Snowmaking temperatures until just now have been up high on the mountain and that is where we have been making snow. The first priority when temperatures are available down low is to get top to bottom and that has happened. Now we turn out total firepower over to the Gate House area to get both beginner and intermediate terrain open. Stein'is an expert trail as is CR and we can open areas like that with the natural snow we have received. They will ski down to grass and rock quickly. Even the 22inches of light snow though isn't sufficient to groom a lot of trails. Within a couple of days we will have a lot covered all over the mountain and by next weekend we will have plenty of beginner and intermediate terrain. The amount of terrain that can be covered by snowmaking is a function of several things. We try to get 3-4 feet down before we move on. This allows grooming and makes it likely that the snow pack will remain skiable even if we have a thaw an rain.
The amount of cubic feet of we can make is a function of the amount of water that can flow through the main artery and the temperature. The lower the temperature the more guns we can turn on until water flow is "maxed out." When temperatures are marginal - say above 25 degrees we have use all five or our electical compressors (three at LP and two at ME) and do not make a lot of cubic feet of snow. When temperatures are in single digits we can have more guns on and make significantly more snow. A trail like Easy Rider in cold temperatures will still take a couple of days because of the cubic feet that need to be covered. A trail like Looking Good might take a day.
By the time you are here next weekend I think we will be skiing and riding most of both mountains.
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