After steamy December, ski resorts seeking a lift
As he snapped on his skis Wednesday afternoon, Garrett Burch looked side to side and saw no one else.
As he snapped on his skis Wednesday afternoon, Garrett Burch looked side to side and saw no one else.
Here it was, almost the second week of January, and Burch was poised to be the very first customer of the season at Spring Mountain. The wait had been excruciating.
"I've almost been having to take sedatives," said the 61-year-old Skippack man.
After record-setting temperatures heated Pennsylvania last month, the state's 20 slopes are only now gaining steam.
Like Spring Mountain in Schwenksville, Montgomery County, most are opening later than they have in decades, battling not just lost time, but millions of dollars of lost revenue, and leaving hundreds of seasonal employees out of work. With temperatures expected to rise again this weekend, many are bracing for what the already unpredictable winter may yet bring, financially and meteorologically.
"It really all depends on Mother Nature," said Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association, based in Lakewood, Colo.
While temperatures across the Northeastern United States remained unusually high last month - even Maine experienced an average December temperature of 31.1 degrees - ski areas in many states have fared better than Pennsylvania's. Capitalizing on a steep though brief drop in November temperatures, most major resorts in Vermont have been open for weeks.
In Western states, including Utah, skiers have been hitting the slopes since mid-November. "It's been a very superb year" for Western states, Berry said.
Not so in the East. The Northeast Regional Climate Center said last month's average daily temperature made December the region's warmest in 120 years.
The Keystone State averaged 42.2 degrees with barely a dusting of snow. In a state such as Pennsylvania, which, combined with New Jersey, drew nearly 3.8 million visitors to slopes last winter, every day of skiing can be vital. Pennsylvania ranks sixth among the states in ski and snowboard visitors.
"The Christmas and New Year's week is a $2 to $3 million week," said Jeff Zellner, public relations manager for Bear Creek Mountain Resort near Allentown.
Except for this year. Bear Creek won't open until Thursday afternoon.
For some resorts, losing those two holidays alone can mean sacrificing revenue that carries them through the offseason. "We've lost a lion's share . . . about 25 percent of our annual revenue," said Kevin Fabiano, president of Alpine Mountain Resort in the Poconos.
Fabiano said Alpine Mountain would open Thursday, its latest opening day in 60 years. And because temperatures have made snowmaking difficult, Fabiano expected only five of his 21 slopes would be ready.
"Winter . . . it's important for the region," said Carl Wilgus, president and CEO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, which estimates about six million visitors to the region each winter. "So when we have winters that are not what we'd like them to be, it takes a little bit of luster off of what we have to offer."
Nearly one in three jobs around the Poconos is associated with travel and hospitality, so big delays can mean big problems for employment.
According to the state's Department of Labor and Industry, about 7,000 seasonal jobs are tied to the Pennsylvania ski industry in a typical year. The department did not have projections for how this year's weather could affect statewide employment.
At Alpine Mountain, the effect of the five-week delay has been dramatic. In a normal year, Fabiano employs about 200 people. Right now, he is employing only about 50, although he said he expected employment to return to normal once all slopes are open.
To dull the impact, he said, his resort pushed up renovation projects typically completed during the summer to keep some workers on company payrolls. Even that was not enough at times, he said.
"We keep rotating people so that every person gets a few days here and there," Fabiano said.
But not everyone was concerned about the delays.
"There is potential for what we would call a break-even year from a cash-flow standpoint," said Berry, of the national ski area association. Boosted by better artificial snowmaking technology, the ski industry, he said, is doing better than ever, even in mild winters.
Camelback Mountain Resort, one of the largest Pocono resorts, has been preparing all week for this weekend's rising temperatures by stockpiling snow, said Dru Brooks, director of sales and marketing. Currently, snow piles as tall as 15 feet dot the resort's sidelines.
Beyond snowmaking, some resorts have also better guarded themselves against the fickleness of Mother Nature by expanding their facilities beyond outdoor winter sports. At Camelback, which this year opened an indoor water park, the resort's hotel was booked at nearly capacity throughout the Christmas season.
"It gives us a bit of an advantage over some locations," Brooks said. "We've really tried to insulate our business."
For smaller ski areas such as Spring Mountain, the hotel or resort business is not an option. Spring Mountain owner Rick Buckman said he lost about $250,000 by not opening in December, and his 130 seasonal employees could not earn paychecks.
Buckman usually starts his 33 snowmaking machines at the beginning of December. This year, he had to wait until New Year's Day.
"A few times a day, I just go on Accuweather.com and put in Spring Mountain's zip code," he said, waiting for temperatures to fall below freezing.
By Wednesday afternoon, two of Spring Mountain's four ski lifts were humming. Skis and snowboards were scraping the snow. The slope was not crowded, but the parking lot was full.
Chris Teefy of Schwenksville and his son Ryan, 12, were among the first in line.
Teefy did not complain about the weather. "Honestly, I'm a golfer and I played golf on Sunday," he said.
But his son had been checking the weather forecast daily, and was so anxious for another season of snowboarding that Teefy let him leave school early Wednesday.
Despite the late start, Buckman said he was optimistic. He expects temperature swings. One will come this weekend, as forecasters predict 50-degree temperatures and rain.
With snow stockpiled and colder weather predicted for next week, Buckman said, all he can do is hope for a cold spring.
"Last year we actually went a little later . . . March was cold," Buckman said. "And this year, I'm hoping the same thing happens."
Burch, the Skippack man, was so eager to start skiing Wednesday, he couldn't wait for the chair lift to open. He trudged up the slope and was chased back down by the ski patrol.
Tiny Spring Mountain is just his first stop in a planned ski season that includes trips to Maine and Vermont, he said.
But he wanted to start locally.
"If you don't ski locally," Burch said, "then these places will not survive."
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