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!!!
