As soon as Whiteface snow reporter Erik Petersen gave the go-ahead over his bullhorn, dozens of kids sprinted forward in pursuit of Easter eggs, followed — in most cases, a bit more slowly — by their family members and the Easter Bunny.

Unlike some other Easter egg hunts, it didn’t take long to find the eggs, many of which were laid out in plain sight at the mountain’s base area and nearby Ausable ski trail. There was no shortage either. Whiteface staff helped the Easter Bunny to stuff a grand total of 5,000 plastic eggs with various goodies.

The event had two separate hunts — one for children ages 6 and under, and the other for children ages 7 through 12. The Easter Bunny was the center of attention at the hunts, at times scooping up eggs and dishing them out to children as they would run by frantically searching for their next colorful find.

The egg hunt coincided with Whiteface’s last ski day for the season. The early morning began with the mountain cloaked in stubborn clouds, leftover from Saturday’s weather that saw gusty winds, battering rains and even the occasional lightning strike shuttering operations for a portion of the day.

From left, Kelly, Natalie, Porter and Matt Hudson smile after the Easter egg hunt at the Whiteface Mountain ski resort on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

Skiers and riders who stuck it out until the very end, however, were rewarded with a dramatically different scene on Sunday. Throughout the early hours, just as the Easter eggs were being stashed on the slopes, the skies parted. By mid-morning, the sun had broken through and ample sunshine graced the slopes for the final few hours of the ski season.

The ski resort will now take a breather before beginning several notable improvements for the summer, including a new double chairlift and the installation of permanent snowmaking fixtures on Hoyt’s High — a black diamond trail located on the ski resort’s Lookout Mountain area, according to Whiteface General Manager Aaron Kellett.

“Hoyt’s is a big gnarly trail and you can’t really drive a vehicle on it,” he said.

Kellett added the trail’s steep nature makes it difficult to move snowmaking equipment around, so having the permanent infrastructure in place will make it more efficient to make snow on the trail, and ultimately, log more ski days on it.