The Winter Season

POCONO MOUNTAINS, Pa., June 12, 2013 – It won't be long and summer will transition into autumn, autumn into and fall and leaves will be covered in snow. The Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau (PMVB) 800poconos.com will be eager to welcome another winter season with the latest additions and improvements to area ski resorts. Look forward to enhancements with snowmaking to ensure open and snow-covered trails, new children's programs and expanded family-fun areas such as snowtubing, a luge track and a mountain coaster.

“We anticipate a successful winter season with cooperation from Mother Nature,” said David West, PMVB vice-president of marketing. “While our ski areas have perfected snow-making since its beginning here 60 years ago, natural snow allows for greater opportunities such as snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling and dog sledding.”

Blue Mountain (skibluemt.com)

• Blue Mountain has upgraded a number of their snowmaking guns and added 10 new fully automated TechnoAlpine fan guns. These upgrades and additional guns will allow Blue Mountain to make higher quality snow at a faster pace.
• Also new is the Luge that opened near the end of the season last year. Each exciting run is about 2,000 ft. long and made of over 400,000 cubic feet of snow. Along with being able to enjoy the excitement and the rush of adrenaline from the Luge, The Fastest Sport on Ice®, you can have the opportunity to be scouted for the USA Luge team. Throughout the weekends in winter, Blue Mountain will have official USA Luge coaches working to evaluate you to possibly be selected for the US Olympic team for 2014.

Camelback Mountain Resort (skicamelback.com)

• The mountain will increase its already massive snowmaking arsenal with more snowmaking guns ensuring skier and riders a 100% chance of snow.
• Camelback's snowtubing expansion to 38 lanes and two magic carpets makes it the biggest snowtubing park in the USA.
• Visitors can ride the new 4,500' Alpine Mountain Coaster, one of the largest in the country.

Shawnee Mountain (shawneemt.com)

• New airless snow guns have been added on Shawnee's learning center slope. The energy efficient fan guns promise all beginners more consistent snow depth throughout the season enabling contoured nightly grooming to optimize learning.
• Shawnee Mountain has focused on improvements of children's programs for this upcoming season.
  • Shawnee added an all new WEEriders program to its extensive mix of children's learning programs. WEEriders, developed for children 4 through 6 years old, introduces young children to snowboarding. The program will be offered as a two hour session and is limited to four children per class to ensure proper attention is paid to each your rider.
  • Improvements have been made to the Shawnee Children's Program online reservation system, promising parents an easier online reservation process for programs as well as rentals.

Big Boulder (jfbb.com)

• Big Boulder has extended the "T Bar" bar and added new taps.

Jack Frost (jfbb.com)

• Updates have been made to old glades and work has begun on new trails.

Ski Big Bear (skibigbear.com)

• Ski Big Bear has continued the expansion of their snowmaking system, including new tower snowguns at the base of the mountain.

• New Rossignol ski equipment has been added to the seasonal and daily rental fleet.
• A new winter menu has been added to all food and beverage operations including the Summit Restaurant and Bar, The Scramble Cafeteria and the Country Store at Masthope Mountain.

Alpine Mountain (alpinemountain.com)

• Alpine Mountain will open the slopes for groups of 100 or more Monday through Wednesday this season.
• Alpine Mountain's new website will allow guests to purchase lift tickets, learning packages, season passes and advanced tickets online. 

With over 185 ski trails and seven major ski resorts, the Pocono Mountains allows guests of all skill levels to take full advantage of winter's offerings. For more information regarding winter in the Pocono Mountains region, visit poconoski.com.