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.
