NYS Ski Areas Early Opening 2022

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
All three of the state-owned ski areas in NY State (Belleayre, Whiteface, Gore) opened last weekend with T2B skiing. None of them got the monster lake-effect precip that hit Buffalo and Watertown, so surfaces were primarily faux snow; however, it shows that temps have seasonably cold. Whiteface won the snowmaking battle by opening its entire 3,100 lift-served verts.
 
All three of the state-owned ski areas in NY State (Belleayre, Whiteface, Gore) opened last weekend with T2B skiing. None of them got the monster lake-effect precip that hit Buffalo and Watertown, so surfaces were primarily faux snow; however, it shows that temps have seasonably cold. Whiteface won the snowmaking battle by opening its entire 3,100 lift-served verts.

Gore opened the DAY AFTER Killington.
 
Killington/Sunday River had unusually late openings Nov. 17. October and early November were consistently too warm to make snow.

Were the NY openings early than average? 3,100 vertical open on less than a week of making snow is very impressive. I suspect the top eastern snowmaking areas have larger water supplies than their western counterparts.
 
Killington
successfully pulled off its World Cup Women's GS yesterday, which Patrick attended. Considering the late start to eastern snowmaking, I was wondered if that GS would be cancelled as some of the early season events were in the Alps. I suspect Killington gave snowmaking priority to the Superstar race course over public skiing given the short time window.
 
Were the NY openings early than average?
I can't say for recent years trends, but from a long term historical view:

Whiteface opened unusually with it's top to bottom trail, but not overly early (they usually do from Little Whiteface down - eg open the Gondola before the upper pitch)
Gore opened a touch early
Belleayre opened a fair bit earlier than usual
 
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