Featured,  Operations Update

Operations Update: Pre-Season Snowmaking Upgrades and Fall Maintenance

Welcome to the first blog post in our weekly Operations Update series! In this series, we’ll keep you updated on the behind-the-scenes work that goes into preparing and maintaining the mountain for another amazing winter season.

Snowmaking Enhancements: Doubling Down on Efficiency

One of the biggest changes you’ll notice this season is the installation of over 100 brand new high-temperature R5 snow guns. This week alone, the team installed more than 50 of them on select trails across the mountain. The high-temperature R5 snow guns are capable of making snow at a wet bulb temperature as warm as -2.5°C. These new additions will double our R5 snow gun count, significantly boosting our ability to make snow faster and in warmer conditions.

Fall Cleanup and Maintenance

The team is also busy wrapping up snowmaking improvements at the north end of the resort. This includes remediation work like haying, seeding, and trimming the bottom pitch near the new valve house on Little Devil.

Over at the Village ski area, you might have noticed that we took down the Summitview tent at the top of Smart Alec on October 17, in addition to preparing the slopes by cutting the grass across the trails. This may seem like a small task, but it plays a huge role in helping the snow lay down smoothly once the temperatures drop. By cutting the grass now, grooming in the winter will be easier and more efficient by design, leading to better runs for all of our skiers and snowboarders.

Snowmaking System Testing: A Strong Start

As we gear up for the season, we’ve already begun testing our snowmaking systems including compressors and pumps. So far, this has been one of the smoothest startups we’ve had in years! During this phase the Operations team fires up pumps which move water, and compressors which move air, and then checks for any leaks in the system. This ramp up work will be ongoing over the next few weeks.

Stay tuned for more weekly updates from the team as we continue to prep the mountain for another incredible winter. We can’t wait to see you on the slopes soon!

You'll find me across the mountain swapping between my ski boots and hiking boots with a GoPro in hand to capture all things on-hill for Blue's social media channels.