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100 for the Holidays

In the ski business, the week leading up to Christmas is always a BIG week. The Christmas holiday up until the start of the New Year is typically the busiest time of the season, meaning we need to be ramped up and ready to provide the best possible experience for those who choose to spend their holiday with us. That's what this week is all about, getting ready to rock. Here's what we've got going on:

More Snowmaking

Having as much open terrain as possible during the holiday week is our mission each season. A mission we started work on as soon as the resort purchase was finalized this fall. The team continues a strong snowmaking run as I write, with operations at Black River Basin scheduled to wrap up tomorrow morning (12/20/2022). We'll aim to get all the guns pulled off the mountain to make room for the cats to push out Cameron's Spur and build some features on Family X and Just Cuz.  Once they're done we'll sit back and let mother nature work her magic leading into the weekend (more on that in a bit). By the time we open up again at the Basin it's looking like we'll be rocking 100% of the terrain there. 

Guns lined up on Nimbus - 12/19/2022

Things at Jackson Creek are coming along nicely as well. We had a great session on Nimbus (Winnebago) and Borealis (Leelinaw) over the past 24 hours. So good that the crew is currently stripping guns from Borealis and moving onto FIS. FIS is our second race run, so it is a big step to be getting onto this terrain before the holidays. With a couple cold nights ahead, I think we'll be able to wrap it up by Thursday or Friday. 

Today we also staged a few guns over in Bear Creek to lay some snow down over the most persistent wet spots and wind scoured areas on that side of the mountain. When the day crew gets in tomorrow, getting those guns running will be at the top of their list. The game of chess is not quite finished at The Summit, but the end is in sight. With a bit of luck and mother nature on our side this weekend is shaping up to be top notch.

More Lake Effect



The lake effect snow machine is ramping up to full power and setting it's sights right for Snowriver. Opensnow has nearly doubled their prediction for snowfall totals since yesterday with over three feet of new snow predicted to fall by the end of the week. I've even seem some Facebook rumors out there of up to 52" of snow being predicted between now and Sunday night. Not sure how much stock I'd put in those numbers, but I wouldn't mind being surprised! No matter which forecast you look at it'll be a storm you won't want to miss. By the end of the weekend I expect to be bumping our season-to-date snow total over 100". Not a bad gift to wake up to on Christmas Morning!

More Lifts

With all this snow we've been making and all the snow we'll be getting, it's time to talk lifts. First of all it takes an army of people to operate all of the lifts we have at Snowriver. 26 people in fact just to operate all the lifts for a single day. Our lift operations manager Eric has spent the last month or so recruiting, hiring and training over 30 lift operators to be ready to meet the task. Starting this Friday we're shooting to run as many lifts as we can every day of the holiday period. We'll add the Cloudfront Double first, followed by the Bear Creek Double by Friday. Then if mother nature holds up her end of the deal, we'll be looking to add the East & West T-bars to the mix for the weekend to serve up some primo powder stashes. If you take one thing away from this ramble, let it be this, "Every lift we can run, and every run we can ski, will be open, as soon as can be." 

See you on the slopes!

Benjamin


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