Christmas Eve Blizzard
As I sit down to write this afternoon, Winter Storm Elliott is bearing down on us here at Snowriver. Winds and snowfall have increased steadily throughout the day today and are now reaching true blizzard-like conditions. The overnight forecast is calling for increasing winds and heavy, heavy snowfall. Road conditions are expected to deteriorate overnight and be very poor for our employee's commutes tomorrow morning. For their safety and the safety of those guests traveling to ski with us tomorrow, I have made the difficult decision to close our ski area for tomorrow, 12/24/2022. Our staff is reaching out to those who made advanced purchases and will assist in changing dates or issuing refunds as necessary. I'd like to wish a very Merry Christmas Eve to our staff and all of our guests. I look forward to opening again on Christmas Morning - more details on that in a minute.
For those guests staying with us tonight or arriving tomorrow, we will continue some operations to serve them through the storm. The Legacy Restaurant inside the Lodge at Jackson Creek will still be open tomorrow for breakfast service from 7am-10am. Jack's Bar and Grille will be open from 10am-8pm to serve lunch and dinner. The Lodge and the pool will remain open during their regularly scheduled hours. All other facilities will remain closed for the day.
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS
The forecast may not be the best for being open, it is looking very good for reopening on Christmas Day. If you add it all up, the forecast is calling for an additional 22" of snow to fall between now and then. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping these winds pair perfectly with Lake Superior to deliver all of that lake effect powder under our trees for Christmas. What a gift that would be! One I'd certainly want to be present for.
Despite the storm today, the team continued preparing to open additional terrain at Jackson Creek Summit. Our patrol, ski school, and rental staff partnered to ski-pack the East T-bar lift line this afternoon. This helps establish a solid base and get the lift line ready for guests to ride. We also used our Tucker and roller to pack the flatter sections of both the East and West T-bars.
When we reopen on Christmas, we're planning to open the Bear Creek Double serving most, if not all, of the terrain in that pod. We'll also be adding in the East T-Bar for what I'm told will be the first time in years serving all of its terrain other than Cascade (Agogebic). The cat crew will be out on the prowl tomorrow as conditions allow us to push out our snowmaking piles on Nimbus (Winnebago), F.I.S. and Tomahawk. Depending on their progress tomorrow we could see some or all of those runs opening up in the very near future. Again, our goal is 100% open for the holidays, and if we can do it, we will. I know I'll be skiing powder this Christmas, and I hope you'll join me!