OTSEGO, Mich. — After record-setting snowfall over the weekend, Bittersweet Ski Resort in Otsego celebrated an early opening to the season.
Just one year ago, Bittersweet wasn't able to welcome folks to the hill until the back-end of December. This year, a much different story, as they turned on the lifts before Thanksgiving.
"We're excited to be open," said General Manager Nick Ross. "We're excited to offer a little skiing a little earlier this year. Kind of get everybody out. I know everybody's been cooped up all weekend with all the snow, so to get them out here today was a good opportunity."
Two lifts were open on Monday. In the coming weeks, Ross said they hope to have Snow Flyer, their brand new, high-speed quad chairlift, up and running as well.
As for this early start to the season, Ross said it took a lot of work to make it happen, but they were ready.
"It was just kind of hard to it was a hard struggle," he said, "but we were able to pull everything off. It seems like every year we pull it off no matter what we what our circumstances are. It's kind of our goal — to make sure we can get open as early as we can and put on a show for everybody and give them something to do."
Ross said, while the snowstorm was a welcomed sight, that late-November blessing can also be a curse.
"With the high humidity over the weekend, that kept the temps up a little bit — I think we were low to mid 20s all weekend, which doesn't fully get us to open our snow guns up all the way, but it makes it able to get going," he said.
Ross said he hopes to stay open through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but he knows it's not his decision — the weather will dictate whether or not that can happen.