STOWE, Vt. -
Last year's ski season was unlike any other. That's because winter in Vermont was hardly that. And because of mother nature's dry spell, many of the area resorts are all making improvements in the same area... snow making!
Skiing is a pricey sport, so before you spend your hard-earned cash hitting the slopes, we wanted to show you some big improvements resorts have made over the summer, to get your business.
"If we had a drought last summer, we're probably going to get buried this winter," Stowe's Director of Marketing Mike Colbourn said.
Despite many people hoping for a snowy winter, Stowe, Jay, Smugglers' Notch, Burke and Killington all spent their summers planning for the opposite. All five resorts made snow making improvements, and those are just the spots we checked in with.
"It gives us a good start on the season 'til the natural snow starts to fall and it gives us a good base in the Spring so we can go to mid April," Steve Wry, Smugglers' Notch Director of Skiing Services and Safety said.
And Killington put their new equipment to the test, the mountain was covered with snow on Sunday, and it was all man-made! Season pass holders got to ski before snow even fell from the sky. Jay is adding a restaurant, parking, ski school, two new lifts, and even with all of that, lower ticket prices.
Smugglers' Notch turned trees and rocks into rails and jumps, to make an all natural terrain park... playground in the woods if you will.
"It should be a lot of fun," Wry said.
Smugglers' Notch provides mixed terrain,"there's some great beginner trails down in the village and we have good intermediate and expert terrain up here," Wry added.
But Stowe says it has great trails and scenery,"well it's Vermont's highest peak, I'm biased, but I love this terrain," Colbourn said.
Regardless of where you ride, it sounds like snow and lots of it will cover the green mountains soon.
Stowe opens for the season November 17th.
Smugglers' Notch will be ready for riders the day after Thanksgiving.
Many of the resorts in the area are offering specially priced season passes.
