http://www.skivermont.com/page.asp lists opening dates of 15 Vermont ski areas, including seven that already are operating.
In just four months, Bob Fries transformed Bolton Valley from a ski area about to be shuttered to a bustling little resort open for business today. Fries still has several regulatory and legal hurdles to clear before he becomes the official new owner of the 36-year-old ski area, but winter didn't wait and neither did he.
Once he decided he wanted to buy the financially troubled resort, Fries secured a lease so he could operate Bolton Valley this winter. In short order this fall, he arranged for the slopes to be mowed, the lifts serviced, the staff hired, the base lodge furniture replaced, brochures printed and snow guns positioned. Mother Nature has helped, dropping more than 15 inches of snow on the slopes in recent days.
Now, as the first skiers and snowboarders zip down Spillway and Park Pipe, Fries is banking that his experience managing other ski areas, including Stratton Mountain in southern Vermont and Waterville Valley Resort in New Hampshire, will help him steer this financially fragile resort to a more secure future.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/news/1000h.htm
Friday was a good day to stay home with the leftovers, as up to 5 inches of snow blanketed much of the state.
http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/News/RutlandCounty/Story/56917.html
Okemo Mountain President Timothy Mueller drank champagne straight from the bottle for breakfast Friday — toasting the opening of the Jackson Gore section of the $100 million ski development and ending a nearly five-year permit saga.
http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/
From Rutland, VT, Herald:
If it were up to the people at Vermont’s ski resorts to control the weather, snow conditions around the state would look almost exactly like they do right now. After a Christmas storm that delivered a present of deep, fresh snow on top of an already solid base, every ski resort contacted Saturday said they were in great shape for one of their busiest weekends of the year.
“Everybody’s smiling, the sun is coming out,” said Myra Foster, spokeswoman at Stratton Mountain, where there is a 5-foot snow base in some places. “If we could have scripted a Christmas-New Year’s holiday, this would be it.”
http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/News/RutlandCounty/Story/58281.html