Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott takes some turns on the Spillway trail at Sugarloaf last Sunday morning after significant snow landed in the mountains and valleys. (Ethan Austin photo) Irregular Staff

FRANKLIN COUNTY -– NOAA weather observer Betty Wing reported that in Stratton, the new year has already brought 13.3 inches of new snow. Mother Nature brought us 24.1 inches in December to end last year on a good note.

“Well… I do think we were due for it,” Wing said referring to last year’s December when we received 63.6 inches.

The three-day storm, although not technically described as a Nor’ Easter, brought heavy winds and light rain to end the winter into Monday morning accumulations.

Sugarloaf received 15 inches of snow on Saturday night, and another four inches the following day. All of that comes on top of eight inches since New Year’s Eve, bringing Sugarloaf’s four-day storm total to 27 inches of new snow as of Sunday.

”The new snow opened up a substantial amount of terrain, and we have 97 trails and all lifts open, including the Timberline lift to the summit,” said Sugarloaf com- munications manager Ethan Austin Sunday. On Monday he reported 110 trails now open with a typical midweek schedule for lift service.

“Two additional inches fell on Monday morning to make the total impact 29 inches or five days of snow,” Austin said. “It’s great, it’s two-and-a-half feet that gets packed down by skiers and grooming so it’s like adding a solid foot to our already substantial base.” Austin said the natural snow is truly beneficial to the natural terrain at Sugarloaf such as the glades and bump trails.

According to a release, approximately three feet of snow fell at Saddleback since New Year’s Eve, allowing the ski resort to open all but two of its trails, including Casablanca, which Saddleback claims is the largest glade in the Northeast.

“The weather folks were spot on with their forecasting of this most recent weather event,” said Conrad Klefos, director of marketing at Saddleback. “The storm trough pulled directly over Saddleback and it dumped! Best estimate we have is 24 to 30 inches overnight which brings the snowfall total since Thursday to 34 to 42 inches.”

Klefos was one of the first skiers to try out the new 44- acre Casablanca. “I believe that this glade will catch a lot of wind blown snow and we will ultimately have some very deep bases there. The glade skis very well and it was exhilarating with this deep thick powder,” he added.

Snowmobile trail groomers were out in force after the storm on Monday in an effort to flatten the new base to make a nice foundation before it freezes up. “The storm delivered what we needed to create a nice base,” said Kingfield Sno-Wanderer groomer Tom Boyce while fueling the groomer Monday. “When we get another storm we should have some really good riding on our trails.”