Kelly’s Blog: Love Thy Snowmaker
Dare I say that winter has arrived?!! Yesterday we woke up to about 4 inches of snow, the kind that sticks to everything. It looks like a winter wonderland. Today we woke up to flurries and it still hasn’t stopped. At this very moment we have white out conditions outside my window! In fact, there is snow in the forecast for the next seven days: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=West+Dover&state=VT&site=ALY&lat=42.9657&lon=-72.9146
Natural snow is in the forecast for the next six days. Temps are forecasted to drop to the teens for the next 5 days. And when temps are in the teens, compared to let’s say 25 degrees, our snowmakers can produce about 5 times more snow. This means we will be adding new trails daily!! And rumor has it we could see significant snow next Wed/Thur. Some meteorologists have thrown around the NE word. One of my co-workers, Tom, is simply calling the coming storm THE EQUALIZER!
If you’re dreaming of a white Christmas and you are ready for a little vacation, now is the time! Read on to find out where we are making snow for you!!
Today we are skiing and riding on 21 out of 80 trails. That is 176 acres. Tomorrow we plan to open Chute on the North Face and Inferno (no features) over at Carinthia. That brings us to 23 trails and 197 acres. By Dec 24th we plan to add Ego Alley, Drop and Prospector. And for Christmas we hope to give you the gift of Snowdance and Charlie’s Chase (race ready.) And while you are skiing and riding your tail off on Christmas, our snowmakers will move over to Sunbrook.
Today I was applauding our groomers on my morning runs. My favorite trail today was Mineshaft, where they were making snow, creating a sweet, creamy layer on top. I skied the Gulch and our Carinthia Parks crew did a fantastic job with the full build out.
Gulch – 4 jumps near the bottom
New spine on Gulch
Features on Gulch – you ready?
Nitro will be closed all day Monday so they can build out that park, too. In addition to Nitro and the Gulch as parks, you will have Grommet, Prospector and Inferno open during the Christmas week. We also have an airbag coming to Carinthia beginning Dec 26th.
Over on the North Face we plan to make snow on Fallen Timbers next and Plummet after that!
More good news – the tubing park plans to open at 10am Monday and will operate 10am-6pm through the holiday week.
I talked to our head snowmaker, Randy, today. Despite four significant rain events so far this winter, Randy and his team never seem to dishearten. They are some of the hardest workers I know and they will be taking full advantage of these temps to get as much new terrain open as possible. Whenever we are discussing trail openings Randy is always figuring out where he can add a gun or two, to make sure he does not waste a drop of water or air power.
With the holiday season upon us I am very thankful for snow – it really is our livelihood. And I am so fortunate to work with a dedicated group of snowmakers and groomers who will be here on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, making sure our holiday turns are the best possible. Happy Holidays!
12.23 update: Wanted to add a few photos I snapped today – it was nice to see the sun but it was brief. At 12 noon it is snowing!!
Snowmaking on Cooper’s
Here’s a better shot of the last 4 jumps on Gulch
Tiny URL for this post: http://tinyurl.com/c8gesyk
Right on Kelly! Right On!
Merry Christmas to you and your staff!
And thank you and your staff for everything they do. The snow has been awesome even with the sprinkles on Friday! (that hurt)
See you soon!
Snow making is a thankless job. I run into your crew many times. They are the hardest working individuals I have ever seen. I do take the time occasionally to stop on one of my runs and thank them for all they do. Mt Snow Snowmakers Rock.
Thanks guys! I just got word that the snowmakers are making snow on Thanks Walt! And sometime tomorrow they will move to Fallen Timbers. Christmas openings include Ego, Prospector, Drop, Sweet 16 and the newly built Nitro. And Snowdance will be open very soon.
Kelly do you know if the trail that runs through seasons is open yet?
I walked it today and people are skiing it. It is a little icy in one spot and the tunnel is still dirt. But we made snow on it so that will get groomed out. And with the coming snow, you should be good on Tin Lizzy (official name for that trail, I believe.)
How much snow do you need to open a natural trail (excluding any base)?
I hope your giving your snow makers ( GODS ) a night off!
Great job you guy’s!
Have a houseful coming today – thank goodness for the snow and Great Groomers! Can’t wait to ski Uncles!
Would like to know why on some of the busiest days of the year you don’t have all lifts going at 8am? Sun dance opened late and closed early yesterday, for example. Ego Alley opened late as well.
I tend to agree Todd. More than the late openings, the early closing of lifts really bugs me. Sundance, Outpost and like lifts should run until 4 in my opinion. And as an extension to that, closing areas at 3:45 (if you guys still do that) stinks too. Especially on busy days all areas and all lifts should run until 4PM. Thats my 2 cents any way. Im not there this week, so i cant speak to that specifically, but we are season pass holders to Mount Snow for years and its been the same for quite a while ! Of course Mount Snow is still the best, but its a legitamate issue to bring up.
Our primary lifts open at 8 am and then we follow with secondary lifts. For example, the Bluebird, Canyon Express, Nitro Express, Ski Baba, Challenger Triple, Tumbleweed and Discovery Shuttle are examples of primary lifts. This opening schedule gives access to most of the mountain. And then we fold in the secondary lifts like Grand Summit Express, Outpost, Ego Alley, Heavy Metal, Sunbrook, etc. Opening all 19 lifts at 8 am is operationally impossible. The pre-operation process on each lift takes time and starts at dawn so you only have about an hour plus to get everything done. And the volume of skiers and riders from 8 -9 am does not justify having all 19 lifts open. We add redundant lifts as the volume increases. The same process happens in the afternoon. We close secondary lifts around 2 pm because not many people ride them. The other day we ran Ego Alley until 4 pm and I watched chair after chair go up empty for about the last 3 hours. All that being said, we have had some late lift openings this past week and I apologize for that. We are working on getting them open earlier and making great improvements each day.
Some areas close at 3:45 because the process to close those areas takes time and if we do not start early, we have guests and staff skiing down at the end of the day in the dark. I will check on this process to make sure that we are not closing any earlier than scheduled and to see if we can get Sunbrook a little earlier.
Thanks for the feedback!
Thanks Kelly !!! Great response as always. The Sundance lift is crucial imo on crowded days. Most people seem to ignore it and it accesses a bunch of good terrain It also gives you access to the whole mountain except the north face. Thanks alot for the info, I love my Mount Snow !!!
Are you operating the snow show this year and it would be a nice to have a skating area like they use to have at Carinthia?
Unfortunately there is no Snow Show, as Outside TV is no longer here.
I am sad the coffee/hot chocolate shop is replaced with a sushi bar. No snow show, no ice rink, and now no hot chocalete shop. I think the mountain is going in the wrong directionaln
The coffee shop was simply moved next to Vermont Country Deli in the main base lodge, it wasn’t removed. We did not own Outside TV, and didn’t have control over whether they stayed. It’s unfortunate.
Moving the coffee shop was a sad decision. This was a great place to warm up and watch the kids come off the mountain. All week long it was closed and empty until 11 and sparsely populated the rest of the day. Now to get coffee/hot chocolate you have to battle the crowds looking to have lunch/etc. Was a nice place to relax. Hopefully it will be back in the future.
I am an owner and season pass holder. On 3 of the holiday days my family was standing in line at 7:55AM to beat the crowds. Each of these days people didn’t get loaded until 8:07 as they had to bring supplies up to the upper lodge. This should occur in a timefrane that does not effect lifts for skiers.