LUDLOW, Vermont — The question on every child’s mind when they travel for the holidays is, “Will Santa Claus know where to find me if I’m not at home on Christmas Eve?”

With so many families spending the holidays at Okemo Mountain Resort, we wanted to make sure Santa wouldn’t miss any of our young guests,” said Vice President and General Manager Bruce Schmidt. “We conducted a test last Christmas Eve and we were pleasantly surprised with the results.”

The first thing Okemo did was invite Santa for a pre-flight visit to the Jackson Gore Inn so he could have a chance to meet all the children staying at the resort. After a hearty helping of chef-baked cookies and cold milk, Santa made his way by snowmobile to the top of the mountain, where his reindeer and sleigh awaited.

The next thing Okemo did was to secretly select a group of snow groomer operators to test the theory that Santa is able to deliver gifts to people wherever they are on Christmas Eve ??“ even when they’re away from home. Since Okemo’s groomers spend all night, every night (even Christmas Eve), turning snow-covered trails into wide ribbons of corduroy for skiers and snowboarders to enjoy during the day, they were the perfect candidates for testing the theory. When asked what they wanted for Christmas, all of the groomer operators in the test group offered the same answer ??“ “a new grooming machine.”

With 97 percent of the mountain covered with snowmaking capabilities and lots of natural snow, there’s always plenty to groom at Okemo. This year the mountain added another 45 energy-efficient tower guns to their arsenal of snowmaking equipment. There are 117 trails at Okemo and that means the groomers have to cover more than 600 acres of skiable terrain with their machines. It’s no wonder the operators all wanted a new grooming machine.

It turned out that Santa was able to find every member of Okemo’s secret test group last Christmas Eve and he delivered four new Prinoth B350 grooming machines ??“ one outfitted with a Sherpa overhead winch for grooming steep slopes.

This year, Santa will be making his pre-flight visit to Okemo on Saturday, Dec. 22. He will once again visit with children at the Jackson Gore Inn starting at 4 p.m. Then, after he makes his around-the world delivery of gifts to good girls and boys, he’ll be back at Okemo on Christmas Day to take a few runs and to pass out sweet treats to his friends on the slopes.

For more information about spending the holidays at Okemo, please call (802) 228-1600, or visit www.okemo.com.