Holiday Week Updates...

Greetings,

The Holiday week is in full swing, so a good opportunity to talk about a few things.

Snowmaking is looking to return Sunday afternoon into the evening.  The first priority of snowmaking will be to head to existing terrain.  We will light up guns on Lower Arrow, Sapphire, Upper World Cup, Nor’easter, Count Down, the base areas of both the Clock Tower and Jackson Gore, and get as many snowguns going as we can.  The next step would be to get guns going on Easy Rider, Rimrock, Lower Limelight and some others.  Once we are satisfied with the existing terrain, we will head to new terrain, such as Quantum Leap, Vortex, Black Out, Sel’s Choice and the Halfpipe. Our plan will be to make snow 24 hours a day. We will be making snow on some slopes and trails that are open for skiing and riding, more than likely higher-level terrain.  We will also try to make snow on lift lines while the lifts are running, as long as the impact is not too uncomfortable for those riding.  We are not planning on closing many trails to make snow, although we might end up doing this on Upper and Lower Chief on Monday afternoon.

The skiing has been spring-like no doubt, and we are mindful of the difficulty that some skiers and riders have seen.  During these warmer temperatures, the groomers have been grooming all the terrain, with the exception of a few natural trails each night.  In some instances, it is probably better that we don’t put a groomer on the trail, to preserve the snow.  Guests may have a perception that the trails have not been groomed because of the spring like conditions.  I can assure you that we have been grooming, the issue has been that the temperature has not been cold enough to have the snow set at night, and thus the surface remains granular when skiers come to ski in the morning.  We also have been looking at doing a noon groom, which has been helpful to smooth things over.  Lower Arrow has been a trail we have concentrated on to try and help make the experience better.

We had a lift issue on the Jackson Gore Express on Sunday, and the lift has been on hold during the morning. The lift maintenance staff is hard at work with freeing an adjusting bolt on one of the towers.  We needed to stop the lift to do the work.  We really appreciate your patience, as we worked through this.  Our shuttle bus staff was Johnny-on-the-spot in getting the buses over to Jackson Gore and getting guests skiing and riding.  We appreciate the support of the Winterplace condominium management, as they allow us to drop off guests at the top of Quad B, which saves us time also.  Thank you for your understanding, as we repaired this problem.

In closing, Snowmaking will be happening hard and heavy beginning Sunday night and 24 hours a day through the week.  We will work hard to provide the best skiing possible here at Okemo…

Happy Holidays to all

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Happy Holidays!

Greetings,

Happy Holidays to everyone!  I wanted to take some time, as the Holiday week approaches, to give an update as to what is happening around the resort.

The weather that has been around for the past couple of days has now moved on, and we are looking at some winter weather returning.  The good news is that the mountain and trails held up pretty well.  As the temperatures get colder, we will no doubt end up losing some of the natural trails and most likely the gladed trails.  Grooming should be able to bring back some of the trails as they harden up.  The moisture in the snow will be draining out and with more skier usage and grooming; the surface should remain Machine Groomed.

Snowmaking is looking to return this afternoon into the evening.  The first priority of snowmaking will be to head to existing terrain.  The temperatures will force snowmaking up on the top half of the mountain.  We will light up guns on Sapphire, Upper World Cup, Nor’easter, Count Down and get as many going as we can.  The next step would be to get guns going on Easy Rider, Rimrock, Lower Limelight and some others.  The plan is to get to the base area of both the Clock Tower and Jackson Gore.  As we are making on existing terrain and those trails that have snow made on them, we will head to new terrain, such as Quantum Leap, Vortex, Black Out, Sel’s Choice and the halfpipe.  Snowmaking will be a priority for all of us here at Okemo for the next 10 days.

Many guests have been very appreciative of the new SPT-designed terrain parks that have been built at Okemo. We are very excited about our partnership and happy with the outcome.  Our plan with the terrain parks is to make more snow on Black Out, so we can get the Crazy Train (Progression) Park up and going.  Until that happens, we are planning on leaving the features on Sapphire.  Sapphire is a temporary trail we use for terrain parks in the early season.  Normally we would be out of there by now, but with the up and down snowmaking temperatures we have had, we have not been able to make as much snow as needed on Black Out.  The Okemo Parks staff has been doing a good job of putting rails and features on Sapphire and keeping them to the side of the trail.  I am hopeful we can co-mingle on Sapphire for a little while longer and then head to Black Out.

Guests have been concerned and commenting on the practice of trails being put on hold.  The term “On Hold” is used when a trail won’t be open or may be closed due to snowmaking, grooming, weather or some other reason.  I really try not to put trails “on hold” if they are going to be closed for an extended period of time.  “On Hold” is used to let guests know that the trail is not open and they should not anticipating being able to ski or ride it.  The main reason “On Hold” is used at Okemo is that we are trying to give good information, but at the same time we don’t want to have our trail count to bounce up and down with opening and closing of trails.  I know that there are some guests who may not agree, and I can appreciate that, but in the end I feel “On Hold” works to give skiers and riders information on the status and allows us some flexibility during the ski day.  Our main concern is safety and experience, and sometimes it takes our Ski Patrol to check them out later in the day.

This past week, we have seen some weather issues and hopefully these are behind us now.  Our priority is to get the Sunburst Six open on time.  Early morning decisions are made when there are weather issues, and we prioritize the Jackson Gore lifts and then a route to the summit.  The mountain operations staff works hard to do what they can and always have the guest safety and ease in their decisions.  For the next 10 days, thru Sunday January 4th, opening time will be 8am for the lifts.  A reminder, that the opening time for South Face Express, Green Ridge Express and Glades Peak is 30 minutes later each day. (8:30 Weekends/Holiday and 9:30am Midweek).

In closing, I want you to know that Okemo is working at providing the best possible vacation experience for all our guests.  While we cannot control the weather, we can be helpful and friendly and work at providing an enjoyable resort experience with a positive attitude and making your visit fun.  We will continue to do this and strive to make you want to return to Okemo Mountain Resort.  Thanks for your support and patience.  Your loyalty is appreciated.

Happy Holidays to all

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Answers to your questions, and a look ahead!

Greetings,

There are always plenty of questions as to why and how we do some things around here at Okemo, so I wanted to try and answer some of the questions.  Communication is important with our loyal guests, and it is always good to bring everyone up to speed.

The Sunburst Six is performing as we expected. This past week was a tough one.  We had freezing rain, sleet, rain and snow.  The Sunburst Six was late on several days and did not run one day last week.  Yes, the chairs are stored indoors, but the issue we had was on the towers themselves.  When there are no chairs on the line, there is less weight on the cable, and thus the sheaves may not always turn.  When this happens,  the Mountain Operations guys need to climb each tower and “pound” those sheaves which are not turning to get the ice off of them.  It is hard work and takes time. We also are cautious about putting the Sunburst Six chairs out on the line, if there is freezing rain. If the tractions plates get slippery, the chairs struggle to go through the terminals. It is hard to push a 1200 pound chair through the terminal when there is a problem.  The timing of the freezing rain, and the time it was taking to work on the towers to remove the ice, really affected getting the Sunburst Six and other lifts opened last week. I am hopeful that we won’t see weather like that again for a while.

There have been questions as to how we decide on lifts which operate.  Let me begin be saying that this past Saturday I made a mistake!  The Glades Peak or Green Ridge should have been running on Saturday.  I will take responsibility for that one.  Each week I review, with our Mountain Ops managers, the lifts we are going to operate, and we felt that with access into South Face by Cat Nap, that it would be fine to only run the Sunburst Six.  Not the correct decision, and we adjusted on Sunday.  I will pay more attention to that in the future.  I would like to think it won’t happen again!

Guests have been asking about the speed of the Sunburst Six.  Okemo, working with Leitner POMA, has been running the Sunburst Six at different speeds since opening day.  This was done to put hours on the equipment with different levels of stress and usage. These speed “steps” began at 700 feet per minute and go up to 1000 feet per minute.  The lift has completed this process, and we can now run at full speed. The Sunburst Six has a top speed of 1000 feet per minute, which was the same as the old Northstar.  My only caveat on this is that there are still times when the Sunburst Six is run slower due to weather and wind.  This was the case this past Saturday. For most of the day, the Sunburst Six was running around 750-800 feet per minute due to windy weather.  When there are wind concerns, we always have a lift mechanic at the top watching what is going on, and if the wind dies down, increasing the speed as we can.

The heated seats are a great addition.  There have probably been a few times when you might not have felt the heat?  This is because there are still 13 chairs which do not have the heat operating yet.  Between Leitner- POMA and Okemo working on these specific chairs, we hope to have them all working by Christmas. Some of the chairs need to have the wire run and we are also waiting on some brushes, which go up on the top of the grip and are the electrical conductor for the seat heaters.

Having some colder weather would be very welcome at Okemo, so the snowmaking effort can go even stronger.  We are planning to open Moonshadow and Tucker Out early this week and hope to be going after some other terrain in South Face, the Clock Tower base area and Morning Star.  I am hopeful that colder weather will be arriving closer to Christmas, in looking at the long range weather forecasts.  In order to get more terrain, we will need colder temperatures.  Okemo is committed to making snow into the Christmas holidays, as needed, as we want new terrain too.

Thanks for your support and patience.  Your loyalty is appreciated

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

The Sunburst Six begins operation today!!

Greetings,

Today is the day we have been all waiting for, the Sunburst Six will begin operation to our skiers and riders.  

This preview of the Sunburst Six will be happening today, beginning at 9am.  As the Okemo team has been so aggressive, we made the decision to open the Sunburst Six without the seat heaters.  There is still some work to be done to get the electrical brushes attached to the chair, as well as the electrical collector plate in the terminal in place.  We weighed the options and decided that it was going to be best to get the lift going and work on the seat heaters at night.

Words can’t describe how proud all of us here at Okemo are of the new Sunburst Six.  Our staff has been so committed to making this lift project their #1 commitment this past summer.  To give you a feel for the time frame, consider this:

• Some tree cutting on the line began on July 1
• Concrete forms were begun to be made on July 7th
• Work began in earnest on the project on July 14th.

If you do the math, July 14 to November 29 is 139 days!  That means the Northstar Express was removed, shipped to Mount Sunapee, and then all new towers and terminals were installed for the Sunburst Six.  A 60' x 120’ building was built and new electrical lines were installed on the summit.

During this time, there were over 50 Okemo employees who worked on the project, along with numerous contractors who worked on different phases of the project.  Okemo also had a very close working relationship with the lift manufacturer.  Leitner-POMA of America has been a real partner with Okemo on this project and has met many obstacles and challenges with a can-do attitude.

All of us here at Okemo are very proud of this newest addition to our lift system, and we cannot thank enough the hard work of all the Mountain Operations staff and Okemo Team members, as well as the unwavering support from all of our dedicated and loyal Okemo skiers and riders.  Enjoy the ride, and we will get those seat heaters going soon enough!

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Winter Storm Cato pays us a visit, Sunburst Six load tests

VLOG #5 from GM Bruce Schmidt
November 26, 2014

An overview of the new, streamlined Okemo Rental Shop experience

VLOG #4 from GM Bruce Schmidt
November 22, 2014

Conditions Update and Sunburst Six News!

VLOG #3 from GM Bruce Schmidt
November 21, 2014

Video Blog Part II - a walksthrough of the Sunburst Six Project

Friday, November 14, 2014 - Video Blog Part II from Bruce Schmidt

Cable Splice for the Sunburst Six

Thursday, November 13, 2014: Video Blog from Bruce Schmidt

Greetings,

After receiving our first dusting of snow, it really has begun to feel like winter is getting closer all around the resort.  Staff is on the move around the resort, preparing the slopes, lifts, buildings and other areas for our opening day.

Snowmaking began on Saturday morning, 11/1, around 3am.  The guns began pumping out snow on Upper World Cup and then moved to Nor’easter and Sapphire. By the time the temperatures had warmed up on Monday morning, we had been making snow for about 50 hours and made it all the way down to the middle of the mountain.  When you make snow early season, there are always problems which are found. This year was not any different, with some water and air leaks discovered and repaired, as well as some pump station issues.  All in all, it was a good first time making snow.  The weather is looking like we will be right back at it over the weekend and into next week.  The plan is to work our way down towards the Green Ridge and Black Ridge, with skiing on Sapphire, Upper Arrow to Lower Arrow into the base area.  As work on the Sunburst Six proceeds along, a decision will be made to begin making snow on Buckhorn, to be able to access Upper World Cup and use the Sachem and Glades Peak quad lifts.  At this point there continues to be a need to get equipment and personnel down to the top of the Sunburst Six.

If you have been following the Okemo Facebook page, then you have seen the photos showing how the construction is moving along well.  The Okemo and POMA Leitner staff has been hard at work, 7 days a week, preparing the Sunburst Six for the winter.  Almost all of the 6-passenger chairs have arrived; they were shipped by boat and have been in the Port of Newark waiting for delivery to Okemo.  The wire cable in in place, ready to be put on the towers, and both the drive and return terminals are in place.  One key component, the drive mechanisms including the Bullwheel, motor and gearbox, arrived this week and were put into place on Monday.  This will now allow the drive terminal on the summit to have the roof and windows put together and the electricity energized on the lift.  At the return terminal at the base of the Sunburst Six, the new chair storage building is nearing completion as well as the lift itself.  With all the hard work that has been going into this project it is great to be able to say we are on schedule for an early December opening.

Keep checking on Facebook for updates and we all are excited to begin winter and skiing and riding for the 2014-15 season.

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Greetings,


Work on the Sunburst Six is coming together, and the Okemo Team is in high gear to get the new lift constructed.  During the next few days, the return terminal (base terminal) will be taking shape.  This will involve putting the bullwheel on, erecting the internal frame, as well as putting on the sides of the terminal.  This work involves using a large crane and lowering and lining up all the pieces.  At the same time, Okemo has been receiving the six-passenger chairs. They are delivered in a shipping container, as they were sent over by boat from France.  Each day, one or two trucks arrive with the chairs to be unloaded.

The cable for the lift arrived last week and was set in place by a 100-ton crane.  The idea is to set the cable spool where it does not have to be moved again before it is unspooled on the towers.  The chair storage barn is coming along on schedule. The building itself has the walls and roof almost completed, as well as the cupolas are in place.  Inside the foundations for the towers which hold the rails for the chairs are also ready and we expect the steel for the rails soon.  The next focus will be the drive terminal on the summit, and we expect that to be leaving the factory in Grand Jct., Colorado early next week, for the trip across the country.  The Sunburst Six lift project is on schedule, and we anticipate a mid-December opening.
There have been many questions on how the seats on the new lift are heated.  I wanted to give an overview of how this works:

The Seat Heaters:
The Sunburst Six detachable is unique in many ways, and one of them is that the seats are heated.  How does that work, you ask?  This new technology involves a couple aspects of the lift and efficiencies of how the lift works.  On the top of the haul rope grip, which is the part of the chair that attaches to the cable, there is an electrical current collector.  This collector has a pair of insulated electrical wires that run down the side of the chair hanger and into the chair seat and then connect to 6 coils which are built into each chair seat (6 per chair).  Each seat has its own coil.  Situated around the coil is insulating material similar to that used in “Hot Seats” which are used for cold weather events.

As the chair comes into the lower station, the collector on the top of the chair receives an electrical charge. This charge in turn warms up the coil and thus the insulating material.  As the chair goes around the station, the chair is charged 3 times.  As guests are loaded on to the chair and head up the mountain, the combination of the heated coil, insulating material and your own body heat keeps the seat toasty for the ride to the summit.  With the bubble closed and no wind in your face, every ride to the top of Okemo will be an experience to remember.

So that gives you an update as to how things are going.  The Okemo staff is working 7 days a week to get the Sunburst Six constructed and open to our ski and ride guests.  Everyone is working hard, and we are excited about the biggest lift project in Okemo's history coming together for this winter.

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Greetings,

The first day of Fall has arrived, which is always a time to really be thinking about the winter that is ahead.  I’m sure many have been following the progress of the Sunburst Six on the Okemo Facebook page. If you haven’t, I would encourage you to take a look and see how much is happening.  The Okemo team has been hard at work getting the new lift together and in place.  All the concrete has been poured, and the tower locations as well as the top Drive terminal and bottom drive terminal have been backfilled with gravel around them.  As you can imagine, there are many parts that are used to put a lift like this together, and those parts are coming on trailer trucks 2-3 times a week from Grand Jct., Colorado.  The project is moving along well as is the chair storage barn at the base of the lift.

There have been many questions about this project, and I wanted to try to answer some that are being asked.

Will the lift be ready for this winter?  The answer is an enthusiastic YES.  The project is on schedule.  Things will come together quickly as the lifts components come are shipped to Okemo.  We are still looking at an early December opening

What will our plan be for early season skiing?  Our plan will be to start snowmaking on Buckhorn, Count Down, Upper and Lower World Cup.  The main access to the summit will be by using the Sachem and Glades Lifts.  Depending on the weather, we will be working hard to get the Base Quad lift open as well as the Green Ridge.  With new SV-10 guns on Heaven’s Gate and Screamin' Demon, I would anticipate that the Solitude area would open quickly also.  Of course, we have the potential to make early season snow on Nor’easter and Upper & Lower Arrow, depending on how the season is progressing.

What is the Sunburst Six opening date?  Okemo is comfortable with an early December opening. Of course some of that will hinge on the weather.

The storage barn is on schedule.  The walls are about done and the wood framing will begin soon. This is expected to be completed by mid to late October.

So that gives you an update as to how things are going.  The Okemo staff is working 7 days a week to get the Sunburst Six constructed and open to our ski and ride guests.  Everyone is working hard, and we are excited about the biggest lift project in Okemo's history coming together for this winter.

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Greetings,

With some great weather on hand, the construction of the Sunburst Six is staying on schedule.  Today the helicopter will begin its work pouring concrete on the lift line.

During the past couple of weeks the Mountain Operations staff has been preparing the tower foundations with wooden forms and steel so that the concrete can be put in.  Towers # 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 18, 19 & 20 had the concrete poured by the truck.  This will mean a few less trips with the helicopter. 

While this work is going on, there is also a crew working on the concrete forms for both the drive and return terminals as well as site work will begin on the chair storage barn.  Word is that some of the towers and other lift parts have begun there trek across the country from Grand Junction, Colorado and should be at Okemo during the next 10 days or so. 

While work is going on with the Sunburst Six, there is also snowmaking pipe being installed to replace the main line feed from the river pump station. This 16 inch pipe is buried near the mountain road and then crosses into Hot Dog Hill.  Ski trail mowing will begin next week and there is also work being done on the snow groomers and other equipment as the summer progresses.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend.

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Greetings,

It may be nearly 90 degrees outside, but what’s the big news today? Snow. Or more specifically, snowmaking equipment. Okemo will be adding 100 new HKD SV-series tower guns to the fleet for this winter.  We’re calling it Operation Snowburst II.

HKD Tower Guns in action!

These snowmaking guns are highly efficient and very versatile, making it easy to adjust the flow of air and water as we transition from high to low temperature performance, without the need to change snow gun nozzles. These new additions bring our fleet total of HKD tower guns to 1,125. Wow!

These new guns will be located in the Solitude area and other mainline trails across the mountain, which allows us to react to changing temperatures more quickly and without having to move guns around in advance that night before. Less time moving guns, more time making snow. Easy, right?

What this all really means to you is that we will be able to make more snow when it really matters, and the plan is to once-again open the season with top-to-bottom skiing and riding in mid-November.

Stay tuned here and at the Okemo Facebook page for all the latest updates and photos on this project and lots more.

Can’t wait to see you back on the mountain!

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Greetings,

I hope this finds everyone is enjoying your summer as much as we are here at Okemo.  Since closing day Okemo has been on the go getting our golf courses ready, opening up the Adventure Zone, getting ready for hosting weddings and preparing to install a new chair lift…

What was the last item mentioned you ask?  Yes we are installing a new Chairlift!!  The Northstar Detachable will be removed to make way for a brand new Leitner-Poma 6-passenger, heated seats, bubble chairlift.  This new chairlift will load and unload in the same location as the Northstar.   This new bubble chairlift will be the only one of its kind in North America. 

Work has already begun on this big project.  The first step is to take the chairs off of the cable, then the cable will be spooled up which will then allow work to begin on the tower bases on the lift line.  At the same time the return and drive stations will be removed.  The Northstar detachable will be heading over to Mount Sunapee to replace the Sun Bowl chairlift. 

This project will require many of our staff to help on the construction.  We expect to be working on this 7 days a week with an anticipated opening date of mid-December.  There will be web cams installed at the summit and base area for everyone to be able to follow the construction of the new chairlift.  You will also be able to stay in touch with what is going on by visiting the Okemo website and our Facebook page.

We are very excited to be announcing this new chairlift and more information will be forthcoming on the blog or on okemo.com at okemo.com/orange.

Let me know how we are doing.  Email at bschmidt@okemo.com.

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Wrapping Up The Season

Greetings,
I know there have been some questions about Okemos closing date and I wanted to set the record straight that Okemo will be closing for the season on Sunday April 13th.  This closing date will give Okemo a 152 day ski and ride season and a fantastic winter season.  Okemo wants to thank all of our loyal seasons pass holders for their support this past season and for many, the past years.  We also want to thank our dedicated employees for their hard work this past ski season.  From opening day on Wednesday November 13th through the end of the season, it has been great to see the support from all every day.  I’m sure there are some questions as to our closing date, so I thought I would try to answer some:

How come Okemo is not extending their closing date with all the great snow?
Okemo thought long and hard about possibly extending our closing date, but we felt that sticking to our closing date was the best decision.  The weather will undoubtedly change and while Okemo doesn’t seem to run out of snow, we do run out of guests.  We wanted to end on a high note and remember this great season, especially the month of March. 

Why didn’t Okemo consider opening on Easter weekend?
This was thought thru and decided against for similar reasons such as weather changes and lack of guests.  We also want to make it easy for our winter staff to end their job here at Okemo so they can move on to their spring and summer jobs.  Okemo has never felt that opening weekends was beneficial as the momentum of operating is lost. 

Why don’t you care about your seasons pass holders who want you to stay open?
We very much appreciate our seasons pass holders and all our guests who have skied with us this past winter.  There are decisions that need to be made in regards to operations and we feel that the great early season opening right through the strong midwinter and then a killer March has been great for our pass holders and Okemo has remained dedicated to keeping lifts and trails, such as the South Face area, open right to the end of the season where possible. 

I bought a Skiesta card and now you are closing for the ski season?
The Skiesta card was available for guests beginning Monday March 17th.  Offering 28 days of skiing was actually more than we expected when this program was decided upon last summer.  With March being very unpredictable, we were hopeful we could get to this closing date, and Mother Nature obliged. 

How does this closing date compare to other years?
The closing date of Sunday April 13 is about average for Okemo in closing for the season. The 152 day season is a little longer than average.

Okemo Valley Golf Course and Tater Hill Golf Course will be opening as soon as the weather permits.  More up to date information will be available on Okemo.com as spring begins to take hold.  The Okemo Adventure Zone will open for summer operations beginning on Memorial Day weekend with weekend operations and then going into 7 day a week operations at the end of June.
Let me know how we are doing.  Email at bschmidt@okemo.com.

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Spring has arrived...

Greetings,

Spring has arrived. Great news for all as it means warmer weather. Well at least we hope so. With Spring arriving on Thursday, there is no doubt Okemo will begin to see some better weather. There are questions on how the Okemo Spring season will go, and I will try to answer some.

Our plan will be to continue to run the bulk of our lifts midweek and almost all on weekends. Skier visits will dictate that plan. We will be shutting down the Morningstar lift beginning this coming week and will only operate the Morningstar on weekends for a few weeks. We plan to continue to operate the South Face lift as the sun gets stronger and the days longer, at least into early April.

Culinary options will wind down towards the end of March. We will continue to operate the Summit Lodge, Base Café, Sitting Bull and Round House towards the end of the season. Other Culinary operations will close towards the end of March. Our anticipated closing day for the Round House will be Sunday April 6 and our anticipated closing date for skiing is Sunday April 13.

These are great events that are going on during the Spring and lots of fun. Be sure to check out the events page on Okemo.com.

The blog will now happen more frequently. I have heard from a few of you that you have wondered were the blog posts were and I will do a better job of keeping everyone informed as to what is going on.

 Let me know how we are doing. Email at bschmidt@okemo.com.

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Making the Superpipe

 Greetings,

The month of January has brought Okemo a real up and down weather pattern.  Real cold weather, a quick mid-January thaw with some precipitation both liquid and snow and now some colder weather.  Everyone has noticed the snowmaking that has been done on the slopes, but we also have been working real hard to get our Amp Energy Superpipe up and open.  I’m so proud to say that after a lot of hard work from our Mountain Operations staff, the pipe opened on Saturday 1/18.  Okemo has the only halfpipe open in the East

The Amp Energy Superpipe measures 500 feet in length, there are 18-foot high walls and a span of 54 feet between decks. The slope angle is 16 degrees.  We did this with a depth of 14 feet of snow under the bottom of the pipe at the high end. The total amount of snow required to build the Amp Energy Superpipe was 51 acre-feet, which required more than 10 million gallons of water.  Yes that would fill a lot of swimming pools.

Putting the finishing touches on the Amp Energy Superpipe

 

This superpipe project is a huge undertaking overseen by Eb Kinney Okemos Director of Mountain Operations. Snowmaking began on December 27^th and work on the construction with the snowcats began on December 30^th.  After the first wall is built, the team cuts the vertical side with a chainsaw and it is shaped with an excavator. By doing this the process is sped up when the Zaugg pipe cutter is put into the pipe.  Between beginning snowmaking and final shaping, it took 22 days, 8 hours of excavator shaping, 140 hours of snowcat and even more man hours to get the Amp Energy Superpipe up and going. 

Many thanks to the Mountain Operations team for taking on the challenge and making it happen out on the slopes.

Let me know how we are doing.  Email at bschmidt@okemo.com

Bruce Schmidt

Okemo GM

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014

Greetings,

As 2013 closes out Okemo ends a very successful year.  Between having a very successful ski season last year, to the success of our summer operations and Golf Course operations to a very successful Christmas Holiday week that just ended, 2013 was a great year.

January 1, 2014

 

None of this would have been possible without two partners.  The first being you, our guests.  The confidence that you have in Okemo Mountain Resort as well as the support that everyone gives is tremendous.  The reason that Okemo does all that we do is for you. As fans, you are there to cheer us on when needed and boo us when it is needed.  We in turn work hard to provide the best experience possible for the best value.  Okemo guests are the best around.  We cannot say thank you enough for trust you place in Okemo Mountain Resort.

The second partner is our staff.  None of our lights would turn on or our doors unlocked if it was not for this great team of employees.  Every day each and every Okemo employee gives their best to help make the Okemo Difference. The Okemo experience is second to none and it is because of the dedicated, passionate and competent employees who have chosen to work for the Mueller Family and Okemo Mountain Resort.  The team work is so evident each and every day and the members of the 55 departments we have all pull in one direction.

 

Snowmaking is continuing as we head into January. Work on the Amp Energy Super Pipe is taking place with snowmaking going strong and some shaping on one wall beginning.  We are also going to go after the rest of the snowmaking trails that have not had snow made on them yet. This includes Easy Rider, Upper and Lower Tomahawk, Easy Street, Home Stretch, Ledges as well as Lower Fall Line, Snow Trak, Dream Weaver & Triple Sec.  We will work on these trails during the next few weeks as well as resurface on many of existing trails as needed. These snowstorms have been helpful to make for some great skiing and riding.

Here is to a Happy and Healthy New Year and 2014 for all of our guests and all of our staff.  Thank you for all that you do to make Okemo the resort to ski and ride.

Let me know how we are doing.  Email at bschmidt@okemo.com

Bruce Schmidt

Okemo GM