Early or late?

[Mildcat]

As awesome as late winter/ early spring was, I would rather have late fall/early winter like this year. The big point to my argument is how many resorts did we see close with close to 100% trails open last year. Everyone remembers Wildcat staying open for next to nothing for a lift ticket but there was a lot of resorts that closed with great coverage.

 

[MadPadraic]

Late season because as great as Thursday and Friday were, I found Saturday's surface too firm.

 

[deadheadskier]

Early, to keep our precious few remaining resorts in business. In my life time, I've seen about 70% of the resorts in the Northeast disappear. Granted there are other reasons too, but this is a biggie.

Though I prefer late, I am definitely happy that this winter is setting up very well in terms of business for the resorts. No one wants to see another resort go to pasture. Even beyond that is I love to see the resorts packed with business, more money tends to equal greater investment to improve the product.

 

[loafer89]

Saddleback closed on April 15th, 2007 with 100% open terrain and easily 10' of base on the upper mountain and April 15th was the start of a storm that would last 4 days and dump over 100" of snow when it was done.

Nightmare Glade on closing day:

Warren and I still talk about this day as it was the best day we ever had at Saddleback and the last day of the season was free to all.

 

[tcharron]

Let's assume that February in this hypothetical ski season sees average snowfall. If you had to pick only one, would you rather have well above average snows in December/January, or March/April? Assume the months you don't choose have well below average snowfall.

March/April. Dec and Jan I have to worry about Christmas.

Later in the season, the short term memory has forgotten about how much I spent in December.