This morning is the 8th day in a row that we have reported new snow. Heavy snow is forecast over the weekend. The place has changed. The sun popped out briefly yesterday afternoon. The skiing is great. The Beavers Lift is open. We will be skiing more and more of the North Side. If you have been waiting, I think your wait is over.
It is that time of year. Beginning Saturday, January 13, on weekends and holidays from 6 AM to Noon, the Early Riser Lot will be free for people carpooling with 3 or more people and cost $20 for those cars with less than 3 people per car. After 12 Noon, parking is free in Early Riser if space is available. High Noon and Last Chance Lots remain free this season.
I know some of you love this program and others don't. This is part of our effort on busier days to get everybody a parking space, manage to our comfortable carrying capacity, keep the highway moving and make sure Basin skiers and riders get to enjoy The Basin. The goal is to have fewer cars with more people, not make more money. I would be ecstatic if we had 100% carpoolers in Early Riser.
This year's team of new patrollers have just completed their initial training are now officially Ski Patrollers, red coat and all. Their training involved all kinds of stuff including emergency medical care, toboggan handling, risk management, trail maintenance, lift evacuation, avalanche management and lots more. Despite being a very challenging job in a tough physical environment, this is an exciting time for the crew. Now the real patrolling begins. Welcome aboard.
The new snow has been good. The Ski Patrol has been doing some directed skiing on Pali Main Street and Pali Face. It is a little thin, but there is some very good snow and soft turns. As we do this a bit at a time, mixing up the snow from each storm, the snow gets packed nicely prepping for a regular opening in the future. Most importantly, these continued impacts break up the snow slabs and reduce potential propagation pathways mitigating avalanche concerns.
And........it is really fun.
We have seen some light steady snowfall over the last couple of days. I just skied Loafer with Louis. It has been tilled top to bottom. This morning's 2" were on top of the corduroy. The one weak spot is the steep pitch just above timberline. With the forecast snow and wind, I think the snowcats will get that pitch in shape. I anticipate that all of us will be skiing Loafer, maybe Tuesday-ish. Stay tuned for more details.
We are in our final snowmaking effort of the season, making snow at the top of Norway and on Lenawee Face. Operating our snowmaking system involves roughly one gazillion rules. Of special note, we are only allowed to divert water through December 31 each season. So, at midnight on New Year's Eve, we plugged the diversion. While no longer diverting, there was a little bit of water still in the reservoir. Today and yesterday we are converting that final water into snow on Norway and Lenawee Face.
