By Michelle Rotella
5:35 p.m. EST, January 9, 2012
The lack of snow so far this winter hasn't made it easy on the folks in the Poconos.
Skytop Resort in Monroe County is making changes to deal with the mild winter.
Dog sledding is only a memory this year for those who run Skytop Resort in the Poconos.
That, cross country skiing and ice fishing are just some of the winter activities that are usually in full swing, but our mild winter weather has canceled or changed many of those activities.
Skytop's general manager said even without the snow the resort in Monroe County has been able to keep a balance of winter and summer activities for those who visit.
"We've done pretty good maintaining our ski slopes and our other winter activities like ice skating, and we've also adapted our dog sledding for dry land dog sledding," said General Manager Ed Mayotte.
Even though mother nature hasn't produced a lot of snow so far this winter, the resort has been able to keep other activities open that would normally be shut down.
"Anything that we have available and maybe something that`s available that`s kind of out of the norm like the tree top adventure and the zipline, I think we had as many people do that activity as we did the ski activity and we`ll keep it going the whole winter," said activity director Kimberly Matthew.
"We've been ice skating, we went dog sledding, had dogs pull us on gold carts instead of sleds cause there was no snow. We've had a good time," said guest Jodi Sebastion from New Jersey.
One open trail was all she needed to teach her children how to ski.
"We are very beginners and they had told us there was enough snow for the one run and the beginner lesson hill and that was really all we needed so it was fine for us," Sebastion added.
With the Martin Luther King Junior holiday coming up, and no major snowfall in the forecast, Skytop still plans to have a busy weekend filled with skiing, ice skating, land dog sledding and if they weather is right maybe even a little golfing.