It’s going to be a record-breaking season at Blue Mountain Resort.
Tomorrow will mark 140 days of on-snow action at the mountain, beating the previous record of 139 days set in 2008.
That’s 139 days of skiing and snowboarding – and counting.
Peter Newman and his sister Jill have skied the mountain for 65 years and don’t remember conditions being this good – for this long.
“I've skied out west in August and it's about time we caught up to those guys,” says Newman.
Scott Hazen and his daughter, meanwhile, are picking up some new equipment before hitting the slopes. A month ago, he was convinced the ski season was over.
“I went out about the second week in March and thought it was the last time, because we went to Florida,” he says.
Now back, they’re still skiing.
Paige Villeneuve is a competitive skier who says training on the slopes in April will benefit her next December.
“I get to ski different qualities of snow and now I'm ready for any conditions,” she says.
And this is the best spring skiing Don Brierley has ever seen.
“I'm amazed at the number of runs that are open. I wasn't expecting this,” he says.
Blue Mountain still has a 65 centimeter snow base that's great for skiing, and 20 runs remain open. The question now is how long the resort wants to stay open.
“Our goal has always been to remain open for as long as weather and snow conditions allow,” says Ashley Boland at Blue Mountain Resort. “Tomorrow will be the record-setting 140 days.”
After that, Blue Mountain will be open only on weekends for as long as there's enough snow.
The long season means a change of plans from Adam Ondercins.
He runs a ski shop down the road from Blue Mountain, and planned on shutting down for the season tomorrow.
“So we might actually continue to stay open and rent skis to those avid spring skiers,” he says.
