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Santa Claus visits Mountain Creek

| 29 Dec 2014 | 12:22
    From left, Rubin Romas, Santa, Buffy Whiting and Ignacio Vocos.
    From left, Rubin Romas, Santa, Buffy Whiting and Ignacio Vocos.
    Chris Kooy, Supervisor Jessica Kleeschulte and a fellow staffer are wished a Merry Christmas by John and Buffy Whiting.
    Chris Kooy, Supervisor Jessica Kleeschulte and a fellow staffer are wished a Merry Christmas by John and Buffy Whiting.
    Mountain Creek Lift Attendants Ignacio Vocos, Bill Staso, Nicolas Vera, SantaþÄôs Elves John & Buffy Whiting, Rubin Romas, Mountain Creek Ski Patroller Kevin Glock.
    Mountain Creek Lift Attendants Ignacio Vocos, Bill Staso, Nicolas Vera, SantaþÄôs Elves John & Buffy Whiting, Rubin Romas, Mountain Creek Ski Patroller Kevin Glock.

VERNON — Santa was not too tired on Christmas Day to stop by Mountain Creek with his elves to give gifts to the lift operators and take a few runs down the Mountain on his snowboard.

Santa, who in reality is Anthony Riquelime from Union City, and his elves, Buffy and John Whiting of Vernon, extended the tradition of giving Mountain Creek lift attendants the gift of homemade cookies made by Buffy Whiting on Christmas Day.

Mountain Creek Lift Attendant staff members on hand to receive the gift of cookies included Vernon area locals Bill Staso and Lift Supervisor Sean Black, along with a number of new staff from South America including Rubin Romas, Ricardo Bereva and Nicholas Vera from Peru, and Ignacio Vocos from Argentina. Others sharing in the fun were Mountain Creek Ski Patrolers Barrett Kane form Vernon and Kevin Glock from Texas. Kevin Shershanovich from Paterson was on hand to take a photograph of the cookie presentation before hitting the slopes on his snowboard.

The tradition was started a number of years ago by the Whitings, who are die-hard skiers and regular visitors to the ski slopes at Mountain Creeks to show their appreciation to their friends who work at the resort during the winter months and make it possible for them and so many other visitors to enjoy skiing and snowboarding at their home ski area.