Rockin’ Ron for Hugh. Woo-hoo! I made my first turns of the season and got kudos from Patroller Bob Oser (the mustache that claims credit for the ‘stache gladed trail). The snow was very carvable and enjoyable. Saw some familiar faces and some new faces. Below are scenes from a Vermont Resort (apologies to Billy Joel).
NOTE: Due to weather conditions, we may have delayed grooming and opening schedules for Wednesday, December 7th.
Rockin’ Ron for Hugh. There are a lot of folks who make a mountain go. Let’s take a moment to recognize the Lifties and Instructors… HUZZAH! Without them we wouldn’t be skiing and riding all the great terrain here at Smuggs. Speaking of terrain we have 57 trails open. 29 of them will be groomed for tomorrow – that’s 121 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Let that be a Lesson and Lift your spirits.
Our groomers did a great job today getting terrain open on all 3 mountains. They will be busy tonight with 39 trails to be groomed, including Upper FIS, Smugglers’ Alley, Snake Bite, Drifter, Playground, Snow Snake, Dixie’s Knoll, Bootlegger, and Ruthie’s for a grand total of 149 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Tomorrow we plan to have skiing and riding on all 3 mountains. We will start with the Sterling Lift and the Madonna II Lift tomorrow morning on the upper mountains. Conditions permitting we plan to have the Madonna I Lift operating tomorrow afternoon. We plan to have 40 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. Surface conditions are machine groomed and variable with average base depths of 14 to 52 inches. Currently, it is partly cloudy and 22 degrees at the summit of Sterling with winds of 5 to 10 mph. We have many events this weekend. For all the information just go to https://www.smuggs.com/pages/universal/events/index.php
Yesterday was my day off and I came up to the mountain to take a few runs. It was really windy and we had a few lifts on hold. The Morse Highlands Lift was running, so I decided to ski over there. I got to the top of the Morse Highlands Lift and I saw my buddy Dave Gagnon a snowmaker here at Smuggs. Dave was working the top shack for the day. As the wind was blowing the snow off of his top ramp it would get an icy patch. Dave would put more snow on the ramp, but the wind would just take it away again. To make things better for the guests Dave put on his goggles and was out helping people as they were getting off the lift. He was also letting people know to go straight on the icy patch and turn when you got back on the snow. This allowed the lift to continue to operate smoothly. Thank you Dave for your extra effort!
Tomorrow we plan to have top to bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 7 lifts operating, including the Madonna I lift. We plan to have 77 out of 78 trails open tomorrow with terrain for all ability levels. 38 trails will be groomed tonight including, Upper FIS, Shuttle, Snake Bite, and Hibernator for a grand total of 150 acres of freshly groomed terrain. Surface conditions are machine groomed and packed powder with average base depths of 16 to 54 inches. Currently it is sunny and 10 degrees at the summit of Sterling. Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for partly sunny skies with a high of 10 degrees. Dress warm and enjoy the great conditions.
I want to give a shout out to our lift attendants! We received an inch of new snow last night and the Madonna I lift crew had 174 chairs to clean off. It takes multiple sweeps to get each chair clean for riding pleasure. Cleans chairs help keep your buns warm! Thank you for all your hard work it is really appreciated!
Dave compares an old broom and a new broom