ut they were not warm. Quite the opposite, very cold with lots of Alberta clipper events bringing cold air and very limited moisture - only an inch or two of snow at a time.
I would agree with the above.
Some of the worst winters were/are:
During the core months of January and February - or maybe just the 6-week stretch from January 1st to Presidents' Day - there would be 1-2 storms that did not track along the coast (like a Nor'easter) and instead pulled warm air up with widespread rain. This would be followed by Clippers, which, outside of Sugarbush/Stowe/Jay, don't produce much snow and just bring wind and cold.
Basically, a winter of freezing temps and ice. Just manmade snowmaking runs.
There does appear to be a 'Golden Age' period in the Northeast for snowfall during ski resort creation and growth in the 1960s/70s. I have read that it was almost a mini-cold period. One could build lifts without snowmaking in upstate NY and expect them to operate most of the season - even just T-bars. Killington has snowfall data from the opening year that confirms some of this.
Many years in the 1980s and 90s were not great.
The most impressive winter for me was visiting Boston in Feb/March of 2015 with 100 inches of snow in the city limits. No room and massive snowbanks like Mammoth or Tahoe.
This winter's snowfalls also impressed me. Watching our Swiss friend spend more time in the car, skiing just a few runs/lifts per day when there were 1-3 ft snowbanks in the NE lowlands with all-natural trails and glades open, was infuriating. You can do that stunt in the worst winter ever, just as an activity.