BRIDGTON — Nearly one year since the pandemic forced Shawnee Peak to close early for the season, skiers have returned to the mountain a little differently this year.

“It’s been an interesting season. We’ve been pleasantly surprised with the number of people that have been coming out, but they’ve been coming out sort of in a spread-out manner,” said Rachael Wilkinson, Shawnee’s director of skier experience. She declined to give skier visit numbers.

“It was so warm to begin with and Mother Nature really wasn’t helping us out much,” Wilkinson said. “And then with the pandemic, too, so I don’t know which is going to be more of the driving force.”

People working from home because of the pandemic have more flexibility to come out for midweek and nighttime skiing, she said.

“I think that it’s because there are so few options for people that a lot of them come back to skiing, so they’re using it as a safe way to spend their time,” Wilkinson said.

When the 1,300-foot ski area reopened in December, it introduced a number of COVID-prevention protocols, including requirements to wear face coverings and to buy tickets online in advance. RFID scanners were installed on some the slopes for pass-holders.

The base lodge, restaurant and rental shop were expanded and new outdoor decks were added to allow for social distancing.

On a bright and sunny afternoon Feb. 26, the parking lot at Shawnee was about half full with skiers booting up from the back of their cars.

Mary Wood and her son Hudson, 5, were at the mountain for the first time since moving to Bridgton from upstate New York a couple of weeks earlier.

“We’ve actually not been skiing in so long and now, we can actually get out and do it,” said Wood, who used to ski frequently at Bristol Mountain in Canadaigua, New York.

“It’s been a unique season,” Wilkinson said.

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