Montco Ski Resort Owner Persevering Amid January's Too-Warm Weather
By John Ostapkovich
SPRING MOUNT, Pa. (CBS) -- Warm winter temperatures may please many of us, but if you run a ski mountain they're a headache.
Out on the slopes supervising, Rick Buckman -- owner of Spring Mountain ski area in Montgomery County, Pa. -- says he has about half the trails open (see related story), thanks to yeoman efforts by his staff at all hours.
"We make snow at night when it's cold enough to make it, and we have two people who spend the night here and monitor the snow guns," he tells KYW Newsradio.
Then there's the morning grooming of the 12-30" base to create, in Buckman's words, "like spring skiing, but in January, when we get to the middle 50s later this week -- which is not a bad thing if you're not a ski slope owner. It's quite comfortable and you can have a lot of fun. But as a ski slope owner," he adds, "I want to get the rest of the trails and tubing open."
Buckman says he just wishes the weather people weren't so darn chipper about the warm weather wave.
