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
