Greetings,
The Christmas week is upon us
with New Years almost here. All of us
here at Okemo want to thank everyone who has been spending time with us
out on the slopes and around the resort.
We are experiencing a real
winter. This is like the ones your grandmother told you about when she had to
walk to the one room school house up hill -- and who ever got there first had to
start the pot-belly stove to warm up the room!
This is great for skiing and riding and if you dress for the conditions
it can be truly enjoyable.
It is important to
communicate with our loyal guests and let you all know what we are thinking for
the future here at Okemo as well as why we do some things.
- I’ve had many people ask me about the weather event we had last week. The weather was a mixture of freezing rain, snow and then rain in the base. The Okemo staff worked hard to keep the lifts running but we just weren’t successful to keep them going all day. We take the closing of a lift very seriously but safety for our guests and our staff is our first priority. When a lift is closed we put the information up on the reader boards at the lifts and in the lodges, we also have a Mountain Update link on our web site and we post to our Twitter page. A lot happens quickly during weather events but we work hard to communicate what we know.
- There are times when the Jackson Gore lifts have issues and we have to run shuttle buses from Jackson Gore. This is never an enjoyable event for anyone. I can assure you we will be reviewing our communication. I heard from several guests that they were unaware that the Quantum Four was not running after they had ridden the Coleman Brook Express. Not a good situation and one we can improve on.
- Why are we making snow around the Black Ridge triple and Base Quad A after we have gotten over 2 feet? Okemo will remain aggressive in our snowmaking. We will continue to make snow when it is cold to keep the water flowing. Our plan is to make snow tonight so we need to keep the water flowing and some snowguns running. It is very hard, and at risk of freeze-ups, when the system is charged in temperatures like this so we continue to make snow during the day. Making on Black Out is our objective to help create the terrain park as well as build moguls for competitions and guest enjoyment. I apologize for those who were inconvenienced while riding the lifts. The snowmakers work hard to constantly adjust the snow guns, but at times we just can’t get it right.
- Our snowmaking plan is to make snow in the Superpipe, finish Hot Dog Hill & Black Out and then when we get out of this polar vortex, head towards the South Face area and make on Wild Thing, Punch Line & Dreamweaver. We will also be making on Big Bang & Triple Sec to finish things up. Some trails will be resurfaced to keep the snow texture top notch during the next week to 10 days.
The entire Okemo has worked
hard in this cold weather. From Lift
operators, Culinary staff, parking attendants, Mountain operations staff, Hotel
and Resort Services staff. They all have
contributed to make your experience here at Okemo and enjoyable vacation. While we can’t control the weather, we can
control the helpful and friendliness we provide.
Thank you for your support of
Okemo and on behalf of the entire Okemo team, we want to wish you a very Happy
New Year!
Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM
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