As seen on Spectrum News
By Hudson Valley
PUBLISHED Feb. 06, 2024
Watch video here.
The warmth, and in some cases, rain, is affecting ski centers and those who like to ride the slopes.
What You Need To Know
- Ski slopes in parts of New York are struggling with this season’s weather
- A warm, rainy winter with scarce snow has made it difficult to maintain slopes
- Some have had to run snow guns for 24 hours straight to get enough snow on the slopes
“It’s just great to be outdoors skiing,” he said.
But this year, the conditions can vary day to day.
“Sometimes, it’s granulated and it’s soft, like today. It’s soft when it’s groomed,” Kelley said. “It depends on the weather, really, on what we’re going to ski on.”
Warm, rainy weather, combined with very little natural snowfall, has created a serious challenge for ski slopes across parts of Eastern and Central New York.
Tom Else, the assistant mountain manager for Mount Peter, said that without the 45 snow guns they have, they wouldn’t have a ski season.
“In this part of the country, it’s pretty key,” he said. “So that’s helped us to get open before other places and to get open with more terrain before other places and keep our conditions nice.”
Mount Peter is able to operate at full capacity. But smaller hills around the state that don’t have the same snowmaking infrastructure aren’t as lucky. Some, like Fayetteville’s Four Seasons, report the most challenging season they’ve seen.
But as long as there’s snow on the mountain, Kelley will keep getting out here, making the most of his time on the slopes.
“Been hard for the mountain because they’ve blown snow and they lost it with the rain,” he said. “But as you can see, it’s beautiful.”
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