Saturday, December 8, 2012

Why I hate Fog and other tidbits........

Hello,

I’m not going to talk about Snowmaking until the very end of my blog to see if we can change our luck!!!   So if you read about the negative NAO tilt and the Arctic Air LaNina syndrome (I made that one up) it would lead you to believe that there is science for all of these weather happenings……….  I think it is a cycle and we are about to break out of it…….

To be honest, I hate fog more than rain. Fog has a tendency to hurt the snow more than liquid precipitation. With the liquid stuff, there is more draining off of the snow, fog seems to eat the snow.  So rain is bad, fog is worse and cold is great.   The other thing that makes a difference in these weather events is manmade snow vs. natural snow. Manmade stands up much better to different weather than natural.  Natural snow is a lot more water and will disappear quicker in the sun, rain or fog.  Think about the last time you had snow on your lawn and woke up the next day and it was gone? 

Christmas is 17 days away.  I’m pretty optimistic that we will be in good shape as the holiday week begins.  The good news is that our other departments are working hard to get their areas ready for the influx of guests.  The mountain operations staff is getting some other lifts ready to operate and we are taking lodging reservations to beat the band.  It is coming together.

Skiing can be enjoyed in all weather!
Noah Schmidt & Dave Creaser
 
So what about snowmaking???   It is going to return at 9:17pm on Tuesday night!  Well that is a guess, but it is going to return.  The snowmakers have made some headway into Jackson Gore.  There is quite a bit more to go, but it is coming along. I would anticipate skiing into Jackson Gore by next weekend.  The plan is to also go "snowmaking strong" on many more trails especially in the middle of the mountain and begin to pick off some of the lodging trails.  We have a long term plan, but each day we reevaluate and see what is going to be the most efficient and best use of our system.  There are a lot of options and you can be assured that myself, Eb our Mountain Manager, Barry our VP of Mountain Ops and Ray our Snowmaking manager hash out a viable plan each day and then adjust as needed.

Feel free to let me know how we are doing and enjoy the snow.

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM
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4 comments:

  1. FETC ServicesDecember 10, 2012 at 9:52 AM

    Bruce,

    I have 7 days in so far at Okemo and you guys are doing GREAT!!!

    Bill Greenwood
    Keene, NH.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okemo Mountain ResortDecember 10, 2012 at 11:42 AM

    Thank you Bill. I appreciate your note.

    Bruce

    ReplyDelete
  3. Knicks FanDecember 11, 2012 at 4:03 PM

    What kind of priority is the South Face?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Okemo1-2December 12, 2012 at 7:08 AM

    Knicks Fan,

    South Face is on the list, but not top of the list. We will be working on Rimrock, and South Face trails become more of an option as we look for places to make snow when the temperatures rise on the lower mountain. It will also be a place for us to make snow during the Holidays. So the answer is it is a priority, but not a high priority.

    Bruce Schmidt

    ReplyDelete