opening thread 2015

[Ride Delaware ?]

It's a shame it's not a compressor. They could rent one of those and plug it in pretty easily...

[jimmck]

Along with a dusting of natural...

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[winjr]

It was the manifold pipe in the ME compressor room and is almost fixed - maybe
today. For Inverness we can draw right out of pond and not have to flow water
through the manifold pipe. That allowed us to run 40-45 guns producing around 800 GPM.

The other night we also had a hose on a pump cooler in the Mad River pump house break
and spray water on the electrical equipment and that shut us down for some hours and then limited
production for some additional hours. All is good now but it caused us to have to keep the focus
on the upper mountain. GMP threw in two half-curtailable periods this week. In the past this would have
been a real bummer, but with the low energy guns we could run one compressor
at each mountain and keep most of our snowmaking going.

By Thursday the snow quality on Upper Jester, Upper Organgrinder
and Downspout should be very nice with these cold temps. We are starting to come down
today but time will run out before it warms up tomorrow.

Looks like cold weather returns on Saturday and then stays around longer so by
next weekend we can be t2b and have more terrain. Would love to be skiing off VH
Chair ASAP.

[Hawk]

They are blowing at the bottom of the mountain as we speak. Looks cold.
Man it is really amazing to see how much snow making is going on over at Sunday River. They are saying 20 trails for the weekend with top to bottom on 3 mountains. We can't get top to bottom on one. Oh well. It is what it is. We will be there for the opening.

[Ride Delaware ?]

SR puts on a good show, but their t2b is also about 900 feet less than ours. That being said, they also have twice the capacity at 8k gpm. I know it's small consolation, but SB has made some great investments, and things are much better than just a couple years ago. I'm happy with the progress. I'm just glad we will be on the snow this weekend.

[Hawk]

Their bottom elevation is almost 1,000 feet lower than ours but they still are blowing snow in multiple locations at the same time and are skiing top to bottom right now.

At this point of the year the Cliché's will start rolling out:
- Sugarbush is not known for it's snow making. It's about the natural snow here.
- We are not Sunday River or Killington - and we like it like that.
- Our capacity is better this year we have invested in the system.
- If you want snow making then go some there else.
and best of all and my personal favorite....
- Don't worry, once it snows we will not talk about this again.

Fair enough. But all I ask is that we make the system big and strong enough to at least blow one run top to bottom. Based on my observations this year so far, all I can see is that we have become more efficient which allows us to operate more cost effective. They can operate more guns but it is not that great increase from before in my opinion. Lets face it. The upgrades were done to save money for the most part. Well I guess you could say that they make the system more reliable also. It just arrears to me that they overall production or Volume has not come up to a point to cover the trails we need all at once or faster. Thursday will be very telling.

SR puts on a good show, but their t2b is also about 900 feet less than ours. That being said, they also have twice the capacity at 8k gpm. I know it's small consolation, but SB has made some great investments, and things are much better than just a couple years ago. I'm happy with the progress. I'm just glad we will be on the snow this weekend.

[Benski]

You guys also need to accept that sugarbush can only use about 2/3 capacity for early season since the other third is at my Ellen and therefore contributes nothing the first month of the season. It a big disadvantage.

[Ride Delaware ?]

Ben, the systems are separate. 4k at LP and 2K at ME. When we say they are running full capacity, we are referring to full capacity at LP. I'm sure ME is at full capacity when they don't have a mechanical issue as well. We will see that huge trail bump when they open. It's not like it's lost capacity.

Also Hawk, not to nitpick, but SR isn't blowing to the bottom of White Cap (795'), so the real difference between Barker/Locke (1,110') and LP (1,575') is only about 500', and Aurora (1,660') is about 100' higher than LP.

I understand your frustration, and the system is what it is. They have made continual improvements that save money and allow for more guns to run (first time ever running Jester to HG plus 12 guns on OG). They are "saving money," but they are still maxing capacity, so I don't really know how much they are saving if they are still putting out the same amount of product. I'm sure they are always looking at ways to improve and I'm sure they would love to be able to run top to bottom at some point in the future. I understand the desire to do it in small increments without massive capital outlay even if we wish they would just take out a credit line and knock it out in one sitting.

[Benski]

That's what I ment ride Delaware. 1/3 of there capacity can only be used for mt Ellen so it does nothing for the first month of the season.

[Ride Delaware ?]

That's what I ment ride Delaware. 1/3 of there capacity can only be used for mt Ellen so it does nothing for the first month of the season.

We were on the same page thinking about it differently.

[southvillager]

Stowe opens Wednesday with top to bottom, all groomed, and they are opening Spruce on Thursday to enable skiing for all abilities. Killington is open already. Mt Snow opens with no downloading on Thursday. Okemo opened today with 3 lifts.

[Ride Delaware ?]

Guns are still running at the base as we type. If they can blow all day today (big if) and keep it through tonight, there may be an outside chance at t2b. They may leave it in whales on Thurs/Fri for the warmup and then groom it out Saturday if it's enough.

[Dblshot]

Not the first time running Jester Downspout to HG and guns on OG. With the rental compressors and SR-7 this was done a lot years ago. First time maybe for the more efficient guns, now they max out on water. There is space for one more pump at the pond and 5 more at CB-1 so maybe capacity can increase in the next few years.

[Ride Delaware ?]

That would be awesome. I was referring to the max with the current on hill system. I didn't take into effect rented compressors...

[Hawk]

I hear what you are saying and I realize they are improving things at a measured pace. I just wish they would bite the bullet and install a system that can at least handle blowing enough snow to complete at least one Top to Bottom run. The only thing that separates us from being a world class resort is the snow making. It is not that apparent now but wait till we have a lean year. Most of you on this board have not experienced this but I have.

Ben, the systems are separate. 4k at LP and 2K at ME. When we say they are running full capacity, we are referring to full capacity at LP. I'm sure ME is at full capacity when they don't have a mechanical issue as well. We will see that huge trail bump when they open. It's not like it's lost capacity.

Also Hawk, not to nitpick, but SR isn't blowing to the bottom of White Cap (795'), so the real difference between Barker/Locke (1,110') and LP (1,575') is only about 500', and Aurora (1,660') is about 100' higher than LP.

I understand your frustration, and the system is what it is. They have made continual improvements that save money and allow for more guns to run (first time ever running Jester to HG plus 12 guns on OG). They are "saving money," but they are still maxing capacity, so I don't really know how much they are saving if they are still putting out the same amount of product. I'm sure they are always looking at ways to improve and I'm sure they would love to be able to run top to bottom at some point in the future. I understand the desire to do it in small increments without massive capital outlay even if we wish they would just take out a credit line and knock it out in one sitting.