Merry Christmas!

Was Santa good to you? I certainly got what I asked for - a white Christmas with great skiing and riding! Of course the new digital camera, the sweater, the mittens and CDs I wanted weren't bad either. Thank you, Santa Claus.

I guess I should thank him in person, since he's here at Okemo right now. That fat dude is like the EverReady Bunny - he just keeps going. After a round-the-world-trip of delivering presents and sliding up and down chimneys all night, he made a point of coming back to Okemo this morning to take a few runs and to hand out some sweet treats to his friends on the slopes. He doesn't look any worse for wear and his "ho ho ho" is as sincere as these winter nights are long.

Okemo Videographer captured some footage of Santa during his pre-flight visit to Okemo Saturday night. Check out the video online and have a very merry Christmas. Cheers!

Definitely a White Christmas

The doom and gloom of yesterday's weather forecast was much worse than what actually happened. I heard one forecaster predict we would receive so much rain, it would turn all the snow into frozen cement that would last all winter long. In keeping with the theme of the season, I say bah humbug to that! Okemo survived the drizzle beautifully and the only real problem was the wind that affected lift service to upper elevations yesterday afternoon.

The latest forecast is for a dusting of snow later today and tonight. Won't that make it feel like a real Vermont Christmas? I can practically hear the sleigh bells now!

Santa Claus paid us a pre-Christmas visit on Saturday evening, to the delight of all the children visiting Okemo's Jackson Gore Inn. That jolly old elf arrived by snow groomer (rumor has it he was out taking a test-flight with the reindeer and parked his sleigh at the summit) to the cheers of hundreds. After a snack of milk and cookies and a session of last-minute gift requests, Santa headed for the Ice House, Okemo's new skating rink. What a treat it is to have that fully operational in time for the holidays this year. You may still catch a glimpse of Santa on ice at our photo-of-the-day page. After making a few pirouettes, he made a mad dash for the summit with a fist full of carrots for his patient team of reindeer. And I heard him exclaim as he dashed out of sight, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Cheers.

Winter Winds Are Blowing

Into each life a little wind must blow. Okay, so that may not be exactly how the saying goes but that's the best description for what's going on at Okemo today. High winds at upper elevations have forced us to cease operations of our upper-mountain lifts this afternoon. We apologize for any inconvenience but your safety is our primary concern.

Besides, didn't you have some shopping you wanted to do for that special blogger in your life (hint hint)?

Cheers!

Superpipe Opens!

A few updates and reports to pass along to all you Terrain Park adventurers:

Today marks the official grand opening of the SoBe Super Pipe!! If you’re ready for the big air, Okemo is the place to be! We’re the FIRST IN THE EAST to open our Super Pipe for the second year in a row!!

From Ross Powers, Olympic Gold Medalist and Okemo Snowboard Ambassador...

"The pipe opened today which was great. Not only did Okemo have the first pipe in the east, it was in great shape. It was the best East coast opening day pipe I can remember."

And from Dennis Brady, Parks & Pipes Manager...

We still have a flat box, barrel jib, 20ft. jump, down rail, and a C-box on sapphire. Ride them while they last. They will be taken down soon. Apparently there is a high demand to free ski/ride Sapphire trail.

We just finished the first part of the build on lower Nor Easter. A big thanks to Jeremy, Marty, Bill, and My main man Jonny B. Thanks for all your hard work and long hours.

Look for a park tour of Nor'easter with photos in our Parks & Pipes section very soon! (The guys are out taking photos this morning!)

Making my Job Easy!

I'd like to formally and publicly thank Mother Nature for the weather the past six weeks. As one of two Snow Reporters here, my job has been both easy and fun thanks to the seemingly endless string of good weather we've been experiencing. It's actually a ton of fun to let everyone know we just received six, eight, ten or more inches of new snow, or to announce we're opening more terrain, or even to spread the buzz about the impending opening of the SoBe Superpipe!

I've been skiing and snowboarding at Okemo since I was 12, and I can only remember one December that was anywhere near as good as this one has been so far. With the 10+ inches of new snow we have so far from today's storm, we're going to be close to 100% open in a New York minute. Not only is it fun to report we have that much terrain open, it's also going to be fun to ski and ride that much open terrain!

So thanks, Mother Nature. You've been doing a great job...keep up the good work!

"There's Room at the Inn"

Do yourself a favor and book a room for tonight. Enjoy great skiing all day today, and hunker down for tomorrow's festivities! We're looking at predictions of 14-20". YAHOOOOOOOOO! Powder Day! You don't want to miss that do you?

Call: 1-800-78-OKEMO!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Ridiculously Good!

The Ski Guru hit the slopes of Okemo this past weekend and reports "the quality of the snow surfaces and the amount of open terrain was so So SO...impressive." Get his whole report on the Ski Guru Blog.