Boston's storm was a bust, but Blue Hill skiers fared better

Like most people in the Boston area, Liz McInnes' sons Frankie and Will expected to wake up Tuesday to a big snow storm and spend the day on sleds. But where they live in Quincy, they only saw rain.

“There wasn't much sledding over near us,” she said.

Seven-year-old Will McInnes scrunched his face as he noted the lack of snow accumulation.

“That's kind of annoying,” he said. “It's only like frosted … nothing else but frost.”

Instead of sledding, the family headed to the Blue Hills Ski Area in Canton, where the snow was indeed falling. Officials at Blue Hills said it was a welcome break from creating man-made snow. And with a ground pack of artificial snow, the fresh stuff is able to pile up.

“If Mother Nature can help, it's always good, right?” said Iwan Fuchs, the guy in charge of turning water into snowflakes at the Blue Hills. “Especially for the clientele, if they see snow in their back or front yard, it obviously makes more hype" to go skiing.

Fuchs is originally from Switzerland, home to some of the most sought-after ski resorts on earth. He said he likes working at a small ski area, and the 635-foot Blue Hills fits the bill. But it's a challenge in winters like this, when snow is scarce.

Fuchs said the ski area uses millions of gallons of water to feed its snow machines — the more it snows naturally, the less they have to spend on H2O.

“Even a small hill like we are, there's a lot going into snowmaking,” he said. “We get a foot of snow, I mean, we take it.”

They didn't get close to a foot on Tuesday. The snow came down harder in the southern part of the state and on Cape Cod. The Blue Hills Weather Observatory recorded 4.3" Tuesday at the summit, according to operations director Don McCasland. He said that's about half of what normally comes down through the first two weeks of February.

"As a winter sports enthusiast, it's disappointing," McCasland said, noting that the early forecast on Monday had predicted up to 12 inches of snow. School cancellations and snow emergencies in the Boston region wound up feeling overblown.

But people on the slopes were making the best of it. Terry Murray of Holbrook said he's been skiing at the Blue Hills every day this season. Seeing real snow on the ground, and getting to make fresh tracks, that’s a bonus.

“Ah, it's quiet,” Murray said with a smile. “You can't even hear yourself coming down.”

Murray says it’s great to have a ski area so close to the city. Even when snow storms are in short supply.