Massachusetts ski areas are awaiting this week's forecasted return of colder weather to make more snow and kick the season up a notch.
Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Princeton, which opened Nov. 21, had one of its strongest and earliest launches in years for a record month.
"As the result of cold early temperatures, we were able to make snow early, and then we got the bonus of a 10-inch snowstorm around Thanksgiving," marketing director Tom Meyers said. "So we've had one of the best Novembers we've ever had."
But December has been a different story.
"December has been challenging all month, not just the last few days," Meyers said. "We've made snow whenever we can, but it's been not as cold as it was early. But, nevertheless, we still have over three-quarters of the mountain open, and the forecast now calls for cold temperatures to return … and we're looking to start making snow again and building base depths, expanding coverage and opening additional terrain."
Wachusett had 14 trails and four lifts open yesterday, with snow base depths of eight inches to 12 inches.
Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock opened Nov. 16 with expanded snow-making operations. Yesterday, 34 trails and nine lifts were in operation with average snow base depths of eight inches to 28inches.
"The season started out very solid and … we were able to get all our snow-making terrain open before Christmas," CEO Tyler Fairbank said. "We've never been able to do that before."
Rain on Christmas Eve and into Christmas knocked down Jiminy Peak's trail count a bit, but with a significant amount of manmade snow on the mountain, it was able to recover very quickly with its grooming fleet, according to Fairbank.
It's been a slow start at Nashoba Valley Ski Area in Westford, where eight of 18 trails and eight of 11 lifts were open yesterday.
The recent warmer weather has proved a challenge, according to marketing and corporate sales director Pam Fletcher. This time last year, Nashoba Valley had its entire mountain open thanks to a series of December snowstorms and more days of super cold temperatures.
"But with the cold weather coming, we can cover and open a slope from bare ground," Fletcher said. "And we already had, going into the rain, decent coverage — anywhere from 2 feet in some areas to 2 inches. That depth really helps you when you're going into the warm weather that we got over the holiday. We just need a couple of cold nights, and they can cover the whole thing."
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