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Morning Moon making snow

Rockin’ Ron for the Legendary Hugh Johnson. Last night and into this morning our trusty Snowmakers were busy on the Lower Morse Liftline and Snow Snake trails. Meanwhile, the ever-popular Grooming Crew was driving and tilling up and down 30 trails to bring us 123 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Hey Expert Skiers and Riders – both Upper FIS and Smugglers’ Alley were groomed! Time to hit the slopes.

Morning Moon over the Village. Snowgun on the right.
Groomer goes zoom.
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Madonna II Lift reopens tomorrow

The base area of the Madonna II Lift

This morning at 5 am I called our snowmaking crew to get a weather update and to find out where we are making snow for the snow report. I spoke with long-time snowmaker Dave Gagnon and he told me they had a great night! He said the single-digit temperatures and no wind allowed them to “Kill it on Lower Chilcoot.” Our grooming staff will now take over and push out all the snowmaking whales. We plan to have the Madonna II Lift operating tomorrow with Link to Lower Chilcoot open. The Madonna II Lift will remain open the rest of this week and weekend. Today we have the Sterling Lift, Village Lift, Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift, Morse Highlands Lift, and Sir Henry’s Glider all operating. We have 18 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. 16 out of the 18 trails have been groomed for today, including Dixie’s Knoll for a grand total of 72 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Surface conditions are machine-groomed and variable with average base depths of 6 to 24 inches. Currently, it is sunny and 16 degrees at the summit of Sterling with winds of 0 to 5 mph. Today’s forecast is calling for sunny skies early with increasing clouds later in the day, a high of 24 degrees at the base and 18 degrees at the summit of Sterling.

This weekend the featured beer for the apres sports parties at Bootlegger’s and the Black Bear Tavern is Fiddlehead.

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Winter storm on the way!

Rockin’ Ron here. You’ve probably seen and heard that there’s a major winter storm moving across the country. A lot of folks may not want the snow, but we snow sports enthusiasts welcome it… in other words… BRING IT ON! That doesn’t mean that our snowmakers are taking it easy – they’ll have the snow guns going whenever temps permit. Let there be SNOW and MORE SNOW!

We’ve got our fingers crossed and our skis crossed (metaphorically) for a major dump of freshies!
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Snowmaking Symphony

Our Snowmakers are working around the clock to make the stuff that makes us happy! Snowguns were in action up and down Sterling Mountain this morning and will be throughout the day. Snowmaking Ops will soon move to the Village to prepare beginner terrain. And you couldn’t have snowmaking without grooming. Ski you soon!

Snowguns at the base of Sterling Mountain.
Director of Mountain Ops, Mark Delaney is driving the Cat this morning.
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Snow on the ‘Slope’

Rockin’ Ron for Hugh. Our Snowmakers have been taking advantage of the cold temps and making the fluffy stuff on Practice Slope and Black Snake. Pretty soon it’ll be Tea Time at the T-Bar. For Wednesday we plan to have 23 trails open and 4 Lifts operating. Enjoy the snow on the slopes!

Snowmaking on Practice Slope. Photo by Hugh Johnson.
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Thank you snowmakers

A huge shout out to our hard-working snowmakers! The weather has been a little crazy this season, but our snowmakers have been ready every time Mother Nature turns down the thermostat. Their efforts already allow us to ski and ride on all 3 mountains. They are presently working on getting us more terrain open with snowmaking on Upper Chilcoot and the Practice Slope.

Practice Slope
Practice Slope
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Snowmaking on Madonna

Sunrise from the summit of Madonna this morning. Photo credit Smugglers’ Notch Snowmaker Dave Gagnon
Transporting snowmaking hoses on Upper Chilcoot
The Warming Hut at the summit of Madonna received a face lift this past summer and is looking good!

Our Snowmakers were busy last night and today making snow on Upper Chilcoot. Weather permitting we plan to have the Madonna I Lift operating this weekend with Upper Chilcoot open. Tomorrow we plan to have skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 6 lifts operating. We have 20 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. All 20 trails will be groomed for tomorrow for a grand total of 86 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Surface conditions are machined groomed and variable with average base depths of 12 to 48 inches. The Riglet Park and Birch Run Terrain Park are both open. Currently, it is partly sunny and 25 degrees at the summit of Sterling. Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for a chance of rain with a high of 38 degrees.

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Snowmaking top to bottom on Morse

Connecting the hoses
Snowmaker Dave Gagnon starting up another gun
Lower Morse Liftline

We are presently making snow on Garden Path, Midway, Meadowlark, and Lower Morse Liftline. Today we have skiing and riding on all 3 mountains. We have 4 lifts operating, Madonna II, Sterling Lift, Sir Henry’s Wonder Carpet, and Mogul Mouse’s Magic Lift to mid-station. We have 33 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. 11 out of the 33 trails have been groomed for today, including Smugglers’ Alley for a grand total of 40 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Surface conditions are packed powder and powder with average base depths of 12 to 48 inches. Currently, it is sunny and 10 degrees at the summit of Sterling with winds of 0 to 5 mph. Today’s forecast is sunny skies early with increasing clouds, the chance of flurries, and a high of 29 degrees.

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Sunshine and 160 acres of freshly groomed terrain

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Picture perfect

I want to thank our grooming staff, snowmakers, and lift maintenance for all they do to provide us with the best conditions possible! Our grooming staff is out on the mountain from the time the lifts close until they reopen the next day. We even have two shifts of groomers each night to get all 3 mountains ready for your skiing and riding pleasure the next day. Our snowmakers have recently been touching up Garden Path, Lower Morse Liftline, Magic Learning Trail, and Meadowlark. The Lift Maintenance Crew provides us safe transportation to the top of all 3 mountains. Each lift is checked every morning before anyone is allowed to load the lift.

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Circumhorizontal arc is formed by the refraction of sunlight through ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.

 

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Lower Doc Dempsey’s Glades has one cat wide of groomed terrain on skier’s left