11/22/2021 Update:
New targeted opening date: Saturday, December 4 due to lack of cold temperatures for snowmaking so far in November.
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Sitting here at the highest base area elevation ski resort in Vermont and located in northern Vermont at that, the familiar signs of fall can be seen everywhere we look. And with scenic chair lift rides Friday through Sunday through the legendary Vermont fall foliage season, we can’t help but turn our sites toward the coming winter season. In fact, today we are just 60 days to our targeted opening date for the 2021-22 winter season, which is:
Friday, November 26, 2021
As always, we’ll need a little cooperation from Mother Nature, which in the early season basically means enough windows of sustained cold temperatures for proper snowmaking. Sure, some natural snowfall doesn’t hurt either, especially like 3 years ago when #snowvember delivered nearly 10 feet of snowfall by the end of November, resulting in the record highest natural snow depth at the Mansfield snow stake in 60+ years of daily tracking (nearly 4 feet). We’re not holding our breath for that type of start to the season, but hey, good to have hope, isn’t it?
Whatever we get, we know it’s going to be a pretty remarkable season! How can we be so sure? Well, last year we faced unprecedented challenges from the outset and despite a somewhat lackluster snowfall year, it was one of the more memorable seasons we’ve ever had. And doggonit, we’re pretty certain we’ll be just as grateful at the end of this season as we were at the end of last year’s historic season.
So maybe it’s time to break out some of the winter gear and have a look at what needs tuning, waxing and replacing, eh?