Snow bunnies will give the Easter bunny a run for the spotlight this weekend as an early April snowstorm dumped fresh powder throughout Western Maine mountains.

“They were skiing in waist-deep powder on Warden’s Worry today. That’s pretty unusual, especially in spring,” said Joanne Taylor, Saddleback Ski Resort marketing director. Warden’s Worry is a 2,400-foot-long, black-diamond trail. “Looks like the Easter bunny will have to be a snowshoe hare.”

It was the same at ski resorts throughout the state where about two feet of snow fell Wednesday and Thursday, creating some of the best ski conditions of the season. Greg Sweetser, executive director of the Ski Maine Association, said the snowfalls along Maine’s coast and southern areas should trigger skiers and snowboarders to head to the hills this weekend.

“Although the late season snow will not make up for the warm December, it will give the industry a very positive finish,” he said in a statement.

“It doesn’t look like April up here,” said Alex Kaufman, spokesman for Sunday River in Newry. Last year the resort got a 10-inch snowfall on April 5, but this week’s snowfall was more than twice that amount.

“The trees got absolutely buried in snow,” he said. “It looks more like winter right now than it did in any other part of the season.”

Skiers and snowboarders standing just over 5 feet tall had waist-deep powder on ungroomed trails, while people 6 feet and over had powder to their thighs, he said.

“People were looking for the steepest trails on the mountain with snow that deep. We scrambled and opened White Heat, because with all that snow, you had to get some speed to get through it. It’s so unreal,” Kaufman said.

At Sugarloaf/USA in Carrabassett Valley, Bill Swain, director of communications, said 20 to 24 inches of snow fell in 24 hours. He described it as “light and deep powder, some of the best of the winter.”

While the ski hills were busier than usual, Saddleback still plans to close by day’s end on Sunday, April 15. Sugarloaf is projecting an April 22 closing, as is Sunday River.

Kaufman said that could change with more big snows.

Smaller resorts like Lost Valley, Mt. Abram and Black Mountain remain closed.

“We wish we could have had this snow two weeks back,” said Black Mountain spokesman Craig Zurhorst. “It’s perfect snow. An unexpected little gift at the end of the season, and a little bit strange. The timing was very, very interesting with the snow coming for holidays.”

“We had four big storms and three right before holidays: President’s Week, St. Patrick’s Day and now Easter,” he said. “All in less than three months, so maybe winter started a month late and will end a month late.”

Complete ski area information, plus snow and weather conditions, are available at www.skimaine.com

– Terry Karkos, Staff Writer

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