For ski shops and ski centers this is a lucrative season so far, as a cold December created excellent conditions for snowy slopes and a Christmas week blizzard encouraged people to don their skis.
“We”™ve had a month of December like we”™ve never had before,” said Paul Zajkowski, manager of Potter Brothers ski shops, with five locations including its headquarters shop on state Route 28 in Kingston.
Zajkowski has been in the ski business with Potter Brothers for 40 years and said the season is “absolutely wonderful.” He said an improving economy has created conditions where “People want to go have a little fun,” he said and many are buying new equipment to go do so.
The cold weather of December allowed for snowmaking until Dec. 26 when the coastal blizzard arrived, which he called, “Absolutely the perfect storm.”
“I would imagine if you talk to the local ski areas they are doing back flips that everything worked out so nicely,” said Zajkowski.
The blizzard was well-timed to excite skiers, many of whom had time off to invest in play, and who needed a little reminder of the possibilities, said Michael Fuerst, co-owner of Pedigree Ski Shop Inc. in White Plains.
While consumer spending may be governed by the economy, Fuerst said, skiing seems dependent less on people”™s pocketbooks and more on what they see when they go outside in the morning.
“It”™s amazing what a little bit of suggestion of white can do,” he said.
“Before you get to Christmas, skiing can always be a little spotty,” Fuerst said. “As soon as you get to Christmas week, it”™s like the official start of the season, once we got the snow, it”™s just amazing. It”™s like a light that goes on and people say it”™s time to go skiing.”
And best of all, he said, it is a sport an entire family can enjoy.
“It”™s a great family sport. If you think about it there are not many other sports where you can go out with your family and do it together. That”™s one of the best things about skiing.”
And it needn”™t break the bank, said Zajkowski, who noted that ski shops like Potter Brothers offer off-season ski-swaps where aficionados can trade equipment and can provide packages for discount lift tickets in season that can result in what amounts to half-price days on the slopes.
“Our business is to service the skier and the snowboarder but we also need to get you out on the slopes to ski as inexpensively as possible,” Zajkowski said. “That is one of our primary goals.”
