Makin' it Happen

Greetings,

These past few days have seen some different types of skiing no doubt. The old adage of we can’t catch a break is having some true meaning this year. Snowmaking has been continuing aggressively when the temperatures permit. The Okemo snowmakers have been on almost every trail that was opened during the wet weather and resurfaced it with new snow. The skiing was better no doubt on Thursday than it was on Wednesday.

Grooming has been working non-stop to keep up with the snowmaking that is being done. The cats were working on Stump Jumper during the day (Thursday) to get the trail opened in the afternoon. The guys have also been putting in some extra time doing the mid-day groom. There have been positive comments on the mid-day grooming. This is a real commitment from Okemo Mountain to our guests to try and keep the conditions a little better during the ski day.

There have been some questions on the completion of the lodging trails. These ski in/ski out trails are important and we realize that it has been a challenge for some homeowners and guests with not having this direct access. Our plan continues to be to put snow on these trails as soon as possible. Some of the guns we have been using in the South Face area will be moved into some of these lodging trails.

The snowmaking plan for the next few days will be to make snow on Upper and Lower Chief, Sachem, Heaven’s Gate, Exhibition, Boomerang, Moon Shadow, and then head towards Quantum Leap and Vortex next week. The long range forecast is for good snowmaking temperatures during the first week of 2012

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and thank you for skiing and riding with us during this holiday week and the ski season. Remember Okemo has the "MOST" skiing in Vermont and we’ve got the most snow.

Happy Holidays and see you on the slopes...


Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

MOST Snow

Greetings,

I wrote an apology letter to Old
Man winter. I expressed my sincere apologies for all the bad things I have said
about him through my life. The letter
came back as undeliverable! Now that is
concerning…. So back to reality. Okemo has the MOST snow around and we are
proud of it. Heck, even the Abominable
snowman has taken residence at Okemo because we have the snow!

Snowmaking is continuing to be
aggressive. We have been able to open 46
trails which is over 17 miles of ski and ride able terrain. 16 lifts are operating on several mountain
areas. Our plan will be to make snow on
terrain such as Stump Jumper, Vortex, Quantum Leap, Kettle Brook, Chute, and
Lower Chief as well as on existing terrain.
We are well aware of the need to resurface on some of the more popular
trails with snowmaking to keep the skiing and riding up to par. Although there may be some time of no
snowmaking during the next 24 hours or so, once snowmaking resumes on
Wednesday, we are optimistic of having open 50 – 52 trails by the New Year’s
weekend.

Our experiment with mid-day
grooming has been working out well. In
case you don’t know, Okemo has been taking the groomers out around noon and
grooming a few trails to enhance the surface.
This is an effort to make the experience of skiing at Okemo better
during this holiday week.

Work will continue as quickly as
possible on the ski in/ski out trails. There
is no one set of trails more important than the other. We have discussed how we
can best utilize our snowmaking system, length of trail; air capacity and time
of getting snow on the trails as we make decisions on were to make snow.

As the New Year approaches, I wanted to wish everyone a
Happy New Year and thank you for skiing and riding with us during this holiday
week and the ski season. Remember Okemo
has the “MOST” skiing in Vermont and we’ve got the most snow

Happy Holidays and see you on
the slopes……….


Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Twas' the Days before Christmas

Season’s Greetings,

They say things run in cycles, so if that is true, then this is the 5 year cycle for a slow beginning of the ski season. December of 2006 saw a slow start but Okemo did what we are known for. Made and groomed the snow!! On 12/21/2006, Okemo had 34 trails and 8 lifts. Fast forward to 2011 and we have 37 trails and 9 lifts. Now that is progress!!

Here is where things stand today and looking into the "Crystal Ball" as the holiday week approaches.

--Snowmaking will return today and be getting into full swing by around noon. Our 24-36 hour plan will be to head towards Sidewinder, Wardance, Sachem & Quantum Leap. We are also planning on finishing Sapphire and some other base area slopes. We will be working on beginner teaching areas and trying to spread out the skiers.

--The expectation is that we will have 45 - 50 plus trails during the Christmas holiday week and expect to be operating around 16 lifts.

--The tubing lanes will not be open by Christmas. We are hopeful to have them open sometime after Christmas.

--The Timber Ripper is now open on its winter schedule.

--The Ice House ice rink is freezing well and we are planning to open the day after Christmas.

--The Superpipe will not be opening before the first of the year.

--The Nor’easter Terrain Park will not be opening before the first of the year.

--While it does look like the forecasted snowstorm for Christmas Eve is now going south of us, it is important to remember that the long range weather forecast as we head into the Christmas holidays is for seasonable temperatures and partly to mostly sunny skies most of the days. That is good weather for skiing and riding!

--Our lift ticket pricing will remain the same through Friday. We will be reviewing pricing for the weekend and for the upcoming holiday week. Please call ahead if you have questions on what our day ticket pricing will be.

Okemo is well known for our snowmaking and grooming and I want to assure you that we are doing all we can to cover our ski trails with snow to make for an enjoyable holiday week for you and your families.

The question that I get the most is when will my "slope side trail be covered with snow"? I am here to assure you that we are working towards getting those trails open for skiing and riding as soon as we can. There is no one set of trails more important than the other. We have discussed how we can best utilize our snowmaking system, length of trails, air capacity and time of getting snow on the trails as we make decisions on all trails, but especially the ski in/ski out trails.

Thank you very much for your support and patience during this challenging season. The good news is that the staff here at Okemo is optimistic about a great ski season. There are still some "rooms at the Inn or condos", but they are filling up quick.

Happy Holidays and see you on the slopes!

Yours in Skiing,

Bruce Schmidt
Okemo GM

Outlook on the Holiday Week

I can hear the noise………..sounds like the snow guns are blasting away.  The snowmakers got some time off this week and now it looks like some cold weather is on the way.  It is probably easier for me to list out what we are planning:

• Snowmaking Friday night is going to concentrate on some resurfacing of existing terrain, and also head towards some new terrain. Depending on the temperatures, this may include Sunburst, Escape, Mountain Road, Coleman Brook, Rimrock, and the rest of Count Down, Sprint, Moments rest and perhaps others.  We will plan to run as many guns as we can and have water for.
• Galaxy Bowl in the Clock Tower base will be worked on this weekend as well as widening the beginner areas in the base.
• Jackson Gore continues to be a goal of ours for the middle of next week. We remain confident we can get there.
• This weekend the plan is to have 5 lifts and 15 trails.
• Looking out towards Christmas, the estimate for trails is that we anticipate expanding our terrain to between 25 – 30 trails for around Christmas and we are hopeful that this number increases up to 40 during Christmas week.  Obviously there is a lot that has to come together for this to happen, but we are optimistic.
• Right now we have open 6.3 miles of terrain or 88 acres.
• Many people are inquiring about the ski in/ski out trails. They are a priority for us and we understand their importance. We will be heading towards many of them as we can prior to Christmas.
• The Sugar house lodge will be opening on Saturday with the cafeteria opening.  Smokey Joe’s and Carvers will be open during the mid-week.
• Snowmaking will be on-going during the day and it is quite likely that there will be some skiing under the snow guns.

They say patience is a virtue and we all need that right now.  The good news is that the staff here at Okemo is optimistic about a great ski season and ready to provide the Okemo Difference for all our skiers and riders. There are still some “rooms at the Inn or condos”, but they are filling up quick.  Also, check out the new Sno-Cat excursions that are happening as well as 4 limited seating dates during the season for the Sno-Cat dinners.

Happy Holidays and see you on the slopes……….

Bruce Schmidt

Okemo GM

Winter Shall Prevail - guaranteed!

Rumor #1. There will be no winter. FALSE: Winter will arrive at some point. Guaranteed. It is just a little late.

Rumor #2. Christmas is being moved to January 25th to account for Winter being late. FALSE.

So there you have it. Winter will arrive and so will Christmas, although Winter may be a little off schedule!!!

I gathered my team this morning. Using the combined wisdom of Ray (Snowmaking Manager), Barry (VP of Mountain Operations), Eb (Mountain Manager) and myself-- here is the very latest:

• Jackson Gore will not open this weekend. The earliest prediction is middle of next week. Sunburst, Escape and Mountain Road all have a good start on them (with snow).  Snowmaking on Jackson Gore trails will commence tonight.


• And when that cold air settles in… things will go very quickly.


• Solitude lift and trails, including epic restaurant will not open this weekend. Earliest prediction is towards the end of next week.


• The Sugar House will open this weekend.


• The Superpipe will not be open for the Christmas Holidays.


• We will get as many of the slope side lodging trails open as quickly as we can. We all understand and realize their importance, especially to those who have homes located in these areas.


• The galaxy bowl will be worked on beginning Friday – guns are already locked and loaded in that area.


• Wardance is important for racing and all of us would like to have them on their own trail. That will be one of our mid-mountain objectives beginning next week.


• There is a desire to get one of the larger trails off of the summit open. It will most likely be Upper Chief.


• It is highly unlikely that we will have the Nor’easter Terrain Park open. Our plan will be to have some features, rails and other items on different trails if the park is not open. There will be gated entrances to these areas.


• Snowmaking will continue around the free learning carpets in both base areas as we head into the Christmas week.

The weather has surely been chasing us up to higher elevations for snowmaking. The bottom line is that we just make snow where it is the coldest… and we can achieve the best production. 

Christmas week is just 10 days away, and the excitement is building.  Despite the weather not being great, reports from our guests on the hill are very positive. Hope you have plans to join us!  (And if you don’t, lodging tells me there are still a few openings here and there, but not many.)

Bruce Schmidt

Vice-President & General Manager

Okemo Mountain Resort

Snowmaking, Choices and Thanks

Cold weather returned last night. The snowguns were blasting on the upper mountain as well as some terrain on the lower mountain. Choices had to be made last night, so it was decided that we would concentrate on the upper terrain, Lower World Cup and a few guns in the base area to make sure that we kept the conditions on the existing terrain the best. We also wanted to be sure to be able to give some other skiing and riding options off of the summit. While it is not ideal to access the mountain off of the F-10 carpet and Sachem, at least we are not running shuttle buses.

We realize that Saturday was a busy day. There is so much pent up demand to get skiing. In hindsight, we should have made sure that the entire length of Upper World Cup was open and not sent skiers and riders over to Drop Off. There were a few things that forced this to happen, but we learned to do all we can to not have that happen again.

Okemo also was not giving any reduced rates for ski racing teams. It became evident that ski teams were purchasing full rate tickets in order to get on the slopes. I want to thank our ski patrol, safety ambassadors and other staff for working hard to stay on top of any issues and also thanks to our guests for their patience as Okemo adds more terrain and works hard to get the ski and ride season going.

Bruce Schmidt
General Manager

Top-to-bottom Skiing & Riding!

Good morning,

Interesting night of snowmaking for Friday night 12/11 into Saturday. Temperatures did not get as cold as was forecasted, so snowmaking was concentrated on the upper mountain trails. Wet Bulb at 3am at Mid Mountain was only 27. That was on the high end of the forecasted temperatures. The good news is that we are going to be able to open up trails so we have skiing top to bottom. Today we are going to open Link, Lower World Cup and Fairway. Guests will ride the F-10 carpet to the Sachem quad and then either take the Glades Peak to the summit or ski down to the base of the Northstar Express. There will be no downloading and no shuttle buses. Guest can ski right back to the base lodge. Due to the warmer than forecasted temperatures, we will plan to open on Sunday the base quads and lower mountain road, Green Ridge Triple lift and Jolly Green Giant and Double Dipper. The F-10 carpet will remain open, but not the Sachem quad, on Sunday.

Saturday nights temperatures look colder which will be a good start as we head into the final two weeks before Christmas. More terrain will be added as we head into next week. Temps look good into next week. Our goal is to head into Jackson Gore as quickly as possible as well as head towards other priorities such as Wardance and the lodging trails. We will keep everyone informed as things change.

Happy Holidays

Bruce Schmidt
Vice-President & General Manager
Okemo Mountain Resort