Longest ski season in the East and West!

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Bragging rights are earned in the ski biz by claiming the longest ski season. A serious commitment to snowmaking and man power are required to ski from Halloween to Memorial Day, Mother Nature's cold support helps too.

Killington has stepped up to the plate the past few seasons. This winter, Killington hosted the most skiing in New England, 199 days from October 24, 2013 to May 18, 2014. The Beast of the East had an even longer season the previous year, October 14, 2012- Memorial Day May 27, 2013.

For other late spring skiing resorts in the East, Jay Peak stayed open for Mother's Day skiing closing May 11, 2014. Sugarloaf closed May 4, Sunday River's last day of skiing was April 20 and Bretton Woods gave free skiing on Patriots day April 21. The good news for New England skiers and riders is that Killington, Sunday River, and now Jay Peak and Sugarloaf are all vying for longest ski season bragging rights. The winners - skiers!

2013-14 was a super cold and snowy winter for much of the North East. The Weather Channel exhausted its A-Z snowstorm names across the country starting with Atlas, to #26 Zephyr that dumped 43 inches of snow in Colorado May 10-13. That became rain that wiped out the East remaining skiing.

Still skiing out west is Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, Mt Hood Timberline and Mt Bachelor in Oregon, Mammoth in California, and Snowbird Utah. Aspen's Ajax will reopen for Memorial Day weekend skiing since they have so much snow.

After those last sweet spring corn snow turns, pack your snowboard and ski gear away properly, clean & dry, so you are ready to ski next October. Halloween skiing is just a few months away!

While you are waiting for next winter, check out our Family Ski Resort Vacation Guide and our latest Luxury Ski Vacation recommendations to plan your next ski vacation.

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Beast of the East 1st to Ski in the East

It's official, Killington Resort in Vermont opened today, October 24 at 1:30 first in the East for skiing. The Big K for the third consecutive year, spins the first lifts, the K-1 gondola ahead of all other New England resorts. Killington opened exclusively for season passholders and Express Card members today & Friday- making the pass privilege very real! Last season Killington gave their pass holders the longest ski season by opening first Oct 14 and staying open thru Memorial Day weekend!  Killington will open skiing to the public Saturday Oct 26, 2013 for $49 lift tickets, and some pre Halloween skiing in Vermont while the fall foliage still clings to the trees. The K-1 Express Gondola will offer uploading and downloading with advanced and expert skiing on the Rime trail. The KBL, Killington Base Lodge, will be open with skier service, food and bar. Killington's new summit Peak Lodge is not scheduled to open til December of 2013.


Who will open next for early season skiing in New England? My money is on Sunday River in Maine. They just announced they will open Saturday October 26, 2013  on Sunday River's T2 and Upper Punch. Speaking of Upper Punch, If The River opens an hour earlier to the public than Killington (8am in Maine versus 9am in Vermont), does that mean Sunday River scooped the Big K on their big public opening day?! I love the battle of snow guns, don't you?!

Out west in Colorado, Arapahoe Basin opened October 13, 2013 and Loveland nearby opened the following week on Oct 17, 2013. These Colorado high elevation resorts are perennial favorites for first tracks in the Rockies


Time to hit  those early season ski swaps and sales, get your family's ski gear ready to roll and do those leg squats - #winteriscoming! The Farmers Almanac is predicting a real snowy cold winter. You can be skiing before Halloween, costumes and all! Boo ya!

See you on the slopes !  For more tips on family skiing and for planning a luxury ski trip... check out our ski sites!

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Beast of the East...ski season ends for 2012-13!

Killington wins the longest ski winter 2013 for the East! Killington opened first this ski season on Oct 13 exclusively to passholders - ahead of perennial rope dropper Sunday River for a second year in a row.
The Big K, Kmart, #BeastoftheEast, had hoped to ski till June after such a good snow winter in New England...well, they outwitted, outplayed and outlasted the rest...but Sunday May 26 was their last day! In classic North East fashion - it rained then snowed for closing weekend, but there was no charge for skiing and riding on the Superstar Quad and Trail - some walking required, but now whining - it was a valiant finish. Did I mention it was free skiing?

The last time Killington stayed open into June was June 1, 2002. The latest the Beast has been skied was June 22, 1997 with that year's bounty of 301-inches of snow. This winter's snow accumulation was about 250-inches.

For decades Killington was The Beast with the longest ski season in the East, then Sugarloaf, Sunday River, and even Jay Peak, gave it a run. Looks like the Beast is back, and the European style umbrella bars, added in 2011 after Irene damaged the Superstar Pub, are the perfect complement to spring skiing in Vermont.

So now we start to wager who will open first? Halloween skiing? Till then, enjoy your water skiing, hiking, biking, boating, whatever you do to stay sane in summer! Stay tuned to Family Ski Trips

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Fall = Football and Alpine Anticipation!

The New England Patriots season opener has me very excited. My big buddy Wilfork was amazing as he put all his weight into the game and made Flat Stanleys out of some of the Titans. Gronk and Tommy were impressive too, as were our Rookies! Brady took a pretty big hit and bloodied his otherwise-pretty face (btw: thank you for the clean cute hair cut Tom, or Gisele if that was your doing)! But Brady in his always-poised, powerful fashion played on, pushed through the pain and put 34 points on the scoreboard with his team. Titans' #10 JakeLocker (sounds like one word to me) was sacked and sidelined with a left shoulder bang- wonder how he is feeling today?

It was a great start to the fall football season for The Pats – hope springs eternal among New England sports fans - a welcome distraction since the Red Sox are out of the action with their usual fall folleys. Are they drinking in the Red Sox  dug out again?  I did say when they hired Valentine that I liked his spirit and his smile, ok - I liked that Bobby V was a skier and talked about heli skiing trips and how he loved New England snow. Now, I am rethinking that - perhaps downhill is a distraction, downhill is certainly the direction of the current club management.

Fall sports talk, and the emerging fall weather pattern, certainly leads me to one thing - skiing. Cool crisp mornings and an email box full of ski resort media releases means one thing: ski season is just two months away. 
The Boston Ski Show, November 8-11, will be here before we know it, and I predict Sunday River and Killington will race to open for skiing by Halloween! Last season you may recall Killington opened minutes prior to The River on October 29.  So enjoy your fall football, and get ready for ski season. The Farmers' Alamanc and every ski resort east of the Mississippi, and west for that matter, are all calling for an epic snow year. Keep riding the bike, looking for ski swaps, sales and ski news...the snow will be here soon.  Remember Snowtober, the pre Hallloween storm of 2011?

Think Snow, Go Pats!

 

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Longest ski season throwdown showdown - The Ski Guru Blog

It's a race to the May finish line for New England ski resorts. Major players Sugarloaf, Saddleback, Killington and Jay all plan to keep skiing into May. Who will be the last ski resort standing? Who will claim the longest ski season? My bet is the skier that doesn't stow those boards is the real winner...there is a ridiculous amount of snow in the high elevation ski hills. April 3, I skied Sugarloaf's snowfields and Brackett Basin glades, and I have never seen the slopes snowier.

Read all about who will be the King of Spring Skiing in my Boston blog:
Longest ski season throwdown showdown - The Ski Guru Blog

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