Sometimes Pictures.........

Sometimes pictures speak louder than words.............

Sundance - 100% Natural Snow

6" more snow today. Wow. Sundance will be open with 100% natural snow. That is extraordinary for November 6. I am sure we will come back and make little snow on the trail later.

The snowmaking priority continues to be Lenawee Face and Dercum's Gulch. The natural snow has been incredibly helpful. There are steeper spots like the very top, Tower 16 Pitch and Tower 7 Pitch that provide challenges. These areas take some extra farming and extra snowmaking. The snowmakers had a good session working these zones last night. The forecast continues to be favorable.

Now our 31" base will settle out a bit, but we may be able to open some additional terrain. The first areas to open without snowmaking are typically Humbug, Lenawee Parks and Cornice West Wall. Who knows, Loafer might be in the mix before too long.

Really looking forward to getting to the top.

All Good News

There is nothing but good news on the A-Basin Front. 2+ feet of snow. Great snowmaking temperatures. Increased stream flow. We have a lot to work with right now. While we have plenty of employees, not every change will be seen instantly. There is a lot of snowcat work to do. The avalanche teams are all over the hill including working on Pali and the The Steep Gullies. The snowmakers are extremely focused on Lenawee Face and Dercum's Gulch. 

For tomorrow we should see Sundance opening. By the end of the week, we should have Lenawee Mountain Lift, Lenawee Face, Dercum's Gulch and Humbug open. Getting to the Summit is no small task. There is some tricky snowmaking and grooming required to make it happen. This storm gave us a GI-NORMUS boost. Once we are on the Summit, lots of openings will quickly follow.

As always, the comments this time of year can be very interesting. Remember, The Basin is all about fun. Riding and skiing is all about fun. We will be serving up a bunch of that fun in the coming days. Personally, I am celebrating. You should be too.

This storm was a beauty. 

My Kind of Flaming A

10" new this morning makes it 25" in 6 days.

Beavers Acceptance Test

We just spent the last couple of days working the Forest Service, Colorado Passenger Tramways Safety Board and Leitner Poma doing the Acceptance Test for The Beavers Chairlift. The test involves a very thorough inspection and testing of all the parts and pieces. On top of  that, the chairlift is loaded with boxes of water equivalent in weight to a chairlift fully loaded with people. The engineers test the starts and stops and every possible facet of the lift. The lift did extremely well. Once we knock a small punch list of items, it will be ready for licensing and away we go.

Dercum's Gulch Snowmaking

We have had natural snow for several days in a row now. I did ski Lenawee Face and Dercum's Gulch this afternoon. The natural stuff is adding up and the snowmaking is going well. It is still too early to predict when we will get that area open, but I like the direction we are heading. More snow coming.

Motor Room Views

Pretty nice views this afternoon from The Beavers Chairlift motor room.

Lenawee Traverse and More

The snowmakers are marching their way up the hill. They have a really good start on Lenawee Traverse from Black Mountain Lodge to the bottom of Lenawee Lift. Above BML, they have snow guns in position all the way to the Summit. I traveled much of that Upper Mountain terrain today and was really pleased with the progress. 

We beat today's natural snow forecast by several inches. I love it when that happens.