And then there were 8.
This might seem depressing for snow lovers, but the reality is that the East has more operating ski areas in the last weekend of April than any other time I am aware of. Black Mountain stepped up last spring to stake their claim to the late season, this season Camelback of all places is still going quite strong with sights set on the first weekend in May, and Stowe who has traditionally closed after the second weekend in April now is going until this Saturday. Add those three to the standard late-season crew of Killington, Sugarloaf, Sugarbush, Jay Peak, and Saint-Sauveur and things are looking great!
We also saw snowmaking once again at Camelback, Black Mountain, and Jay Peak in an effort to extend their seasons. That was probably the last foray into snowmaking that we'll see at Camelback, but Black Mountain wants to make Labor Day and they need to keep lighting up the snowguns whenever it gets cold enough. Jay just simply needed to patch up with snowmaking in order to rescue terrain from closure headed into spring break.
Unfortunately the previous week was pretty bad for snowpack. After looking at Killington's Superstar I'm thinking they may struggle to reach Memorial Day and June is definitely questionable. Black Mountain wants to play with the big guns but it all comes down to temps for them and their ability to make snow. Saint-Sauveur is often a prerenal second to last finisher who has the benefit of generally colder temps and with Killington's alternative spring operations last season they became the last to close in the East.
Stowe's closing day will be this Saturday, and Sugarloaf is Sunday. Next week only Jay Peak and Killington will be operating midweek while the others will come back for Fri-Sun and it will likely be the final weekend for Camelback and Sugarbush.
So with that let's pivot to the weather for this weekend starting with the broad view over the next 4 days.
I'll cover the Weekend Forecast focused on the conditions, precipitation, and temps, and then a brief Next Week Outlook for subscribers.
