Closing Day Announced

As the warm weather is making the days enjoyable, it is also melting away the snow that our Snowmakers worked so hard to make all season. The groomers and Mountain operations staff have done a remarkable job keeping the skiing and riding going.

The time has come to put the 2011-12 ski season into the history books. Okemo Mountain Resort will be closing for the season at the end of the ski day on Sunday March 25th. It will be day 123 for this season. While we gave a gallant fight, the warming sun has been too much for even our large snowmaking effort and too many open spots have been developing. The Okemo Slush Cup has also been cancelled for this year.

I want to thank everyone for choosing to ski & ride at Okemo this past season, and appreciate all the guests that have read my blog and submitted their feedback. I consider each and every comment I receive - and frankly rely on them to help shape the future of Okemo. If you ever have thoughts or questions, I would invite you to share them.

Okemo Valley Golf Course and Tater Hill will both be opening soon, so get your clubs ready! And, we are excited to share that coming this summer to the Adventure Zone will a new Zipline Canopy Tour adventure. We are expecting a July 2012 opening, so stay tuned. The Canopy Tour will join the Timber Ripper Mountain Coaster, Lumberin Cal’s Mini Golf, The Maples Disc Golf and The Stump Jumper Bungee Trampoline for loads of family fun.

Thanks again, and enjoy the summer.

Bruce

Spring has Sprung

Okemo is weathering the hot weather the best we can. The Mountain Operations staff is busy keeping snow where needed and checking trails constantly.  If it wasn’t for the aggressive snowmaking that Okemo did this past winter, we would be in even worse shape.

There are questions going around as to what the plan is for Okemo?  Our goal is to continue skiing and riding as long as we can. We are constantly monitoring what the slopes look like and marking where needed.  My plan is to review again on Thursday and make a decision as to what next week looks like.  I can tell you that we are planning and working hard to continue skiing & riding through this coming weekend. 

Hopefully that helps.  Keep in mind that Okemo will be holding our FESTEVOL concert weekend with the Barenaked Ladies performing this coming Saturday 3/24 and Big Head Todd and the Monsters with Guster on Sunday 3/25. Tickets are available on Okemo.com

Thanks for your support and keep checking back at Okemo.com for the latest updates.

Bruce Schmidt
Vice-President & General Manager
Okemo Mountain Resort

Snowmaking this season v. 5-year averages

Greetings,

I don’t have to tell you that spring skiing is upon us and the end is near. The Mountain Operations staff is working hard to keep the slopes and trails open. Grooming is continuing and the Winch cat has been getting used almost every night. This warmer weather has been affecting our ability to push the snow up from the bottom of the steep sections. Using the winch cat has helped no doubt and we will continue to do what we can. The winch cat is being used on trails were we wouldn’t normally use it like Wardance and Sapphire.

I was looking at some snowmaking numbers in comparison to last year. Here are some highlights:

--The snowmaking guns ran about 5.5% less this year than the average.

--Total gallons of water pumped was about 10.5% less this year than average

--The total gallons of diesel fuel used for the season was about a 12.1% increase over the 5-year average.

--Okemo saw a cost per gallon of fuel increase of 26.8% over the 5-year average in per gallon price.

The other side of the coin was that we were able to open up our terrain quickly compared to the weather and we led the pack on many days as we headed into late January and February. No doubt snowmakers were on the run more this year than ever before and we were fortunate in that we made snow on all our snowmaking trails except 5 of them.

Reminder that Okemo will be holding our FESTEVOL concert weekend with the Barenaked Ladies performing this coming Saturday 3/24 and Big Head Todd and the Monsters with Guster on Sunday 3/25. Tickets are available for purchase at okemo.com

Okemo plans to stay open as the snow holds. Now there are many things that can happen no doubt, but you need to be confident that all of us here at Okemo will do all we can to keep skiing and riding. Okemo will be there to provide the skiing product so our very important guests can have a place to take to the slopes.

Think snow and thanks for skiing and riding with us. If you want to follow what is going on from my desk, follow me on twitter @okemogm

See you on the slopes,

Bruce Schmidt
Vice-President & General Manager
Okemo Mountain Resort

twitter.com/okemogm