Basecamp Podcast: Exploring Big Snow with Hugh Reynolds

Skiing lasts all year long, even in the summer, at Big Snow American Dream in New Jersey. (AFP via Getty Images)

Summer can be tough to take. The heat and humidity can zap the strength and will from anyone, and it serves as a reminder that with each passing day the recent days of spring skiing fade away in the rearview mirror.

But it also means that next season is approaching, even if snow might be the farthest thing from anyone’s mind when trying to figure out what time that line of thunderstorms is going to roll through the area.

If only there were a place where it was winter year-round …

That place exists in one of the most unlikely of places – Exit 16W off the New Jersey Turnpike. Located inside the American Dream mall/amusement park, Big Snow has indoor skiing using the same kind of snow that comes out of snow guns at the leading resorts and the thermostat is always set to 28 degrees.

In the most recent episode of New England Ski Journal Basecamp Podcast, host Mike Specian and Chip Cook spoke with Big Snow marketing and sales director Hugh Reynolds about their experiences skiing inside and the importance feeder hills play in the bigger part of the sport.

Watch the pod:

Highlights from this edition of the Basecamp podcast

On what is it like to be skiing during the summer:

“It is something special, especially this time of year when you can’t get on snow elsewhere. You can’t help but smile when you walk in the door; winter 364 days a year, and to be able to go there when it’s 95 degrees out with 98 percent humidity and walk into winter for a couple hours, make some turns, hang out with your friends, it’s everything that skiing is about.”

But how is the snow:

“It’s a really fun surface to make turns on. The snow is really consistent, it holds an edge well. You can get some speed in those eight turns coming down the main run.”

Listen: