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Valentines Day Present Sweet In The East, Europe

By J.D. O'Connor
February 19, 2007

Just when things were looking a little - bleak - for the Eastern U.S. and European resorts, a Valentines Day nor'easter with punch swept across the snow-hungry reaches of the U.S. and Europe and made the Winter of 2007 a reality again.

In the space of a week communications managers and PR teams were diverted from playing a salty blame game with local media to issuing glowing communiques with reports of stellar conditions and record snowfall. By the weekend the drought was over and the Valentines Kiss of 2007 had things back on track.

"We're in fat city," Whiteface Mountain spokesman Sandy Caligiore enthused, turning press reports about some New York ski areas seeking state aid before the storm around and countering with the equally quotable: "New York is in a State of Ecstasy."

Whiteface got three feet of new snow, and was looking to the weekend and today's holiday to make up a 20 percent drop in visitors to the mountain so far this year.

Austria, Andorra, France, and Italy also reported significant snowfall - so much of it that backcountry skiers seeking the thrill of off piste fresh have succumbed in a number of lethal avalanches.

"We also had snow falling yesterday (Saturday)," wrote Angels Olivares, International Sales Manager for Valnord. "We had 20 cms, and today is snowing again which makes us very happy!"

Valnord reports 71 percent of its lifts and 55 percent of its slopes open, with Arinsal boasting 55 percent of its slopes open and 60 percent in Ordino Arcalis.

Nearly three feet fell on Sunday River, and Alex Kaufman, communications manager of the Newry, Maine resort was overjoyed to report the greatest 24-hour snowfall since the early 1990s, when the area began keeping daily totals.

Sunday River vice president, Jim Costello, said the timing was perfect for the February school vacation period that started this weekend.

At Jiminy Peak in the Massachusetts Berkshires, "18-22 inches of the silkiest powder fell . . . and the conditions are nothing short of perfect."

New Hampshire areas exulted, and Parker Riehle, president of Ski Vermont, called it "the perfect storm - it could not have been better timed."

The excitement was understandable. Until Valentines Day, there hadn't been any significant snowfall anywhere in the East, and it was only cold enough to make snow until mid-January. The traditionally strong Christmas and Martin Luther King weekends were dismal, and people wondered if there was going to be a ski season at all until Valentines Day rolled around the heavens opened.

How are things on your mountain?

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