Montpelier, VT – Following the lead of first Colorado and then Utah, lawmakers in the Vermont House of Representatives on Thursday unanimously passed H.365 to designate skiing and snowboarding as the official state winter sports.

Almost as if on cue, snowfall started at ski resorts across Vermont, and the Vermont Ski Areas Association is formally giving the state legislature credit.

“We needed another snowstorm to top off the great conditions we had for our skiers and riders over the first part of the Presidents’ week holiday period,” said Ski Vermont President Parker Riehle. “The Vermont House of Representatives responded and came through quickly with unanimous passage of this critical recognition of Vermont’s unrivaled historical connection to both skiing and snowboarding, which now heads to the Senate for their approval.  The Snow Gods have responded and more snow is on the way in time for the second week of school vacations.”

Introduced by Representatives Scheuermann of Stowe, Crawford of Burke, Dickinson of St. Albans Town, Eckhardt of Chittenden, Hebert of Vernon, Komline of Dorset, Larocque of Barnet, Lewis of Berlin, Manwaring of Wilmington, Marcotte of Coventry, Myers of Essex, Olsen of Jamaica, Pugh of South Burlington, Wilson of Manchester and Young of Albany, H.365 finds that the history of skiing and snowboarding is linked heavily to Vermont and that the roughly four million skier visits to the state annually “are a critical part of our state’s economy, heritage and way of life. Designating skiing and snowboarding as the Vermont state sports will encourage individuals to travel to Vermont to ski and snowboard where they will patronize local hotels and restaurants and purchase Vermont goods and services.”