The cold weather and some snow across the Catskill and Green Mountains came just in time for the close of the holiday week and the start of a program to get folks in the mountains and on skies and boards.
The fourth annual Learn to Ski and Snowboard month is in full swing with free and reasonably priced learning programs for newcomers during January. Ski and snowboard areas and Nordic centers from coast to coast are participating.
Organizers of Learn to Ski and Snowboard also have teamed up with the U.S. Forest Service. There are 122 ski and snowboard areas located on Forest Service land.
In addition to the wide selection of learning programs, organizers are offering numerous products from snow sports suppliers including Head, Wintersports, Boulder Gear, Snow Dragons, Hotronic as part of products drawing located at their website http://www.skiandsnowboardmonth.org.
Online retailers, Skis.com and Snowboards.net will give individuals who take a lesson during January a gift card good for up to $50 based on the cost of the lesson.
Just about every resort is offering some kind of great deal and promotion during January, so you can either go to the website above or pick a mountain near you, whether it’s in the Poconos, Catskills or Green Mountains, where 13 Vermont resorts are offering beginner lessons for the entire month of January, excluding holiday periods for $29 , or go to the areas website and see what days of the week the lessons are available and what they are offering.
Mt. Snow in Vermont is offering a unique ticket on Sunday where kids ages 6-18 pay their age for a lift ticket. It is the eighth straight year the resort has provided this straightforward offer and it really is as straight forward as it comes; if a child is 10 years old, they pay $10 for their lift ticket.
***On Jan. 14 from 5-9 p.m., Camelback Mountain in the Poconos will be playing in the big leagues with the likes of Breckenridge, Heavenly and Mammoth by playing host to the only Eastern stop for the Nike rail jam. The event, named Nike/The Chosen, is a grassroots snowboarding and free ski rail jam that is hitting seven stops in the United States; Camelback is the third stop on the three-month tour, but the only stop on the East Coast. There is a $3,000 purse for the top competitors as well as Nike swag. ken.moran@nypost.com