Release the Kraken!
As I type, there are a few flurries swirling around outside my window – a good sign. And another good sign is that the 14 day forecast is not showing any significant warm ups. In fact, the meteorologists are saying that we are moving into average temps for this time of year. With a promising long term forecast, it is time to release the kraken! I may exaggerate a wee bit when I compare the awesome capabilities of our snowmakers to the strength of the mightiest mythological sea creature, but “hey”….after a summer of waiting, there may be a few snowmakers who earn the nickname of Kraken this winter!
Tonight temps probably won’t drop until after twelve and humidity is a little high but we expect that to improve tomorrow. Our goal is to make snow whenever possible and to be open in time for Thanksgiving Weekend.
Disclaimer time – sorry to be a downer but I’ve got to be honest and let you know that we will only be able to make the Thanksgiving goal if we receive sustained cold temps. So please keep checking the snow report and know that we are very excited to take advantage of every opportunity possible. And I have a 6-pack riding on it so rest assured I will be encouraging our amazing snowmakers and Mother Nature along.
Tiny URL for this post: http://tinyurl.com/avz8rsj
With temps in the 20′s all week why are you not blowing snow every night starting today.
Bill – we are doing exactly that. At 9 pm is is 34 at the base and colder at the summit. What forecast are you looking at? I want it!!! Humidity is high so that makes for less than optimal snowmaking but as soon as they can, our snowmakers will be at it. As I said above, we plan to take advantage of every opportunity possible, including tonight.
Just read this to my kids, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you could hear the cheering in VT!
yup – heard them. Can you ask them to do a snow dance now!
Yea Buddy!
I would really love to see mt snow upgrade their webcams, add a few more etc.
Live video, with some better shots of the mountain, especially when the guns are fired up (as they appear to be this morning… woohoo!)
This little bit of video love is all i have during the week!!!!
Pretty funny when the first thing you do in the morning is fire up the computer to look at the live cams to see if you are make snow. YES!!!!!
Its game on temp wise. And I think there is at least a 50/50 for some real action late this month early december. My call remains for a crazy snowy season.
I like your forecast Sleepy Bear and I will talk to the gang in marketing about the web cams. Do you want more or better quality? A little more feedback please – thanks!
I think it would be great to have one on the North Face, perhaps looking down from the top of Free Fall.
One looking up at canyon, or perhaps even just a broader shot of the mt from the top of the Main Base Lodge or top of the Clock tower.
Streaming video would be a plus.
Still image quality is adequate as it is…. more is always better, but i would rather see more cams than fewer with HD (for example)
At another location I’ve seen the ability for remote users to control the cam and look around. Thats pretty cool, and could eliminate the need for multiple base cameras.
Totally add a cam on the north face. Anywhere is good. Your cams do need an upgrade. Come on, still motion cameras that update every 30 seconds? My local hill, Mohawk CT, has a real camera with live feed. I do agree with Maynard on the user-controlled cameras. They’re awesome as long as there’s no wait!
we have new live cams on our wishlist for future upgrades. it’ll happen, but not likely to be this season.
What a great report! It’s looking like a good start to a great year!
We are all ready and will keep our hopes high!
Knowing you need power and a long network cable :) It would be great to see it on the backside of the Blue Bird Barn – (Nice and High). Have it pointed straight up towards the Canyons trail with a possible views of Exhibition/Charlies Chase.
Weekend Update: Well….it hasn’t been a very Krakenesque week. Our snowmakers are taking advantage of every minute offered but we have not had a 24 hour stretch all week. As I am sure you have experienced, you wake up to a cold morning and by 11 am you are shedding a layer. Each day we have shut down the system and each night we fire back up. I would like to say that happens at dusk but often we have to wait for the atmosphere to cool off. Last night they fired up the lower mountain only to have to take it all down as it warmed up – UGH!!. Currently (9 am Sat) they are still making snow on the upper and will go as long as they can and then fire up again tonight. And if you had a really low reading on your thermometer this am, please understand that we experienced some crazy inversions last night. When Concord, NH is colder than the summit of Mount Washington, you know our weather is upside down! But despite this less and optimal forecast, we are still working hard to get open for Thanksgiving weekend. We will have a better forecast for you on Monday after we get 2 more nights of snowmaking in. Snowdances everyone!!!
Looks like we wont get good round the clock temps until the weekend at least. Oh well, seems like you guys are doing just fine with the overnight thing !!! Maybe you can get a couple trails open, but no worries, looks like you’ll be getting things open pretty soon regardless whether you make the weekend or not. It would be interesting to see in the history of Mount Snow, how many times we actually made a Thanksgiving open…at least after snow making came into being. I bet its fewer times than people might think ! I have a question …. why Mineshaft and the Gulch as opposed to just working on Nitro first? Just curious is all ! Nice work !!
Bobby – I asked the same thing about Mineshaft/Gulch vs Nitro and was told that from a snowmaking perspective, Mineshaft/Gulch is easier to cover, faster. In the past 8 years we have been closed 2 of the 8 on Thanksgiving. I will try to look back a little further when I get a minute.