Deck the Bus with Boards of Holly (title © Gravity Hound)

Wow, it's been a while since the last post in here. I guess everyone (including myself) has been a little preoccupied with all the great skiing and riding we've had lately and all the events happening. With today's little coating on top of the 4-6'' from yesterday, Okemo is prime right now and looking great going into the holidays.

Last weekend, we unveiled the new Pepsi Amp Bus at the base of Nor'Easter. It's amazing that what began as someone's delusional nightmare is now a feature in our SoBe Superpark, but I guess that's innovation for ya. I've gotta hand it to them though, they did a great job with it and now it looks all dreamy sitting there burried in the snow.


Speaking of being burried in the snow, have you seen the weather forecast lately?! Al Roker and friends have us expecting several inches of snow tomorrow (Friday) with a chance of snow almost every day after that. A coworker and I were just saying the other day that we could't wait until you know what was out of the question. Well, I think we made it to that point! Winter is definitely here! Happy Holidays everyone!

10 Days: It's a love hate thing

It’s funny how excited I am about next week’s weather forecast and it doesn’t even include a hurricane or a major snowstorm. As an avid surfer and snowboarder, the weather has become a regular friend and foe in my daily life and plays a pretty big role in deciding what I’ll be doing with my time. I always tell myself not to trust any weather forecasts beyond four days, but when the Weather Channel’s magical 10-day forecast is exactly what I want to see, as if I am Father Nature myself, I forget all about the numerous letdowns of past forecasts and put complete faith in it. I don’t recommend the Weather Channel as the most accurate weather source, and I’m not saying it’s bad either, but when it comes to providing fantasy forecasts they’re like J.K. Rowling. In my opinion, the 10 day forecast borders on scientific storytelling, but maybe less and less with new technology. When the call was made yesterday to delay our opening day by one week, I cried and cried like a little baby, and then I tuned to weatherchannel.com and it was as if someone had given me a giant lollipop and a sang me a lullaby—all was well in my little snowboard-obsessed world.

The thing is, the extended forecast for next week looks so promising, that even if it's wrong it will still be good. Right now we’re looking at high temperatures in the lower 30s next week, which means mountain temps will be in the high 20s during the daytime. All of this results in snowmaking coming out of our ears during the days leading up to our opening day on November 22. Might I add opening day is expected to be sunny and around 30 degrees, as if things could be any better.

Adding to yesterday’s turn of events, we took a little trip out to the work site of our new SoBe bus. It’s coming along nicely and should be ready to go in a few weeks. The wallride portion of the bus will be covered in clear plastic, so you’ll actually be able to see the look on the bus driver’s face while you do things that would normally get you weeks of detention. Alright, there won’t actually be a bus driver inside, but there may be a DJ. Bottom line, there’s a million and one ways to jib this thing, so start planning your attack now. In between sessions of brain shredding the new SoBe bus, I’ll be looking at the extended forecast a few hundred more times. Have I mentioned it's good?