Some Ski Areas Still Open As Early Lack of Snow Impacts Profits; Cannon Revenue Down 20%

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Paula Tracy photo

Cannon Mountain in Franconia is pictured Monday. Depending on the weather, it expects to stay open through the end of the weekend.

Cannon Mountain on Monday. Paula Tracy photo

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

FRANCONIA – New Hampshire’s ski resorts are wrapping up a season with revenues down from a typical year in some cases in the double digits.
The problem was of a lack of snow and good temperatures to make snow at the beginning of the season which kept visitors away, particularly in important vacation weeks.

At state-owned and operated Cannon Mountain in Franconia revenue was down about 20 percent as was visitation, said John DeVivo, general manager of Cannon and Franconia Notch State Park.
The season, he said, was salvaged by snow which began to finally fall about Feb. 14 and did so solidly throughout March.

Similar situations occurred at ski areas throughout the state.
“Given the first ten weeks that were horrible, the last eight or nine weeks have been really good, a nice rebound,” he said Monday.
There are about five alpine ski areas left open this week and one, Wildcat in Pinkham Notch, is scheduled to reopen for the weekend.

Some Nordic ski areas, which have plenty of snow still on the trails, are still open including
Bear Notch Ski Touring in Bartlett and Jackson Ski Touring Foundation in Jackson.

Loon Mountain Resort in Lincoln and Waterville Valley Resort plan to stay open through Sunday, April 16.
Vail Resorts, which operates a handful of ski areas in the state, and leases Mount Sunapee from the state are all closed, though Wildcat is expected to reopen this weekend.

DeVivo said while there is plenty of snow left on the ski trails, “We will hang it up at the end of this weekend just because of the volume.” He said skiers, by mid-April, look to other outdoor recreation they enjoy in spring.
The season began Nov. 18 with Bretton Woods turning the lifts.

Ski area operators said many of the holiday periods lacked important snow base to help attract skiers and snowboarders.
Often, what precipitation fell was liquid in form and came just ahead of weekends. Some ski areas offered uphill travel routes for a growing number of skiers who chose to “skin” up the trails and ski down.

Some remain open for such excursions including Pats Peak in Henniker which is closed but allows uphill skiing though they warn there is no grooming or ski patrol services. Tenney Mountain in Plymouth, which opened in February, took advantage of the bountiful snow which fell in March.

Bear Notch Ski Touring Center in Bartlett still has up to 22 inches of snow on their trails and plans to stay open for a while. Cannon was reporting a 41 to 59-inch base of snow with 62 of its 97 trails still open this week.
Loon Mountain Resort in Lincoln also reported plenty of snow on their trails, up to 36 inches, and 35 of their 61 trails open.
Waterville Valley Resort still has up to two feet of snow and 61 trails open this week.
The industry will gather later this spring to go over the particulars but it definitely won’t be a record winter.

DeVivo said it could have been worse.

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