Photo: Ski Ward // Instagram
The annual race to be the first resort firing up its lifts is an entertaining one to keep an eye on every October. It’s, of course, never actually about ideal conditions or long days of ducking ropes in search of deep turns. It’s about the entire powder hound population’s itch for snow getting more and more intense the moment we all say goodbye to summer. It’s about all of us taking any reason at all to put some boots on and break out the tattered rock skis. And for the resorts hoping to be the first to offer that opportunity, that always means firing up the snow-making machines long before Mother Nature is in the same mood as the rest of us.
It seems a tiny resort in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts just took that honor for the 2023-2024 winter in the United States.
“It wasn’t our original goal but it looks like we were first to open,” Ski Ward, a 45-acre park with nine slopes and four lifts announced.
The resort had a planned family-focused Fall Festival for this past weekend, but it required them to fire up and show off their impressive snow-making capabilities. The hill had been testing out its new Latitude 90 system since August and sharing images of 10-foot piles of snow in the late-summer sun. That system reportedly can make snow in 76-degree temps (Fahrenheit). Paired with the Ski Ward’s magic carpet, guests who apparently paid just $5 per ticket ended up with one open run at the October 22 festival.
It’s not the worst way to kick off the season and inject a little excitement. Ski Ward’s official opening has been planned for November 1, with lift tickets running from as low as $20 to as much as $60 throughout the season. Considering we just saw resorts tip the $300 lift ticket threshold last winter, smaller resorts like Ski Ward may be due a well-deserved resurgence this coming year.
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