We have 4 ski areas open in the East this weekend including Sommet Saint-Sauveur, in Quebec, Jay Peak and Killington in Vermont, and Black Mountain in New Hampshire.
We did lose Camelback after their last stand on Cinco De Mayo. They probably could have made it this weekend with some snow farming but r@!n in Saturday's forecast for the Poconos followed by Mother's Day on Sunday isn't the best way to end the season. Still, the resort managed to stake their claim to the longest season in Pennsylvania by opening first in the state on December 3, 2026 and closing last in the state on May 5, 2026 with 138 days of operations. This was likely the longest season ever in the state.
Jasson Bays deserves an award as GM of the year. He has been the face of Camelback's efforts since last October when he was named to this position along with Resort Manager Olivier Glattfelder to turn around their operations after they lost their way following the acquisition by KSL Resorts (now Peregrine Hospitality) in 2019. They made a lot of promises at the start of the season following several years of operational issues and other decisions that made Camelback seem like it was run by bean counters who don't ski rather than people who understand what makes skiing and riding special to people. It's honestly not that difficult to make people happy, it just takes some money, time, and real effort.
Besides being the first to open and last to close in Pennsylvania, lift operations were more reliable this season, they reopened the Summit House, and made general parking free again (there's no better way to piss off East Coast skiers and riders than to charge for the majority of parking). You might think that prices would go up as a result of spending more on operations and losing parking revenue, but they have in fact dropped prices for next season's passes. This wasn't simply a change of strategy, they nuked the old playbook that clearly wasn't working.
I hope this is clear to most Snowology readers, but the East Coast ski market is different from the West in very notable ways. People in the East do daytrips and weekends within driving distance which is a whole lot different from jumping on a plane for a week to go to a storied resort with wall to wall packed powder, incredible mountain views, and the hustle and bustle of the surrounding villages We don't often plan months or even weeks in advance outside of holidays, and core skiers and riders are so dedicated to their resorts that it resembles professional sports rivalries. It's primarily recreation in the East rather than a vacation and that requires a different approach. That cold stench of corporate belt-tightening shortening terrain and seasons, delivering buzzword salad from execs and communications just reeks of dehumanizing corporate jargon, and overselling passes making your customers feel like they are being lined up for slaughter in endless lift queues is how you fail in the East Coast ski industry. Period, end of story. The turnarounds at Black Mountain and Camelback in the last two seasons are CLEARLY how you succeed. It's that simple, and it's honestly not that hard if you have the resources.
As far as the weather goes we have only one bit of concern on Saturday and here's the 3-hour precipitation intensity map from the GFS to set this up:
I'll cover the details and share my weekend picks for subscribers below in the Weekend Forecast.
