Seven Springs opening weekend begins

SEVEN SPRINGS, Pa. — It’s time to hit the slopes! Seven Springs Mountain Resort has officially opened for the season.

The resort will be open through Sunday but will close again Monday through Thursday with plans to reopen Friday, Dec. 22.

Opening Day celebrations included a first chair banner break on the Polar Bear Express, a DJ near Emo’s Pit and complimentary hot chocolate and snacks.

Many families and solo skiers decided to hit the slopes on opening day.  It’s the fourth year of skiing for Jeannine Brentzel and her daughters.

“I grew up skiing since I was a little, little one. So as soon as they were able to I got them out on skis and this is a fun family thing we do all winter long together,” Brentzel said. “We love to come up here at least once a week as much as possible.”

“My office gives me my birthday off, and it just happened to coincide,” Lou Markovic told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek as he strapped his boot into his snowboard. “It’s just a nice sort of solo quiet time to get away as well.”

Seeing so many people on opening day was exciting for employees and management at the resort, too.

It’s been a busy off-season. The resort invested in new energy-efficient snowmaking machines to help open more of the trails earlier in the season.

“We’ve put some money into some money into new snowmaking guns on Village Trail and Lost Boy which are two core trails for us that we try to get open earlier in the season and help us get that snowmaking to get the base to a certain point where we can open those trails earlier,” said Brett Cook, Vice President and General Manager of Seven Springs. “We also invested a lot in our snowmaking pipe. We had some leaky areas we’ve been replacing over the years, so this is a big year for us for our core terrain.”

Right now, there are 10 trails and four lifts open for the first weekend of the season but skiers didn’t mind.

“There’s not too much open, but I’m enjoying it, having a good time,” said Shawn McLaughlin. “It’s a good first day.”

Opening weekend ski and snowboard hours of operation:

• Friday 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
• Saturday 8 a.m.-9 p.m.
• Sunday 8 a.m.-9 p.m.

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