RUMFORD — The 20 inches of snow Winter Storm Fortis dumped in Rumford Thursday night and Friday brought plenty of happy skiers to Black Mountain Ski Resort.

“This is the first big snow in a couple years,” Marketing Director Deanna Kersey said. “Every trail is completely open; there are 28 main trails (and altogether) over 45 trails, including the glades.”

“People that work here wear lots of hats,” ski patroller John McElrath said of the volunteers and employees of the nonprofit ski area.

He began his day at 1 a.m. Friday with some “light grooming” of the mountain, and later did some indoor vacuuming of the offices.

“It’s all part of the deal when you work for a nonprofit,” he said.

In the warming hut at the top of the mountain, volunteer ski patroller Matt Baker-White pointed to a map of the mountain and described his favorite type of skiing: glade skiing. The glades are areas on the mountain cleared of small trees, leaving the larger ones to ski in between, he said.

“Black (Mountain) has a lot more glades than a lot of mountains of this size,” he said.

“Early on in the season, we got 8 inches of snow and it got warm, so all of that snow settled and created a really nice base, and with this amount of snow on top, it’s really getting packed into places, (so that) it’s really fun skiing,” he said.

He and Kersey give credit to a group of volunteers called the Angry Beavers of Black Mountain for the upkeep of the glades. The 20-plus members average 650 volunteer hours a year, clearing the glades year-round for the approximately 33 acres of tree skiing.

“I think (the word) is getting out there, and we have a cult following of people now, looking for that (glade skiing),” Kersey said.

She said the mountain also has a great novice area and plenty of Nordic ski trails for those who prefer that type of skiing.

“We’ve got it all covered,” she said.

Alpine regular ski hours at Black Mountain are Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nordic skiing regular hours are Friday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net