Bring on the snow...............

Greetings,

We’ve got the snow!  Well we have waited over 600 days for this and look at it now.  Can you believe it? (The last significant snowstorm was over 600 days ago, actually in March of 2011).  13 – 15 inches of the fresh stuff out on the mountain.  This morning went pretty well, as well as the first major snowfall of the year can go. There were some groomer breakdowns, plugged power tillers, a few snowplow issues and your basic clusters at times, but all in all the guys and girls are pretty up to speed and know what to do.

We should be skiing over 110 trails for this weekend.  The ski patrol staff was on active duty today checking trails and opening up the skiing.  This storm had the wind as most Nor’easters do and the wind made for some large drifts on the slopes. More than one guy on a snowmobile got stuck today trying to go through a drift.  There would be no snow and then a 5 foot drift.  We needed to check the trails because of this and either had the groomers come along or have patrol ski pack out the drift.  Lift maintenance works hard on these mornings as the detachable chairlifts sometimes need a little coaxing to get the chairs through the contour of the lift.  Just a little bit of snow on the tires can cause havoc and once one chair gets stacked up in the terminal, there are normally others which follow.  I think the record is 7 or 8, but we don’t count when that happens.  The only way to stop that is have enough people to pull the chairs through and get things moving. Kind of like waking up in the morning and getting moving.

This weekend is shaping up to be a good one. Good ski and ride conditions, great weather and many of our friends visiting. A perfect combination. There are still some openings for ski and ride lessons and other children’s programs, but they are filling up fast.  The phone has been ringing today and I don’t mean maybe………  Snowmaking is taking a night off as the snow winds its way out of here, but we will begin again probably on Saturday.

After all the snow we got last night and today, you were out skiing and riding because many of the Okemo staff shoveled their way out and got into work.  It takes a team and Okemo is the best.

A hearty Thanks to all our Okemo supporters and guests who have the confidence in the job we can do to make skiing the best there is and provide a great experience for you and your families.  As always, let me know how we are doing.

Talk soon,

Bruce Schmidt

Okemo GM