When Hurricane Irene tore her way across New England last September, one of the most hard-hit areas was southern Vermont.
Those who follow the news, especially those of us born in Vermont — watched in horror as national news showed the extensive damage and talked about supplies having to be flown into remote areas like Killington, Vermont.
With those memories still fresh on the minds of many, it is with sadness yet a complete understanding that officials at East Coast Snocross (ECS) announce a new site for their 2012 season finale.
Due to the widespread property damage and resulting impact to mountain operations, officials at Pico Mountain needed to push our finale ahead one week, which would have meant racing on Easter weekend. That option wasn’t appealing, and thus the 2012 ECS season finale will now take place at the beautiful Titus Mountain ski area in Malone, New York.
"Our debut at Pico last spring went very well, yet Irene set that region back with such extreme land damage," said ECS General Manager Shawn Longbook. "Most of our race teams and officials would prefer to complete the season in late March, so we felt it best to find a suitable replacement site. Titus Mountain is the ideal spot for our finale, it has plenty of room for a great track and is a nice facility overall."
Nestled in the foothills of the Adirondacks, Titus Mountain offers skiers and riders 27 trails serviced by a total of 10 lifts; two triples, six 2-passenger chairlifts and two Handle-Tow surface lifts. The mountain features 1200 vertical feet of winter fun. The upper and lower mountain lodges offer warmth, comfort, good food and refreshing beverages. Titus Mountain has 90% of its terrain serviced by snowmaking, and grooms all trails every 24 hours to insure optimum conditions. The mountain truly is a hidden gem of upstate New York.
The 2011-2012 season awards banquet will begin on Sunday following the last races at 4:30 pm. at Mo’s Adirondack Room, adjacent to the new Holiday Inn & Suites. In recent years, the banquet was held on a separate weekend at a different location, yet it makes sense to reduce travel and wraps things up at the final race event.
Teams on all three major brands involved with snocross (Arctic Cat, Ski-doo and Polairs) are gearing up for Round 3 at Boonville. The depth of talent here in the northeast looks impressive as the 2012 season begins to unfold. Returning veterans, promising rookies and new faces from distant places are all battling to gain an advantage over the competition.
East Coast Snocross, presented by AMSOIL and Woody’s Traction, is the sanctioning body for snowmobile racing in the northeastern United States. ECS maintains a regional circuit intended to keep grass-roots snocross racing healthy in this part of the snowbelt, while also cultivating new talent for tomorrow’s factory-backed Pro teams.
For more information, go to www.eastcoastsnocross.com.
