Thanks for all the suggestions and opinions. First, if we have the same number of skier visits as past three years, we will be very happy. We can grow more and still have a quality experience but the greatest unused capacity is midweek which is why we offered the Boomer Pass. Unlike most other resorts 55%-60% of our skier visits are passholders. They either drive from nearby or have a home or condo or seasonal rental, so lodging needs are different than some other areas. We saw the need for more modern slope side residences and that is why we have built was we have and have planned.
Comment about Timbers. Yes, we got off to a rocky start with wrong chef, but it is doing well now. Chef Todd Dibkey is great as is rest of staff now and it serves many needs all year around. No restaurant pleases everyone but The Valley has some excellent choices, and it is good to see new entrants like Mad River Barn, Elusive Moose, Blue Stone (former Den) and Fit2bThai at The Sugarbush Inn. The Hideaway also had nice new owners.These complement long time establishments like The Common Man, Chez Henri, Flat Bread and the two restaurants at The Pitcher Inn.
A
I enjoy Hawk's passion but his last post has some factual errors. As I and others have already said the new equipment has increased our snowmaking capacity significantly especially early season when temps are marginal. For the past couple of days we had guns running from top of Ripcord to the base putting out in excess of 3,300 gpm. In years past we would have been a third of that. The choice of going to the trails we did rather than resurfacing was based on the forecast. First priority is top to bottom as well as more terrain. We saw a two day window and that had paid off as we will be top to bottom tomorrow. We had sufficient depth to groom what is open and later week temps may only allow peak snowmaking after warm up which will then make sense to do some.
Resurfacing. We do plan to put. another. 2 millions gallons on Upper Organgrinder to set it up for the season.
A comment about snow whales. As I have said it the past, it is best to leave these mounds to drain moisture for 24-48 hours before grooming . Otherwise you press moist snow and it can become bullet proof. In the past we made snow just in time to
open this year with fewer snowmaking hours due to temps we were able to let the snow sit and then
groom for opening on Thanksgiving. Hope these comments help.
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