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 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 past year were almost two sizes to big. Seems I need to stay in my lane and leave my ski equipment needs to the experts!
Black River Basin Terrain Update
So back to what I know more about. The snowmaking crews have been hard at work on some additional terrain for this weekend. For Thursday, we expect to open River Drive for the season, adding one more run to our run count for the lead into the weekend. By Saturday, the crew is confident that we'll be able to connect the dots over into C-Lift territory. If the weather holds and everything goes according to plan, we'll open Upper Spillway and Logjam sometime on Saturday.
The crew has been making a bunch of snow on the looker's left of the rope tow in preparation for building a few jumps. It's looking like we'll have enough to get at least one jump open for the weekend with a few new features to boot. Once we wrap up Log Jam our focus will shift to stacking snow to build the Family X course. This will be a boardercross-style run designed with the whole family in mind. Large rollers and banked turns will provide the perfect venue to challenge each other to a dollar dash!
Summit Snowmaking
The team on the summit side has really started to hit their stride. Cold overnight temps the past few nights have allowed for excellent snowmaking on Voyageurs, Superior, and the Beginner's Area. Superior was looking very good this morning and is nearly ready for an initial pushout and groom. The groomers will get out and level the piles to get an idea of where we might need to come back and fill in with a few guns. With a few cold nights this week, we should be very close. As guns finish up on Superior, the team has been moving them over to Sundance and once all the hydrants are full there, they'll continue the march onto Borealis.
As we move towards the backside over at The Basin, the number of guns we can run at once goes down. Unfortunately, there just isn't the electrical infrastructure to support the number of guns we have over there right now. While the front side has 4 different 400 amp electrical circuits (enough for 3-4 snowguns), the backside only has two, essentially cutting the number of guns we can run at once in half. The good news is, this frees up some guns to come over to the Summit side. Today the team brought four new guns over and put them right to work on Sundance and near the top of the Original Double. Things are shaping up well for our opener on the 16th.
Renovations
Stay tuned! Things are really starting to come together. By Thursday I expect the rental shop to be well on its way to completion and I can't wait for you all to check it out. I'll leave you with the BEFORE photo for now.
