LA CROSSE, Wis. (WEAU) – Skiers and snowboarders are taking to the hills as Mt. La Crosse is officially open for the winter season. This year, 10 of the 19 runs were ready to go on opening day. Mt. La Crosse executive director Darcie Breidel says normally only one or two runs are open on opening day, and the resort would only be open once every few days at the beginning of the season.
“That’s been the history. We’ll make some snow, shut down for a few days, open up a run, shut down for a few days. This year, we made enough snow to open for regular hours and we’re going right into our season. This is the earliest open as far as regular hours. This is definitely the most terrain we’ve ever had this early in the season,” says Breidel.
The weather has played a huge role in getting everything operational early this year.
“We really can’t do much without good weather. We had a week of consistently cold temperatures that allowed us to make snow around the clock. We typically after a week of snow making could get a half of a run open. This year, we were able to get half the area open,” says Breidel.
Breidel says that this year should produce better days for the slopes than last year.
“Following a season like last winter when the temperatures were a little difficult, even though we had some great days of skiing and were able to stay open for the whole scheduled season, the crowd wasn’t what it normally is during a winter season. When there’s no snow in town and it’s fifty to sixty degrees, the ski hills is just not as busy. Our numbers were down a little bit last year. What we’re doing this year so far is giving ourselves another whole month of business and that’s going to be a game changer for us,” says Breidel.
The resort has already opened up two more runs since opening day last Thursday and it looks to open up more later this week.
This year, Mt. La Crosse is also opening up a new beginner’s run for parents and children.
For more information on hours, along with tickets and rental information can be found here.
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Mt. La Crosse opens multiple slopes early for winter sports
