Thursday, April 8, 2010

farewell to winter - hello golf season!

The time has come to put the boards away and dust off the clubs. Okemo Mountain Resort will end lift service operations for the season, earlier than anticipated, at the end of the day on Friday, April 9. On the next day, Saturday, April 10, Okemo Valley Golf Club is slated to open, also earlier than anticipated, with 18 holes of golf at reduced, early-season rates.

“No matter how hard the mountain operations staff works and the ski patrol marks the trails, the skiing and riding experience just isn’t what we would like,” said Okemo VP and General Manager Bruce Schmidt. “So the time has come. Many thanks to all our staff for their hard work as well as to our guests who have supported us all season long.”

Okemo was originally targeting April 18 as closing day and then moved that date up to April 11. Unfortunately, for skiers and riders, spring came to Vermont a little earlier than anticipated. Okemo also got a late start to the season due to warmer winter temperatures in November. In spite of Mother Nature’s lack of support at the beginning and end of the 2009/2010 ski and snowboard season, Okemo is reporting its third best season on record. Approximately 603,000 skier visits were recorded for the season. A skier visit is defined as one person participating in the sport of snow sliding for all or part of a day. Every type of lift ticket sale is factored into a resort’s total skier visits for the season.

Okemo Valley Golf Club will open on Saturday, April 10 with discounted, early-season greens fees through May 7. A full, 18-hole round of golf will be offered at $40 for adults and $25 for juniors. A 9-hole round will be priced at $22 for adults and $15 for juniors. Carts will be available at regular season rates and carts will be allowed on cart paths only until further notice.

Tee times may be scheduled by calling (802) 228-1396. FORE!