The Winter Of 2007-08 Was Golden!

The winter of 2007-08 is past and people in many parts of New England are glad of it, but for others? Let the winter of 2008-09 be as grand.

What does spring and summer hold in store? Let us take it as it comes.

Winter was a season of record snowfall in many parts of northern New England and now it’s spring.

The banks of snow, 10 feet high, that lined some streets and roadways are gone. Lawns covered with a blanket of white only two or three weeks ago are sprouting green. Trees and bushes seemingly bare in days past are showing early buds that soon will flower.

Yes, it was a brutal winter in much of the flatland. It was cold, and there were days when the roads were hazardous and some of us were cranking our snowblowers more often than we might have wished. And just as the machines were cranked, so too did some of our dispositions turn cranky.

It was the second-snowiest winter on record in New Hampshire — 118 inches as recorded in Concord and only 4 inches less than the winter of 1873-74.

There was another side to the winter now past — a bright and shining side.

It might have been the best winter ever for New Hampshire’s ski industry. On April 6, there was skiing on 48 of the 51 trails at Gunstock in Gilford. The county-run facility managed to top $8 million in sales over a ski season for the first time. The number of skiers who hit its slopes totaled roughly 185,000.

“It was probably one of the only years we ended the season with a ton of snow on the ground,” said General Manager Greg Goddard,

The visits to Mount Cranmore in North Conway were up more than 30 percent over last year. The Mount Washington Valley recorded its snowiest winter in 50 years with 147 inches.

It wasn’t just in the high peak areas of the state where skiing flourished this past winter. Heavy snows in New Hampshire’s counties along the border with Massachusetts served as magnets that drew Granite State and Bay State skiers who might otherwise have been discouraged from driving far because of high gasoline prices.

It was a win-winter for skiers and ski-area operators alike. The recorded number of skiers in New Hampshire this winter now past might top all previous records.

So, you don’t ski. How will this record-buster of a year affect you?

Imagine what $700 million in one winter’s revenue does for the state’s tourist industry and by extension what it does for the general economy of our state.

Yes, when the best skiing in the Northeast is having a banner year, we all benefit.

So now, it’s dash into spring, summer and fall. But take it one season at a time. Think New Hampshire in the months ahead.

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