{"id":51646,"date":"2025-12-04T01:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T01:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/51646\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T01:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T01:21:08","slug":"ski-season-underway-approaching-for-northeast-pennsylvania-resorts-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/51646\/","title":{"rendered":"Ski season underway, approaching for Northeast Pennsylvania resorts"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a fresh coat of natural snow blanketed the region Tuesday, one area ski resort opened for the winter season Wednesday and two others moved closer to welcoming customers.<\/p>\n

Charles Jefferson, part-owner of Montage Mountain in Scranton, felt grateful for the 4 inches of snow that fell on the trails as officials aim to open the resort this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"SnowSnow machines cover the slopes at Montage Mountain Resorts in Scranton on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

\u201cGod\u2019s helping us out a lot,\u201d Jefferson said.<\/p>\n

Jefferson envisions opening by Saturday, if not earlier, barring anything unusual, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some great snow production,\u201d he said. \u201cWe started picking up again over the weekend and we\u2019ve been going around the clock since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camelback Resort in Pocono Twp. opened Wednesday, Director of Marketing Marissa Boyd said.<\/p>\n

Two trails and a terrain park will be available from the start, with another trail opening shortly, officials said. The snow tubing park is scheduled to open next week.<\/p>\n

Camelback added 32 auto hydrants and 32 stick guns to ensure faster, more consistent snow coverage across the mountain, officials said. The resort\u2019s high-speed Stevenson lift also received major mechanical and electrical improvements for smoother, more reliable operation, resort officials announced.<\/p>\n

\"SnowSnow machines cover the slopes at Montage Mountain Resorts in Scranton on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team has been all-in, and with our new snowmaking enhancements, we\u2019re committed to making as much snow as possible to deliver a great experience from day one,\u201d Camelback Resort Vice President and General Manager Jason Bays said. \u201cGuests will also notice exciting upgrades around the mountain, including our new patio space \u2014 perfect for firepits, relaxing, and apr\u00e8s ski.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Slivinski, director of marketing for Montage Mountain Resorts, touted the new attractions in the terrain park for skiers and snowboarders that target a younger demographic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognized that kids love to be in the terrain park and adding features is a big positive for them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were able to source 32 new features, which will get us into the 60s. There is going to be additional boxes and rails for beginners and intermediates, and some bigger stuff for experts. Hopefully that keeps some kids more engaged and excited to be on the mountain a lot longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slivinski believes providing youths more opportunities for fun may increase the resort\u2019s visibility through clips circulating online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe park world lives on social media,\u201d he said. \u201cAllowing the kids to take advantage of the new features and test themselves a little bit more, they\u2019re going to want to show off what they\u2019re doing in the park. It\u2019s hopefully going to spread the word a bit more and drive additional traffic for us because they\u2019re going to be videoing on TikTok and Instagram.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, resort officials transformed the former snow tubing area at Montage Mountain into a terrain park to complement the full slope park built on Whistler. Snow tubing will remain on hold for at least another season, but Jefferson noted it may return in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spent a lot of time looking at alternative locations \u2014 we\u2019ve looked at the lower parking lot, extensively, to see if we can make an entire tubing village,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to regroup in the offseason and take a look at that location again, as well as a couple others that we think might be a good experience. We\u2019re committed to it, but I don\u2019t want to promise it for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slivinski expressed optimism that Montage Mountain will be running at or near full capacity toward the end of the month.<\/p>\n

\"SnowSnow machines cover the slopes at Montage Mountain Resorts in Scranton on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all very weather dependent, but it looks like we\u2019re going to be in a really good stretch of cold weather for the next two weeks or so, with teens at night and 20s in the daytime,\u201d he said. \u201cThat allows us to really put some snow down and make some progress all across the hill. Hopefully by Christmas we\u2019ll have 90% to 100% of our trails open. It\u2019s looking good for another strong start, just like last season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montage Mountain will also offer several new dining options for winter sports enthusiasts looking to grab a bite to eat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve kept some of the better products, the ones that sell most, and some other favorites, and we\u2019ve added a whole bunch of new things \u2014 a Wagyu burger, homemade fried pickles, and a French dip sandwich,\u201d Jefferson said.<\/p>\n

The resort will also sell chowder from Hooked in Clarks Summit and empanadas from Empanada King, which has locations throughout Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, he added.<\/p>\n

Gregg Confer, general manager of Elk Mountain, expects the ski resort in Herrick Twp., Susquehanna County, to open sometime next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll make a lot of snow this week,\u201d Confer said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a really good week for (it), especially toward the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elk Mountain officials posted a news release on Facebook Tuesday informing the public that the resort has not been sold, despite many rumors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the sixty-plus-year-old ski area was previously listed for sale, no transaction occurred,\u201d officials said in the post.<\/p>\n

Confer added Elk Mountain put a lot of new pipe underground to improve its snowmaking process, and upgraded one of the chair lifts.<\/p>\n

Blue Mountain Resort in Lower Towamensing Twp., Carbon County, will open Friday with 13 trails and five lifts available, said Ashley Seier, director of marketing. Snow tubing is expected to open Dec. 11.<\/p>\n

Blue Mountain officials added that 380 upgraded LED trail lights will give guests an enhanced night skiing experience. Additionally, the installation of two tower-mounted fan guns at the base area and two mobile, fully automated fan guns will help deliver snow more efficiently and effectively, officials said.<\/p>\n

Shawnee Mountain near East Stroudsburg will open Dec. 12 as the resort marks its 50th winter season, resort officials said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a fresh coat of natural snow blanketed the region Tuesday, one area ski resort opened for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[60,201,182,2941,28,178,180,179,2942,802],"class_list":{"0":"post-51646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-monroe-county","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-scranton","14":"tag-scranton-headlines","15":"tag-scranton-news","16":"tag-susquehanna-county","17":"tag-top-stories-cvc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}