Skip to main content

Spring at Snowriver

It is officially spring at Snowriver, but while the calendar calls for spring we still have TONS of snow on the mountain. After a few additional feet over the past week, we've now crossed the 200" mark for this season. This is just about two feet more than our annual average for snowfall. This means we'll have great spring skiing conditions right up through the end of the season. 


Our plan remains to close down the Jackson Creek Summit side after April 2nd. This early closure will allow us to begin the removal of the Original Double to make way for construction of the new Voyageur Express which is slated to begin May 1st. Over at Black River Basin, we plan to keep things rolling through Easter Sunday. We'll run the lifts from Friday the 7th through Sunday the 9th from 9am-4pm to finish off the season. If conditions and skier demand support reopening for a bonus weekend, we may reopen on April 15th and 16th. Stay tuned to our email newsletter and social media channels for an announcement as that weekend approaches. 

Road Trip


We were in need of a large, solid spool to store the haul rope from the Original Double on until it can be reinstalled later this summer on the Bear Creek lift. I knew my friends over at Giants Ridge had one in storage, so I phoned a friend to see if I'd be able to borrow it. Thankfully they agreed and I was able to go pick it up yesterday. The ski industry is such a neat community of people willing to help each other out. It's one of the things I like the most about working in it. Plus it was a great opportunity for me to stop in and visit with all of my former coworkers over there. 

Having this spool on hand when we go to remove the haul rope (industry term for cable) from the Original Double will allow us to save it for reinstallation. It was just put on around 10 years ago and has many, many good years of life left in it. Rather than sending it off to scrap like the others, we're going to reinstall it to replace the rope on the Bear Creek lift which still has its original haul rope from when it was installed in 1987. 

Triple Time

Triple chairs awaiting their new owners to take them home- 3/23/2023

The mountain crew finished removing the chairs from the triple lift this afternoon. Another step in the right direction. If you haven't bought your very own, hop over to our auction site and place a bid! Next, we'll get to work on taking the Ts off the West T-Bar which should go pretty quickly and then we'll only have the chairs on the double to contend with after closing day. Once all the chairs are off the line, we have a contractor coming up to assist us in removing the cables from each of the lifts. With over 4 1/2 miles of steel cable totaling over 50,000 pounds to wind up, we sure have our work cut out for us. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Opening Weekend at Jackson Creek Summit

 Yesterday was opening day at Jackson Creek Summit. It was exciting to welcome guests into the renovated Summit Center, now named the Sugar Maple Chalet. It was fun to watch our long time season pass holders check out all the changes we'd made to a place they've been so familiar with over the years. Who knew carpeting and anti-slip vinyl flooring could be such an exciting change.  The rental shop is finally finished and welcomed it's first renters yesterday. The space turned out great thanks to the hard work from many hands. It's so neat to see families get outfitted in their gear before heading straight onto the beginner slopes, just a few steps away. Our staff particularly appreciates the opportunity to watch their customers take their first turns, instead of being stuck in the windowless shop they previously called home.  We did have a few hang-ups in our plan that caused us to modify our operations for opening day and the rest of the weekend. As part of the construc...

A Flurry of Activity

The Sugar Maple Chalet (former Summit Center) is really starting to come together, with renovations wrapping up in preparation for our opening day this Friday. Between contractors and our own team, there is quite the flurry of activity going on as I write this morning. We're going to be running down to the wire with a number of finishing touches. The new ticket windows are nearing completion, with just the windows themselves yet to be installed. Delivery is scheduled for Wednesday, and the crew will get to work on installing them as soon as they arrive. In the meantime, we'll be working on setting up the computers with our point-of-sale systems to be ready for our guests on Friday. Once complete, all day tickets and rentals will be sold out of these windows. Season pass pickup will be available at the guest service counter inside the chalet. The new carpet, paint, and furniture has made a tremendous difference inside the chalet. The classic charm of the building really shines w...

Just Getting Started

I had the opportunity to get out skiing with my Dad and my Sister on Sunday to wrap up the weekend. It was great to be out on the snow. Shanty Boy was a blast. Smooth, fast, and steep. Was fun to think that we're really just getting started, with so much more terrain to open and enjoy this season. The conditions were made even better by my brand new boots from Big Snow Outfitters in Bessemer. Growing up, my first few pairs of skis and boots all came from BSO's retired rental fleet, so of course it was the first place I thought to look to get my slightly packed out boots fitted properly. Walking into the store brought back so many childhood memories of stopping by the store after a day of skiing to enjoy the warmth of the wood burning fire and browse around dreaming of what equipment I'd buy when I grew up. The nostalgia must have got to me because it wasn't long before I was walking out with a new pair of Lange boots. Apparently the boots I'd been rocking for the pa...