STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Skiers in New England are enjoying the snow. Many resorts had scaled back their projections for holiday ticket sales because of the economy. But as Vermont Public Radio's Nina Keck reports, people are flocking to the slopes.
(Soundbite of cheering)
NINA KECK: Skiers and riders have been whooping it up all week in Vermont, savoring the afterglow of a storm that dropped nearly three feet of snow in parts of the state.
Tom Horrocks is a spokesman for Killington and Pico Resorts.
Mr. TOM HORROCKS (Spokesman, Killington and Pico Resorts): Pico's holiday numbers are off the charts. We doubled our business from a year ago and the good snow obviously goes a long way to get people out on the slopes and having fun.
KECK: Horrocks says for every inch of fresh snow, they can expect about a 10 percent increase in business the following weekend. If the snow falls in nearby metro areas like Boston and New York, so much the better.
Mr. HORROCKS: We call it the backyard syndrome. I mean we can get all the snow in the world on the mountain. But if there's no snow in the backyards, it's not necessarily going to mean people are going to come up and play in our snow.
KECK: Kate Piperno and Mike Porter, who are visiting Killington from Baltimore, say that definitely holds true for them.
Ms. KATE PIPERNO: We had a big snowstorm down in Maryland, a record one, basically, in December, and after that we were like all right, ski season is here. We've got to go.
KECK: Many Vermont ski resorts say reservations for the rest of January are better than expected.
For NPR News, I'm Nina Keck in Chittenden, Vermont.