Vermont saw about 4.5 million skier visits in each of the past two years, putting the state third in the nation in terms of the size of its ski industry, behind only Colorado and California, said Parker Riehle, president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association.

“We’re off to a really fast, strong start again this year,” Riehle said. “We couldn’t be happier about having another record opening. Coming into Thanksgiving weekend, nine alpine areas were open and at least three Nordic areas were open.”

The total investment in new, energy-efficient snow guns among the 15 resorts was $15 million, with $5 million of that expenditure being picked up by Efficiency Vermont, which negotiated with major snow gun manufacturers to offer bulk pricing to Vermont’s resorts.

“We were able to work with the manufacturers from the beginning to cue them into the fact that very large orders would be coming in from Vermont,” said Kelly Lucci, spokesperson for Efficiency Vermont. “Our goal was to get as many of those old energy hog snow guns off the mountain as possible. We think we got over 90 percent, the vast majority.”

Parker Riehle confirmed that 1,800 old, less efficient snow guns were replaced by 2,300 new high efficiency guns across Vermont’s resorts. Riehle said 80 percent of the skiable terrain in the state — more than 4,500 acres — is now covered by snowmaking

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Vermont Strippers

Skiers and snowboarders would prefer that the storm that’s moving through the region be dumping snow, but those in the ski industry say today’s rain isn’t likely to impact the first big holiday weekend of the season.

Sarah Wojcik of Ski Vermont says the early winter storm forecasts caused a spike in reservations at Jay Peak this week and she says Stowe is reporting its strongest reservations ever for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

Okemo Mountain opened for the season two weeks ago, and resort spokesperson Bonnie McPhearson said cold temperatures and a $1 million investment in snowmaking infrastructure have them in good shape for the Thanksgiving Weekend — despite Wednesday’s rain.

“This is a big weekend for us, with homeowners mostly. It’s that first weekend where they get away, they open the ski house, shake out the cobwebs and get ready for a big season ahead,” McPhearson said. “We’re not seeing many cancelations.  We’re seeing a very strong weekend ahead and we expect that people will just come anyway regardless of the weather.”

McPhearson said the good news is temperatures are expected to drop quickly Wednesday night. While she says Okemo has 25 trails open, they expect that to jump to 30 for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Vermont Strippers