Vernon die-hards toast ski season

VERNON — Although Mother Nature has provided the Vernon area with one of the most unpredictable weather this winter with one week extremely cold and the next providing record breaking warmth, the die-hard skiers who routinely support the Mountain Creek Ski Resort have made the best of the season.
A significant number of regular visitors to the resort have enjoyed skiing almost on a daily basis with much of the credit due to the efforts made by the Mountain Creek mountain operations staff including Big Al’s snow makers who put in the extra effort needed to keep the mountain covered with snow, Pete and Chris for keeping the lifts spinning and Brendan Blenis and other groomers for providing the corduroy.
To qualify as a die-hard skier local must be regular visitors to the slopes at Mountain Creek with many getting in as many as 40 or more ski visits to the slopes. The record holders continue to be Vernon residents Buffy and John Whiting who surpassed last year’s number of days skiing of 62 by 71 this year as of Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017. Their record remains 104 days of skiing achieved during the 2015 ski season.
One of the traditions that makes skiing and snowboarding so much fun is socializing after a day on the slopes has ended called après–ski, the gathering on the deck of the ski resort and enjoying a few adult beverages and toasting the mountain with friends.
While Mother Nature remains unpredictable, the die-hards are hoping that the ski season will last into March so that St Patrick’s Day can be celebrated in green on the mountain. However, the resort management has indicated that the ski area was likely to close earlier unless Mother Nature delivers a big dump of snow.