The Williston campus has already received two overnight dustings of snow this week,

perhaps a sign of larger trends as ski mountains around New England begin to open trails.

As of Wednesday, December 7, Mount Snow and Stratton Mountain, both in southern

Vermont, reported 19% and 13% of their terrain was open, respectively. Both mountains are around a 90-minute to two-hour drive from Williston.

In northern and central Vermont, mountains were subject to significant snowfall earlier in

the week. From December 5-7, a foot of snow fell at Jay Peak along with eight inches at Stowe Mountain, 13 inches at Sugarbush, nine inches at Smuggler’s Notch, 13 inches at Killington Resort, and eight inches at Okemo Mountain. All of the above mountains listed at least one lift open as of Wednesday.

Closer to campus, Berkshire East, located about an hour from Williston in Charlemont,

Massachusetts, has yet to open, but plans to do so on December 11, according to their website.

Jiminy Peak, a little farther from Easthampton in Hancock, Mass. had nine trails open by Tuesday, December 6.

On campus, non-competitive skiers and members of the Williston ski team alike looked

forward to the start of winter. Freshmen Sam Haddad and Ryan Goodman both expressed excitement about the possibility of hitting the slopes soon.

Boys varsity skier Bryan Soder ’18 is ready for the season, although the ski team

has not been able to hit the slopes yet. “I feel like this is shaping up to be a great season because we’ve been putting in a lot of dry-land training,” he said.

Others were not as excited about the prospect of a snowy winter. Senior and non-skier Nick

Hill said, “I’m not a fan of snow. Generally, I like warmer weather better than colder.” He added: “snow just gets in the way of everything. It slows down driving, makes running harder…and is just generally an inconvenience.”

Though he enjoys snowboarding, Freshman Noah Brooks is not a fan of wintry weather.

“I’m excited about ski season; I’m not excited about snow,” he said.

For better or worse, snow-making is likely to continue on the mountains, as this weekend’s

weather forecast calls for below-freezing temperatures with a chance of snow across Vermont and western Massachusetts.