Hello Die Hard Skiers and Boarders!
Well, unfortunately, it’s that time of year that none of us want to admit. I’m afraid the ’16-’17 season has come to an end at Snow Ridge. With nasty, rainy weather coming in and staying for the weekend, we’ve decided to pull the plug. We were incredibly excited for a rowdy, sunny, retro, pond skimming closing weekend, but mother nature has other plans.
We are holding out slight hope that the snow will stick around long enough for a season ending pond skimming party next Sunday, April 2nd. If so, we will pull out all the stops and celebrate the ’16-’17 season in style. If that doesn’t work out for us, we’ll move all of our attention to harvesting snow in the lower half of the park for the Hike ‘n Huck on April 8th. Check out all the info for that event here!
If you’re one of those true die hards sitting there thinking, “Who cares about rain, open those lifts and lets shred!” Well, truth is there just aren’t enough of you like minded gnar cats out there for us to keep the doors open. One of the reasons I started this blog was to share our decision making processes on various issues and to give our loyal skiers and boarders a behind the scenes look at running Snow Ridge.
With that spirit in mind, I thought I would give everyone a little more information on our decision to end the season than you would typically receive. At Snow Ridge, just as it is at almost every small ski area in the country, it comes down to simple finances. Spring time rolls around, and despite offering some of the best skiing of the season (as we saw last weekend), skier visits drop off drastically. In an effort to combat this and draw folks out to the mountain, we drop ticket prices. With fewer people coming out and prices lower than normal, we simply can’t bring in the necessary funds to cover the costs of firing up. An iffy weather weekend where we would typically open during peak season, just doesn’t work in the spring season.
As a die hard skier myself, it’s a very tough decision to make. Particularly because spring skiing, pond skimming, and the A-Bay beach vibes are some of my favorite things about this sport. For this reason, I’m still crossing my fingers for a small miracle next week. If we can pull it off, we will open back up for one last hoorah next Sunday!
I’m sure many of you will probably read this and say, “That seems like a no brainer, I wouldn’t ski in that stuff this weekend anyway.” But for those of you who are still holding onto the last flakes of winter, I hope this gives you a little more explanation behind our decision. I’m right there with you, so let’s hold out hope for a season ending banger next weekend and some crazy fun times at the first ever Hike ‘n Huck. If not, then I’ll see you spring ski bums bashing soft bumps at Killington next month! Thanks friends!
Nick
General Manager
