200 Snow Guns - wow!

From Barry, VP of Okemo Mountain Operations:

Our core philosophy of always being ready paid off last Saturday night. The temps that were predicted were nothing great, however they did drop considerably more throughout the night. We were able to light approximately 200 snow guns and reached a maximum pumping rate of 8,000 GPM. The majority of the snow that we opened with yesterday was made in a 12 hour period!

Ray Kennedy (Snowmaking Manager) and his crew never missed a minute of opportunity.

We had snowmaking temps on the upper 25% of the mountain starting around 2 AM this morning. They are predicted to hold during the day with a potential inversion throughout the evening. If that happens we are going to push very hard to reach the base area tonight. In fact, Ray and his men are reconfiguring the snow gun placements to take maximum advantage of the brief time frame that we are going to be working with.

It all comes down to using the proper snow gun for the temps and time frame that we are dealing with in this "early season game".

On the grooming side of the house...

On the fly grooming has been the status quo for our first few days. On opening day we regroomed due to "shrinkage" during the night. Some of the warm weather had left pock marks and we felt another grooming would improve things dramatically. This morning we again chose to regroom just before opening, but this time for the opposite reason. Temperatures had dropped considerably and we didn't want the surface too firm. At this point, we'll see what tomorrow brings!

Snowmaking resumes!

The temps we have been waiting for finally arrived last night! Our snowmaking team fired up the guns on some lower sections of the mountain around 10:00pm Thursday night and continued this morning firing up the guns on World Cup around 2:00am.

Your loyal snow reporters, Sarah and Pete, along with our new videographer Chuck, took a morning trek up to the summit to see the action and watch a breathtaking sunrise over the Village of Ludlow. The forecast looking into the weekend should make for more 'making, so keep your fingers crossed that the temps stay low, do your snow dance, whatever! Just think snow, snow, SNOW!

Good temps to come

At last it seems that Mother Nature wants to play ball! The weather outlook, while wet and warm the last few days, is starting to look up, or cold to be more precise. Barry and the boys of Mountain Ops have checked, double checked, and readied all the equipment to turn out a fabulous season; starting tonight it is looking like they can begin doing exactly that!

Over the next few nights we are expecting to get temperatures that will allow for aggressive snowmaking and bring us one step closer to getting on the slopes ASAP! "It would seem that our next chance to open will probably be around the middle of next week," says Vice-President and General Manager, Bruce Schmidt. "If we can get open before Thanksgiving we no doubt will be trying!"

Stay tuned to the snow report for weather updates, and this blog for snowmaking progress as we head into the weekend.

Think cold and think snow!

Profile: The Beast!

We are proud to introduce a major player of our grooming team!

Hometown: Sterzing, Italy
Engine: 6 Cylinder Turbo Diesel
Height: 10' 3 7/8"
Weight: 25,460 lb
Siblings: BR350
Claim to fame: 40% wider and more powerful than little brother
Special Skills: Laying down smooth courderoy
Favorite Food: Diesel!
Hobbies: Playing in the snow, nighttime strolls up the mountain, and knitting.

The Beast is super excited for the upcoming season and urges everyone to "think snow"!

News from the frontline

Barry Tucker, VP of Mountain Ops shares his thoughts on the state of the mountain...

Q: Any snowmaking in the forecast?

A: The overall trends in the weather for the next few days do not look any better than the last week. However, Ray and crew have had a great opportunity to fine tune the system and stage for a real aggressive program when the temps happen.

Q: What is the crew up to in the meantime?

A: We have been putting a lot of effort into finishing our mountain coaster - The Timber Ripper. It's a much larger project than we originally planned, but that's OK! We have one of Wiegand's top installers on the job to guide us and help coordinate our efforts. If there is anything our Mountain Ops team likes, it is a real challenge and this is one of them. The finished product will be worth the effort. It is going to be one of the premier coaster rides in the country, if not #1 and the natural topography the coaster is located on is very unique, providing quite a ride!

An update from the hill

Today's Update from Barry Tucker, VP of Mountain Operations:

The current forecast does not show much for good snowmaking in the near future. (Last night's temperature inversion stopped us around 10 pm.) However our philosophy here at Okemo is not to put too much faith into any forecast, the key is just to "be ready" - because if the forecasters are wrong and the temps drop, we need to be ready to move.

One advantage of running into some of the more marginal temperatures early season is that you have an opportunity to test your equipment, as well as train your new staff. So when the temps come in we are ready to run at maximum potential which is 9200 Gallons, Per, Minute -- and then everyone is running!

It’s all about taking maximum advantage of the brief periods of cold temperatures that we have early season in Vermont.

Think cold, and think snow!

Snowmaking On!

Okemo fired up the snowguns last night around 7:45pm and continued to blow snow all night long.

According to Bruce Schmidt, Okemo's General Manager..."Okemo had a very good night of snowmaking. Snow was made in the summit area, on Countdown and about halfway down Upper World Cup. The plan is to continue to make snow aggressively as temperatures permit."

And, with temperatures projected in the teens tonight we'll resume on Countdown and the summit, and continue onto Buckhorn, Sapphire, and potentially Jolly Green Giant. "If you can envision a line across the center of the mountain where temperatures are cold enough," he shares, "we'll move from the summit down each trail just about as close as we can get to that line."

Looking ahead to the next few nights, Wednesday and Thursday night offer a chance of 1-2" of natural snow, followed by slightly moderating temperatures toward the end of the week, but colder again into weekend. We are moving water, trying to cool it down as much as we can, checking the pumps and compressors and working out any bugs... things looked good for night #1 and we are working towards opening day.

more photos and video available on facebook