Happy Holidays!

It seems odd to me that I sit here in the condo overlooking the slopes of Lincoln Peak on December 22.  In the past 3 years, I would be in my truck and headed down to Connecticut to spend my birthday (12/23) and Christmas with my family, with a truck load of presents.  However, this year I am spending the holidays with my Sugarbush family.

It has been a trying few weeks here at Sugarbush, and at resorts throughout Vermont.  Mother Nature has yet to deliver us bountiful amounts of snow, and when we do get cold, it only lasts a few days and is followed by that dreaded 4-letter word that we don’t like to say.  But there is not much we can do.  We are top-to-bottom at Lincoln Peak and have terrain available for all abilities.  At Mt Ellen, Inverness is open, along with the upper mountain, but downloading is still required.

Top of Bravo on a very cold Sunday morning, 12/18

Inverness at Mt Ellen, 12/22/2011

Snowmakers have been taking advtange of the cold temperatures and blowing as much snow as they can to coat and resurface the trails.  I took a few runs today on my day off and found some really nice conditions out there, especially on the Gate House side.  But the views from the top of the mountain, looking down at a brown Mad River Valley are more of something you’d find in April, rather than 3 days before Christmas.  But things WILL change.

I also found out today that I will be joining the snowmaking team for a couple days a week starting next week.  Instead of just running the lifts for the snowmakers, I’ll be one of the snowmakers, working hard to create the white stuff and give the trails at Sugarbush their winter coat.  That adventure for me begins Thursday December 29.  Needless to say… I’m pretty psyched about it.  It’s been a few years since I’ve made snow at Powder Ridge and Mount Southington, but this will be something completely different.

I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and have a safe and Happy Holiday!!!

It Takes TEAMWORK!

On Saturday December 3, Sugarbush reopened for skiing and riding.  Snowguns blasted for most of the day on Downspout, allowing it to be groomed that night for Sunday.  Our ride down to the base of Heaven’s Gate revealed some firm courdoroy, but we would be one of the only ones to ski/ride it, as our lifts never opened to the public on Sunday due to high winds.   The topsy-turvy weather pattern continued into early week, with Monday and Tuesday revealing spring-like conditions.  Tuesday I was able to get several runs in on Jester->Downspout and I had a blast shredding the well-covered Jester, and navigating down Downspout.

With the early-week warmth, us lift operators had quite the challenge on Monday and Tuesday… rebuilding our ramps, almost from scratch, with little snow to work with.  On Friday, the day before we reopened, this involved digging into a pile of snowmaking snow that was more frozen granular than anything else, then transporting it to where it was needed via pickup truck or ranger.  On Tuesday, a team of ski patrollers was on hand to give us additional assistance.  The Bravo base ramp went pretty quick, and by the time we came down Downspout, there was already another team of patrollers helping us out.  There was some snow to work with, but not only did we have to build a ramp, but also build a way to get from Downspout to the ramp.

A large part of the operation of a ski resort is the ability for not just teammates of a department to work together, but also inter-department cooperation.  And of course, the biggest teamwork of all comes from the snowmakers, as without them, we are nothing!  They make the snow so that we can build our ramps and have our trails covered with snow.

No doubt, it’s been a challenging early season, but as I look out the window there is hope.  3-4″ of new snow fell overnight, the snow guns are blasting on a route from base of Heaven’s Gate down to the base, and it looks like the cold is here to stay (fingers crossed!)

THINK SNOW!!!