A ski lift at Crotched Mountain in New Hampshire. (Ben Parker/WBZ NewsRadio 1030)
BENNINGTON, N.H. (WBZ-AM) -- With another round of snow for parts of New England, many people are starting to think about ski season--especially those who run ski areas.
At Crotched Mountain in Bennington, New Hampshire, they're set to officially open on Friday.
Andy Gendron, Director of Marketing and Events at Crotched Mountain, told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker that the snow couldn't have come at a better time.
"Literally white gold," he said. "Snow means business. They call it the backyard effect--when people down south in the major metropolitan areas see the snow in the backyard, they start thinking skiing, and they come up here."
Crotched Mountain had five inches of snow over the weekend, with more falling Tuesday morning.
"It sort of helps us create a foundation of snow up on the slope to get us through the season," Gendron said.
With 100-percent snowmaking and colder weather heading in, Crotched will be cranking out even more snow. Gendron said they'll be making snow from Tuesday night to at least Friday night.
"We can blow snow anywhere on the hill," Gendron said. "We can pump 6,000 gallons a minute up the slope to make snow. So we're looking at roughly a 72-hour window of snowmaking with these cold temps coming in prior to Friday's opening and really our first weekend of operation."
Gendron says that, with early, real snow, skiers get excited.
"The Christmas holiday is like our big first bang in the ski industry, really need to take advantage of that ... so whenever we can sort lead into Christmas week with a lot of terrain open and things like that, it's very positive."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports