Ski areas flourished over Presidents Day weekend on the heels of two winter storms.

Blue Mountain Resort received 15 inches of snow throughout the week leading up to the holiday weekend, according to Ashley Seier, director of marketing, Blue Mountain Resort.

“Thanks to help from Mother Nature, we were able to have all 40 trails open,” Seier said. “The snowfall helps with attendance, keeping skiing top of mind.”

Seier said that Presidents Day weekend is typically one of the largest attended ski weekends, and that this year was no exception.

“Blue Mountain sold out of lift tickets and snow tubing tickets both Saturday and Sunday,” she said. “Monday was also highly attended.”

Seier added “overall, it has been a good season and is up over last season.”

“Thanks to Blue Mountain’s snow-making improvements, we are able to combat any warmer temperatures and have the most trails open,” she said. “Natural snowfall this past week was certainly welcomed, and we’re looking forward to skiing into spring.”

Molly Coneybeer, director of marketing, Camelback Resort, explained how the storms paid dividends.

“The recent snowfall has helped our mountain operations team continue to create awesome conditions for the mountain but mostly, encourages people to hit the slopes,” Coneybeer said. “A few inches of fresh snow in anyone’s backyard really makes a difference when it comes to attendance on the mountain.”

Coneybeer added said the resort experienced larger than normal crowds.

“We saw an uptick in hotel stays and ticket sales after the most recent snowstorm but overall, we stayed consistent with our typical holiday weekend crowds,” she said.

Coneybeer said the resort is on solid footing.

“As of today, the mountain is officially 100% open, exceeding past seasons,” she said. “We’ve had plenty of great snow-making opportunities throughout the season to get us to this point with the hard work of our mountain operations team.”

Tony Santora, general manager, Jack Frost-Big Boulder, said, “It’s been an excellent season so far at Jack Frost-Big Boulder.”

“We’ve enjoyed cold temps that have allowed us to maximize snow-making to build our snow base, expand terrain, and offer snow tubing at Big Boulder,” Santora said. “Thanks to those efforts, the slopes at Jack Frost are 100% open and Big Boulder has about 85% of its trails open.”

Santora added that the snow couldn’t have come at a better time.

“The timing of this most recent storm was perfect as it coincided with our Winterfest celebration at Big Boulder in a real-life snow globe,” he said. “Our guests enjoyed fireworks, a torchlight parade, live music, s’mores, and amazing conditions on the slopes.”

Chris Barrett, President/CEO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, underscored why it’s so important that the weather cooperate for local ski resorts.

“All of our resorts have the ability to create snow, and the equipment and ability to be able to do it has really been upgraded really substantially over the last five years,” Barrett said. “They have all invested millions of dollars, so as much as the weather can be minimized, they do it; however, when we have rainfall as we did in January, that makes it a little bit tougher to be able to do that.”

Barrett said that Presidents Day Weekend is one of the busiest times of the year for the Poconos

“We had perfect weather for skiing through that, so that turned out to be a really solid weekend,” he said. “The weeks before that, we had rain, (which made things) a little bit more challenging.”

Barrett estimated that the Poconos has about 30 million people visit throughout the year.

“The difference with the Poconos as a destination is it is really a four-season destination with the amount of snow assets we have,” he said. “We have six resorts in our four-county area (Carbon, Monroe, Wayne and Pike), plus we’re closely located to Philadelphia and New York,”

Barrett said poor weather, such as the rain the region saw for about a two-week stretch, can be counterproductive not only for the ski resorts, but all businesses across the board.

“It doesn’t only effect the ski areas, but restaurants, fuel, short-term rentals,” he said. “There is a trickle-down effect when the weather doesn’t cooperate for a period of time.”

Barrett said that in addition to outdoor activities such as skiing and snowboarding, there is also tubing.

“It’s low impact, a lot of fun, families can do it, (and) they’ve kind of seen an upsurge in the last few weeks,” he said. “Our winter season is fairly active here in the Poconos.”