Greetings,
We are at the midway point of the month of March and have
received, on average, around 140” of snow to date and about 60” for the month
of March … it doesn’t get any better
than this! After the third nor’easter, some might say “uncle,” but I would say
call your “uncle, and get him up here for some skiing and riding!
We anticipate maintaining our full trail count for a while,
looking at the long range weather. The lift count will fluctuate in the 9-12
range midweek, and 20 for the weekends, with potential adjustments being done
later in the month. Snowmaking by machine has ended for the season. The
snowmakers and groomers did a great job getting us up and going and taking care
of the many weather events we have had. Mother Nature took over for March and
they didn’t need to fire up the guns.
As many of you heard, Okemo announced a partnership with
Vail Resorts to begin a long-term alliance beginning next winter, to be part of
the Epic Pass. Pass holders who purchase Epic, Epic
Local and Epic Australia will receive seven days of skiing and snowboarding
with no blackout dates at each of our three resorts: Okemo, Mount Sunapee and
Crested Butte. Epic 7-Day pass holders can use any, or all seven, of their
total days, and Epic 4-Day pass holders can use any, or all four, of their
total days of skiing and snowboarding with no blackout dates at the three
resorts. Guest can then purchase
tickets at a 50% off rate for the duration of the season. Okemo Gold, Ultimate & Classic pass holders
will be able to purchase 50% off single day tickets at the Vail Resort Ski
Areas. We are excited about this alliance and look forward to having Epic Pass
skiers and riders experiencing Okemo.
Okemo is hosting its annual Sugar Daze concert on St
Patrick’s Day this coming Saturday, March 17. The featured band is Blues
Traveler. This event should be fun with nice weather forecasted, although a
coat may be needed. Music begins at 3:30 with Braiden Sunshine & Jake
Kulak; at 5pm Pete Kilpatrick Band; and at 7pm Blues Traveler to finish out the
evening.
Okemo is committed to staying as close to full operations as
we can as we head towards the end of March and Easter weekend. There will, no
doubt, be some adjustments of services, but our goal is to make the least of an
impact to our guests as is possible. There will be operations changes because
of weather and we will do our best to let you know of these before you begin
your ski day. Once Easter rolls around, we will be looking at more significant
adjustments to operations and services – at least midweek. I get asked daily what
our closing day will be, and at this point our plan is to close on Sunday April
15* As always the * (asterisk) means weather-dependent.
Bruce Schmidt
Vice-President &
General Manager
Okemo Mountain Resort
