Almost Time for a Magic Carpet Ride

Fresh off the boat from Europe, it’s hard to imagine why this bright orange container would get stuck at Customs, but at last the final pieces of our new loading and unloading carpets for the South Ridge Quad B have made their way to the mountain. Our operations crew is hard at work putting the jigsaw puzzle together and assembling the carpets so they’ll be ready just in time to shoot you onto the lift like you’re a piece of produce at the grocery store. Whether you’re a delicate little tomato who’s just getting acquainted with the whole skiing or snowboarding thing or a hot shot jalapeno, the carpet will take you to the top of the lift with ease and efficiency.

All vegetable metaphors aside, this technology is the hottest thing to hit the slopes since ‘80s day-glo, and it’s European, so you know it’s good. The buzz has reached as far as my home state of New Jersey, where we especially love all things imported from Europe, like pizza and french fries.

If you haven’t noticed, we’re goin’ bananas here at the mountain in anticipation of opening day and we hope you are too. We'll have to wait a little while until we have snow at the base to ride the new rugs, but the upper part of the mountain is set to open November 15. We're all really anxious to get our magic genie on, but please do not try to ride your grocery store’s checkout counter. Trust me, it won’t be the same.

Afternoon Update:

The cement void beneath our South Ridge Quad B has been filled with the frame for our new loading carpet this afternoon. Next, our mountain operations staff will mount the rubbery tread on the frame, plug it in, and scour the resort to find a willing test pilot. Weeeeee!

You can see a teaser vid of the loading and unloading carpets in action here. Enjoy.

May I climb? Climb away!

There are times at Okemo when the multitude of activities slow for a few short weeks. Yes, the golf course is still open, yes there is snow at the top of the mountain, yes the Spring House fitness facility at Jackson Gore calls my name every time I loosen my belt, but occasionally I want a totally different activity. That's when it is great to be at the center of it all. Just a short drive up Rt 103 and you're in Rutland Vermont, home of the Green Mountain Rock Climbing Center. With the days a bit shorter now and no time to play 9 holes of golf after work we're forced to find alternatives. Last night I was coaxed into indoor rock climbing. Now I don't exactly have the body of a rock climber (more the body of a sturdy belay base), but I'm always up for something new.

For a little more the $20 I got a lesson in rock climbing safety, and 2 hours of climbing (you can climb all day if you want, we just went from 6pm until they closed at 8pm). After two hours I was ready to plant my feet on the ground for a while. Having never climbed before I was surprised at the relative ease of the sport - until we started taking 'routes'.

There are a lot of rocks on the walls all around you, and if you just climb up using whatever is close it's really not that hard. We then started taking routes up. Rocks marked with various colors of tape (for different difficulty levels). The object being that you can only use, for instance, a rock with a red mark next to it. Let me tell you, that adds a lot of difficulty to the sport. With a little team work and a lot of trust in each other we were able to make it up MOST of the routes we tried. What's going to keep me coming back? We made it up MOST of the routes we tried, and the hardest route we tried was level 2 of the 8 or so levels they offer.

So, when you visit Okemo this winter and you're looking for some Apres Ski activity for the kids, head up to Rutland for the Green Mountain Rock Climbing Center - I'm sure you'll have a great time working together to get to the top. Remember, when you get up, tap your head on the ceiling - the mark of success.

Ready to climb - Ready to belay - May I climb? - Climb away!

Put Yer Dukes Up Fall

We all make mistakes, and so it turns out I was wrong when I said Halloween marked the end of warm weather. The forecast for this week is far from wintry, but with every last warm day I know it’s only a matter of time until they’re a thing of the past and it’s all-out wintertime. Our thermometers have been shooting up and down like those strong man games at carnivals guys hit with the giant sledgehammer to win their girlfriends cheap stuffed animals, and it appears that the battle is on. Fall and winter are in a game of tug of war, and I think we all know who’s going to come out the victor.

With Okemo’s state-of-the-art snowmaking equipment and our team of snowgun slingin’ outlaws, I highly doubt fall will rear its rain-favorin’ head around here for much longer. Our guys got the snowmaking underway this weekend up on Buckhorn and Countdown, but they’ve had to holster their snowguns for just a little bit until the temps dip back down. I took a trip up earlier to check out their handiwork and couldn’t help but let out a big yeehaw!

Snowy Sunday @ Okemo

It's a great day at Okemo! The sky is blue, the temperatures are cold, and the snow is flying!

In fact, we officially kicked off the 08/09 season last night, when our Snow Pros took to the mountain and began covering the mountain in a beautiful blanket of white! Snowmaking commenced around 6pm and will continue throughout the day today. Snowmakers concentrated on covering the area around the summit with a eye toward covering Buckhorn, Count Down and Upper World Cup.

Opening day is planned for Saturday, November 15th - just under two weeeks away!

Get your skis and boards ready - it's going to be a FANTASTIC season.

Snowmaking Begins!

Spooktacular news for Halloween - Okemo is going to start making snow this weekend! Opening day is a mere 15 days away. How's that for a treat!?

Stay tuned to our snow report for all the latest.

The Farmer's Almanac Says...

Well folks, I know it’s only October but get ready to break out those flannels and long johns, and keep your boots and shovels nearby because according to the 2008 Farmer’s Almanac, this winter is going to be a harsh one for the east. I use the word “harsh” cautiously because I came to the realization the other day, when talking with a friend, how very different the winter mindset is amongst skiers/riders versus people who do not like to participate in winter sports. When conversing with her I brought up how excited I was about the winter to come and getting back out on the slopes again, and proceeded to mention how awesome this season is expected to be according to the Farmer’s Almanac (I really don’t know where this “farmer” information comes from but I’ve come to know it to be surprisingly accurate). Anyways, to this comment she quickly responded by saying, “Really, I heard it was supposed to be a horrible winter!” Puzzled, I looked at her for a second and then said, “Wait a minute…what do you mean a horrible winter?” To which she responded, “Like really cold and snowy.”

I laughed, and at that moment realized just how different the skier/snowboarder mentality is from those “others”, and then rejoiced in the fact that my information had been confirmed. So get excited folks, because whether or not you’ve heard it’s going to be an awesome or dreadful winter, it’s official that we are (according to the Farmers) in store for a cold and awesomely snowy season to come. Whether you are a skier/snowboarder or a hater of the winter season, get out those layers and thick socks. And if you do happen to be one of those winter-haters, stop sulking over cold weather, bundle up, and get your butts out on the slopes to have some fun! You can be sure that us skiers and boarders won’t be staying in and pouting over the “horrible” weather. We will be riding and enjoying this sweetness all winter long! Get ready…snow is coming!

The Season's First Tracks

If faced with the ultimatum of choosing either oxygen or snowboarding, I think our events guys, Jeff, would choose snowboarding. And if faced with the choice of not snowboarding another day or snowboarding on a few inches of snow with mud and rocks in the mix, he’d strap in and throw a rocky, muddy blast of snow in your general direction. This guy is so amped up for the season to start it’s contagious, and I really wish I had taken his word for it when he told me yesterday that he was riding this morning.

We loaded into the Okemobile and gunned it for the summit this morning. At the top, I stood and watched in a frozen stupor as Jeff laced up, strapped in, and rode down the mountain until he disappeared from sight. Then I turned to my snow reporting colleague, Sara, and asked, “Did Jeff give you the car keys?” Only one person can claim first tracks each year on the mountain, and only a few can say they’ve ridden in October. Jeff added both notches to his snowboarding belt this morning, and officially rang in the start to another great winter of skiing and riding at Okemo.