(Host) Vermont’s ski resorts hope last weekend’s blizzard will mean a healthy New Year’s weekend for them.
Boston, New York and Philadelphia all were buried in a foot or more of snow on Sunday and Monday.
Vermont didn’t get nearly as much, but there’s still plenty of natural and manmade snow in the mountains.
Parker Riehle is president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association. He says resorts are as interested in snow in the cities as they are in the mountains.
(Riehle) "And that’s what we call the backyard syndrome, sort of out of sight, out of mind. If they don’t have snow in their backyard and they’re looking at brown grass, it’s incredibly difficult to motivate them to come on to Vermont and ski."
(Host) Vermont bucked the trend of other Northeast ski destinations last year when its total business increased slightly from the year before.
Riehle says good weather in December have helped the resorts build a solid snow base. So they hope to repeat or exceed last year’s totals.