If everything falls into place, Searchmont Resort is aiming to be open for daytime skiing and snowboarding on Saturday. "We're working towards getting the hill up and running, but Mother Nature has certainly done a great job of helping us out with it," said Kim Burkhardt, inside operations manager for Searchmont Resort. The resort began blowing its own artificial snow as soon as temperatures were cold enough, but she said the recent natural snowfall has played a big part in the possible Saturday opening.
Burkhardt said night skiing and snowboarding will start to be offered closer to the Christmas break. New this year are 12 additional suites, which bring the resort's total complement up to 30 suites. Burkhardt said those suites can support up to 300 people total and will be especially attractive to out-of-town skiers who want to stay close to the hill.
"Who doesn't want to wake up on the hill and just get first tracks out there?" she said."The suites are beautiful and they include two brand new accessibility suites that will be available, as well." The resort is also expanding the number of camps it is hosting on weekends, Christmas break and March break, as well as building its ski school.
"There's actually going to be a lot more camps than we've ever done before," Burkhardt said. A new triple-triple season pass is being introduced this year for about half the price of a full season's pass. It allows skiers and snowboarders to access day and night skiing on Thursday and Frid.
