With high hopes for the winter season, Hidden Valley opens slopes
HIDDEN VALLEY, Pa. (KDKA) — Now that winter has officially started and temperatures are dipping to around the freezing mark for at least part of the day, snow is being made at all three ski resorts in the Laurel Highlands, and slopes have started opening up to the public.
Friday was Hidden Valley's opening day and Brett Cook, the general manager of the resort, as well as Seven Springs and Laurel Mountain, says that he and his crews are thrilled that the ski season has begun.
"Really happy and excited to be here on this day," said Cook. "Coming into Christmas week, it is really exciting to have guests, families and friends coming out to enjoy the slopes together. And we love being that location that everyone wants to go to."
Hidden Valley saw a few hundred people on the mountain on Friday and many KDKA-TV spoke with seemed to be enjoying their first runs of the season, including Heath Glumack of Grindstone, Pennsylvania, who was out traversing the wintery tertian with his family.
"We love skiing," said Glumack. "It's a great family sport. And it's about the best thing you can do in Western Pennsylvania right now."
Hidden Valley currently has five different slopes and runs open, with more on the way in the coming weeks. The resort is also touting several big improvements to its operation this season.
"We were able to move one of our newer Cats over here to help with the grooming," said Cook. "We also upgraded our snow-making system with our new Technoalpin fan guns, as well as some enhancements in the system valving. And we also upgraded our rental fleet with some new skis, snowboards and boots."
While a new snow-making system is great, everyone is optimistic that there will be more snow coming from the skies this season. Last winter was relatively mild, but hopes are high that the temperatures will be low, and that this winter will see some great conditions for those skiers and snowboarders.
For more information on Hidden Valley, click here. For Seven Springs, click here. For Laurel Mountain, click here.
