The Best Time | Knowledge & Wisdom

The weather is getting warmer every day, it seems, and there’s still plenty of good snow. But for some reason a lot of skiers have hung up their boots for the year. Why not take advantage of the sunshine, short lines, and off-season rates?

On February 21, 1985, it was 14 degrees with flurries at Killington Ski Resort in Vermont, and there were more than 11,000 skiers. On April 21, 1985, it was 40 degrees, and there were barely 2,000.

As for me, spring is now my favorite time. The sun comes out, the ice and lift lines disappear, and the amusement picks up, as the people who do show up take to wearing downright silly clothes.

Man-made snow melts slower than the real stuff, and Killington makes lots of its own. April snow is much different from February snow yet still affords great skiing. Some have likened April’s slopes to skiing on a Slurpee, which makes falls wet—but less bruising.

—Adapted from “Spring Skiing Blooms Again,” by Rollin Riggs (March 1986)