions, the Ski Vermont association reported more than 4 million visitors during the 2022-23 season, which was higher than in recent years.
Northeast snowfall analysis
(NOAA)
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Other mountain resorts such as Stratton, Bolton Valley and Sugarbush have set expected openings in mid to late November.
"Excited to see some snow flying at our upper elevations the other day and more on the way early next week by the current look of things. We got the snowmaking gear out for a little test run yesterday, so any way you slice it, there will be snow on the mountain soon," Bolton Valley states in a recent status update.