(Host) Ski areas across the state are enjoying the after effects of the first major snow storm of the season – something they hope will bode well for the Christmas holidays.
VPR’s Nina Keck took a few hours off to savor some of the fresh powder at Killington and she has this report.
(Keck) Killington spokesman Tom Horrocks sits in front of his computer and shows me some video he shot while skiing Tuesday morning.
(sound of video) "Wooowooo! – rip it up! Hit it! Ya ya ya ya…"
(Horrocks) "This is the type of conditions that all our friends in Utah and Colorado were bragging about last year and we didn’t’ see this until later in the season. So far this year, we really couldn’t’ have asked for a much better start to the season."
(Keck) Horrocks says reservations are way up and he admits there’s been a lot of hooping and hollering in the administration building.
(Keck) Inside the base lodge, Killington resident Alisa Demartino takes a break between runs. Last year at this time, she says the resort was closed and they thought the season would never start. It’s amazing, she says with a grin, what a winter storm can do.
(Demartino) (laughs) "Gotta love it. It was just – everywhere powder. More terrain than ever open. It was great because the base was there, so no rocks or crud underneath. It was pow pow – great experience!"
(Keck) A few tables away, Lee Quaglia wears an equally big smile as he takes off his helmet and goggles. Quaglia owns the Aspen East Ski Shop in town and he says no matter how much he advertises, it all comes down to weather.
(Qualglia) "Are you kidding me? I mean it’s unbelievable it’s like midwinter conditions and we still have three weeks to go in Fall."
(Keck) Sales, he says have been brisk. At the bar, two brothers from upstate New York waited for a friend . After the older brother gushed about the conditions, the younger brother politely refused to comment. I better not, he says and laughs, I don’t want to jinx it.
For VPR News, I’m Nina Keck in Killington.