KIDDER TOWNSHIP -- Some good news out of Carbon County for skiers and snow boarders where the ski season is officially getting under way.
The slopes at Big Boulder Ski Resort will be open for business by three o`clock Wednesday afternoon.
At Big Boulder Ski Resort, the snow machines have been pumping the white stuff since Saturday night.
Employees at the ski resort say the weekend’s cold weather helped them get the powdery mix onto the slopes.
And now they’re prepared to open their doors by three o’clock Wednesday afternoon, officially kicking off ski season.
“We tried to get out and be the first one’s open every year and so far we’ve been lucky and this has been a great start to the season,” said Heather Schiff-Bauer with Jack Frost Big Boulder.
Resort employees say the slopes also got an extra padding of about 3 inches from the overnight snow fall and say every bit helps.
Resort workers say they get the majority of their snow coverage from the snow making machines, however when there’s a natural snow fall, it does get skiers in the mood to hit the slopes.
“It gets it in people’s minds that winter is here, ski season’s here,” said Schiff-Bauer.
Angie Lockard works at Boulder View, a restaurant affiliated with the resort.
She says seeing that snow got her excited for two reasons.
“Oh absolutely, because snow means that we’re going to be busy here at work and I’m a big snow boarder, so I love the cold and the snow and everything else,” said Lockard.
And other employees here agree saying ski season means businesses will be booming for the Poconos for several months to come.
“We get a lot of people from Philadelphia, from New York, it just brings a different vibe to the area, you know there’s a lot of people coming up, having fun here, so ski season’s very important to us,” said Marcel Engelmann, the manager at Boulder View.
For opening day Big Boulder is doing a deal called “Boulder Gives Back”.
People can bring in either 10 non-perishable canned goods or a toy worth $15 or more and get a free lift ticket.