Snö Mountain kicked off the ski season Friday with eight trails and a full lodge.
Aided by fresh snowfall and snow-making machines, resort officials say at least 3,000 people bought lift tickets - and they were still counting all the tickets sold Friday night.
"We are here because of this," said John Maxwell of Long Island, gesturing to the snow as he eagerly fastened his boots. "I miss the four-hour pass - that's about all I can take at my age."
He and his wife, Dawn, who have a home in the Hideout, often go to Elk Mountain or Snö Mountain.
With school on holiday recess, youth skiers were out in large numbers. Some were very young. Amy Six of central New Jersey came to the Scranton resort so that her 4-year-old son could get skiing lessons. Snö Mountain requires ski students of such a tender age to have one-on-one instruction, and Ms. Six felt that was the best option for kids Jake's age. An avid skier herself, she'd like to see her son take up the sport so she has someone to ski with. Depending on how Jake did, she considered suiting up to ski herself.
Ms. Six likes Snö Mountain because of its reasonable size, which makes it more family and child-friendly.
Snö Mountain General Manager Mark Verrastro said the turnout was the strongest season kickoff in several years. The snowfall just before Christmas was a boon, getting people to think about skiing and adding to the machine-made base, Mr. Verrastro said.
The start of the season contrasts with the 2011-12 season, one of the warmest on record. Snö Mountain's lifts began working before Christmas, but the temperate weather failed to draw people out.
The poor season didn't help the resort's perilous financial situation. Snö Mountain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in October. A judge ordered the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy reorganization to hold an auction of the property by March 1 and close the sale by April 8. Last week, the judge cleared the way for the resort to borrow about $500,000 to keep operating this ski season. There have been no new developments reported in the bankruptcy case since last week.
Those in the lodge Friday were more interested in hitting the snowy slopes than the finer points of Snö Mountain's fiscal cliff.
"The lifts are working and there is snow out there," Mr. Maxwell shrugged "That's all that matters."
Contact the writer: dfalchek@ timesshamrock.com