Carving Turns Before Turkey

New England skiers had their pick of 18 ski resorts open this past weekend, with sunshine and strong early-season conditions. Today, with premature snow precipitating (OK, I mean the four-letter word that begins with “r”), the number of ski areas open has dropped to 11 for the midweek. Some resorts will re-open on Wednesday and Thanksgiving, with the majority opening on Friday for the holiday weekend.

Ski conditions around New England are ahead of last season. Okemo leads the charge with 170 acres of skiing, while Sunday River offers 139 acres. Loon and Killington are just behind with 113 and 85 acres, respectively. Today’s “rain”–a verboten term in ski reporting–may bring trail counts down, but resorts will be ready to pump more snow and perhaps receive natural snow, which, along with returning colder temps, is predicted for Wednesday.

Black Friday might be this week, but the better place to be after Thanksgiving is the mountains. Work off that turkey dinner with ski turns, not mall walking. Next weekend, Sunday River will host Demo Days, where you can sample the latest skis and snowboards for just $10. Okemo celebrates Orange instead of Black as they launch their new $6.9 million six-pack Sunburst Express lift from mid-mountain to the summit–the only six-passenger chair in North America of its kind, with an orange acrylic bubble cover and heated seats.

Across the country over 135 ski resorts have opened up pre-Thanksgiving, Grand Targhee Wyoming (pictured below) and Wolf Creek in Colorado have almost 50 percent of their terrain open and base depths of up to 3 feet.

What a great start to the ski season–gobbling up turkey, then grabbing some early-season turns. See you on the slopes.

By Heather Burke, photos by Greg Burke