Another great night of snowmaking!

The crew made snow on several trails including the lower half of Upper World Cup, Lower World Cup, Drop off and Link. It was also the beginning of snowmaking on Timberline and Jolly Green.

The thermometer was moving around all night with some real fluctuations. With the sky as clear as it was last night, we were hoping for a little colder temperatures. In talking with our weather forecaster, Tony, it looks like this unseasonable weather pattern should be ending this week. He thinks this unseasonable pattern we are stuck in should break by Wednesday and we should begin to see some more normal winter weather. Let’s hope he is correct.

Sunny skies today with temps in the 40’s. Snowmaking will end up shutting down today and the guys will get a couple warm days off. We anticipate being able to make snow again beginning Tuesday night. We are as aggressive as we can with the temperatures that we have. Our goal is to get top to bottom skiing and get out of the shuttling business as soon as possible. At the same time we will be heading towards Jackson Gore and Solitude to begin to spread out the traffic.

Enjoy the sun today!

Bruce
General Manager

Planning for the Holidays

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