PAOLI, Ind. — There isn’t any snow on the ground in Louisville. But in Paoli, snow is packed a foot deep.
Thanks to some snow-makers, Paoli Peaks opened Wednesday for the first time in 2020.
General manager Rick McMullen expected hundred of skiers and snowboarders to come out on opening day.
Tim Faulkner traveled from Clarkson to ski, after checking the snow reports all winter and waiting for Paoli Peaks to open.
“I put in a day of vacation and headed out,” said Faulkner. “We try to hit it a couple of times a month, at least all the way until March.”
Until now, mother nature made it difficult for Faulkner to get those monthly ski trips in. With a warmer winter this year, it’s taking skiers longer to be able to click in and hit the slopes.
“Every season is different. The way the weather is in Southern Indiana can be a challenge,” McMullen said.
Paoli Peaks has spent days making snow, knowing that it can be gone just as fast if the temperatures change.
“We can only do what mother nature allows us to,” McMullen said .
A delayed season means skiers and snowboarders have a little bit of an adjustment period on the slopes.
“Hopefully I can get my snowboarding legs back and maybe figure out how to do this after it’s been so long,” snowboarder Jacob White, who came from Austin said.
The skiing business is highly dependent on the weather. No matter how few days can support snow, Paoli Peaks will always be preparing for the next cold stretch.
“This is our 41st season,” said McMullen. “So we’ve been in business for quite a while and we definitely plan on being around for a lot longer.”
While skiing and snowboarding re-opened Wednesday, Arctic Blast Snow Tubing will resume on Friday.
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