South Bristol, N.Y. - The snow guns were on full blast Sunday night, making snow at Bristol Mountain.
At the top, the temperature was about 23 degrees.
Bristol Mountain staff says those are perfect conditions to make the man-made snow last, hoping to get a jump-start to the ski season.
“We tentatively set an open season at Thanksgiving Day through the first week of April and sometimes it's earlier and sometimes it's later,” Bristol Mountain Marketing Director Drew Broderick said.
Last year's start came later for the winter resort due to mild temperatures.
“We didn't open last year until December 12th, so we're sitting on November 25th and we're making snow so we're very pleased about it,” Broderick said.
It’s because of that late start that ski traffic last year was lighter than usual.
Broderick says they were open for 100 days in 2011-2012, instead of the ideal 125. That loss of 25 days meant a loss of income, something the resort would not like to repeat again in 2012.
“We will stop snow making operations if the temperatures get too high to do it. It really doesn't make sense to make snow and to have it melt the next day,” Broderick said.
The resort will post an announcement on its website and facebook page once a date has been set for its opening day.
