KILLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – It’s being marketed as “a miracle March” for the region’s ski industry. A lot of recent snowfall in a year that has been less than stellar.
“Solid six-and-a-half out of 10,” said Mackenzie Gordon, a Montana native. It’s not a rating for the season that this crowd wanted, but things are looking up. “The bad days make you a better rider so no day is a bad day.”
Helen Krzyczynski had almost written the season off and put away the skis. “Down in Connecticut they are playing golf already and I had mine tuned for next season,” Krzyczynski said.
But then March hit, dropping nearly four feet of new snow at Killington.
“Nineteen of those 46 inches have been in the last seven days, and we are expecting over a foot of snow this weekend,” said Killington Resort’s Kristel Killary. She says the mountain’s marketing department has been using social media to let followers in the big cities to the south know that winter is not over. “So, really this week have been just showing everyone that we have been snow-making all week and that we have snow on the way.”
“People were actually starting to come up last night in anticipation for this big storm,” said Beth Sarandrea, who owns a coffeehouse on the Killington Access Road and is president of the Killington Pico Area Association. “It’s really nice to have Mother Nature come through when it felt like a few weeks ago, our season was going to be ending,” she said.
Some smaller mountains across the region have already closed. Others, thanks to the fresh flakes, are still going strong. “Stoked for the snow to come. Also so grateful for what’s out there right now,” Gordon said.
“I can hardly wait. Get those powder skis out,” Krzyczynski said.
Killington’s goal is always to have the longest season in the east and because of the recent snowfall, mountain officials say staying open until June is looking more and more like a possibility.
