SHAWNEE MOUNTAIN -- This weekend is one of the busiest for the ski slopes in our area, especially in the Poconos where one resort is expecting thousands of families to fill the mountain.
For some families, hitting the slopes over Presidents Day has been a tradition for years.
For the past seven years, the Okomski family has spent Presidents Day weekend in the Pocono Mountains. They're from New Jersey about an hour away and say there's no other place they'd rather spend a long four-day weekend away then skiing and snowboarding at Shawnee Mountain SKI Area.
"Priceless,” said Rich Okomski. “I love skiing with my kids.”
And the Okomski kids feel the same.
"It's, like, fun to go with your friends and family and stuff, especially going down the trickier ones, stuff like that,” said Erin Okomski.
And speaking of trickier mountains Danny is one of four of the kids who prefer snowboarding over skiing.
"I like shredding the slopes and stuff. It's a lot of fun,” said Danny Campise, "I like going down the trick slopes and stuff like that.”
The Okomski family is one of thousands of families expected to hit the slopes at Shawnee Mountain and that means for the employees there, their work is cut out for them.
"Traditionally it's the busiest time of the year. It traditionally outpaces Christmas week for us. We count on it,” said Jim Tust of Shawnee Mountain.
All trails at Shawnee Mountain ski area are open and ski area officials say all employees will be working and so will all the lifts to make sure everyone can get a chance to enjoy the slopes.
"This next ten days starting today to the following Sunday are real important for us. And we couldn’t feel better about how conditions are now,” Tust added.