 |
| This way to great snow! |
As December
1st arrives, one thing that seems to be on everyone’s mind is the weather. I think we are all amazed at how unseasonably
warm it has been. No doubt our entire
staff has done a great job in getting Okemo open for skiing and riding, even if
the terrain has been limited. It takes
all of us to provide the Okemo experience and for that effort we are all
thankful.
I get asked a lot, are we going
to stay open? What happens as we head into Christmas for slopes and
trails?. My normal answer is we will try
to stay open at all costs and we’ll make decisions as we get closer to
Christmas on trails etc. There is no
real science into planning for our busy holiday season and where we make snow. Our goal is to have as much as much terrain
as possible open for the holiday’s as temperatures permit. No doubt there will be some challenges as
each day we don’t have the good snowmaking temperatures is one less day we can
prepare. No doubt tougher decisions need
to be made as Christmas looms and the weather stays mild.
One thing can be assured and
that is that we will be as aggressive as we can be to get trails open and we
will use all our resources available.
Staff will work the hours that they need to and machines will be run. Our goal will be to have several different
pods of the mountain open for skiing and riding, although there may be less
trails in that pod open. It is important
to get spread out and use our lift system in the best possible way. Of course we have other demands from slope
side trails and racing, to our ski and ride programs that need terrain
too. There are many requests and we will
work hard to satisfy as much as we can.
It is safe to say that when it
gets cold, it won’t take long for our snowmaking and grooming team to get the trails
open and looking good. Our snowmaking
capacity and staff are second to none when it comes to making it happen with
the right conditions.
Bruce Schmidt
General Manager
