January 19, 2018
6 inches of snow last night
It is a start, but not enough snow for an opening yet
I don't want to jinx it, but just maybe winter is coming to town. Thursday night was a little snow (6 inches) with more on the way,please? Fingers crossed. Right now we are taking any snow that fell in the parking lot and moving it to the ski hill. Basic snow farming. We are trying, honest. What we need is three feet of good old fashion snowball making snow, Sierra Cement!
So, the steps to get open.
1. It snows
2. Starting tonight, staff drives the snowcats to compact and shape the slopes. What you ski on is not what falls out of the sky. This is a bunch of work that takes time. With low snow, care has to be taken to not ruin a snowcat on rocks too.
3. It snows some more and repeat snowcats out all night while it is cold to make a ski area. These Dads that do the grooming have "real jobs" during the day and years and years of experience getting Sky Tavern open. If anyone can, it is them.
4. At a minimum we have two days or teaching adults how to instruct the kids and other positions. This is critical we get instructor parents on the snow learning to instruct.
5. A joint conversation between Ski Patrol, Mountain Management and the grooming department on when the ski area is ready to have kids on it happens. It is all about safety and making certain it all works. Week 1 with mud would be fitting of a Irwin Allen disaster movie.
Winter is coming and we still have lots of time to ski. Keep Thinking Snow!
Found this at a mega resort in Utah that is bleeding millions of dollars a week since out the door is dirt. We are not alone with this season starting so slow.
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