Opening Day is Behind Us

A lot of work was done again before Sunday to get ready to open our winter season on Sunday but it all happened and we had a great crowd on Sunday ........all anxious to get back on the snow.
New clothing will be delivered to the retail shop on this Saturday.

All the chairs are being installed today, which will make it look more like a chairlift than before. A few items remain which will be buttoned up this week.......so we should be ready for the engineer to test and inspect a week from tomorrow as scheduled.

Todd, Ken, Joel, Kris, Twigg, Frost, Sleepy and Jody have all been troopers putting in lots of hours and working hard to get the chairlift built. Thanks guys and Thanks Dee for taking such good care of the gang when it was meal time! Plus we have had some great help from contractors Snow, Paul and Al on several occasions during the process.

Hey, did you see the forecast for tonite and tomorrow.......hope the ice doesn't happen but 4 to 8 inches of natural would be sweet.

Keep it White

Valley View Chairlift

Yesterday, the steel cable "haul rope" was successfully spliced for our Valley View Chairlift. Next...... put all the chairs on.

Snowmaking continues......we will start pushing and grooming mid afternoon today. Temps are going to rise to warm to make snow today but we will make more tonite. Again, our emphasis is on having Abbys Alley and the School yard open Sunday for ski and board. Snow tubing will be out a ways but we'll get it.

Friday after Five TONITE.

keep it white

Pics of the ticket/retail area

Here's a little tour of the new path our skiers, shredders and tubers will take this winter.

In this view you can see we now have "two bridges". You will enter the new door by using the left bridge to get your tickets.

Once inside you can either go thru the side door to head to tubing, the chairlifts or rental...(the one on the right in this photo.....

......or into the lodge using this door.

Here are a couple shots of the ticket/retail area.

At this time we think one register will be for snowtubing and season pass holders and the other for day visitors.

Here are a couple shots standing in the original lodge looking at the door that takes you to retail/tickets. Yep, that's the old office with most of the walls removed.

Looking forward to seeing everyone......SOON.........by the way the guns are all still ON and blowing snow!

keep it white.....til next time

The Haul Rope Is Being Spliced

While I am not on site, I am told by good authority that the steel haul rope is being spliced even as I type. One more step in the process and one step closer to being finished.

The snow guns are still running today. I know I am repeating myself but the "plan" is to open Sunday with Abbys Alley and the beginner rope for the School Yard ready........and maybe a couple features at the bottom of the drops zone. It's a start and temps look good for snowmaking for the next ten plus days!

Keep it White

ps. I might actually make a second post today with pics of our new ticket area.

Turkey is History....now on to WINTER

Haven't made a contribution for a while so it is time for an update......even tho I have no pics.

All the hardware for the chairlift is installed. All the towers have been aligned. Yesterday the guys installed all the counterweight cable. Today, Tuesday, the gang is putting all the haul rope (the large steel cable that carries the chairs) over all the tower sheaves and bull wheels. The gentleman from Missouri that splices the cable is flying into Boone Airport Thursday and will splice the rope on the same day. Then some more small stuff will be installed. On Monday December 15 the engineer from Spokane Washington will fly in and we will do all the tests in his presence.........meaning the following weekend if all goes as planned.....and it probably will......we will be using this lift. Yeah!

Made some snow Sunday night but blew a water line at 11 pm and had to shut down to dig it up and make repairs. Repairs were done yesterday and snowmaking commenced at 4 pm and by 7 pm last night the temps had dropped enough that the guns were maxed out with water......til 7 am this morning when we had to start throttling back and then shutdown about 8 this morning.

Does NOT look like snowmaking temps tonite......but Wednesday night and Thursday during the day and Thursday night and Friday during the day and Friday night.............all look good for continuous snowmaking.

The rails are almost all cleaned up and ready to be put out. Setting another light pole on top today.......moving the final dirt for unloading the new chair today and tomorrow.....so things are getting wrapped up and ready to open........

.......speaking of opening.....we are TRYING........emphasis on TRYING .....to have Abbys Alley and the School Yard ready for this Sunday, December 7........but check our web or call before you come......cause it isn't for sure yet........then we will concentrate on getting Freeway covered so we can use the new lift and getting at least the bottom of the Drop Zone covered so we can access the park via Abbys Alley ......ASAP.

We'll keep you updated via emails, web, blog and voice mail on our phone system.

We have our Friday after Five this friday night........another Jimmy Buffet night......FUN...

Ordering new clothing today at noon so it should be available in a week or two.

More later....oh yeah, lots of snow flurries in the forecast too.....and KCCI this morning made a slight mention of watching a sizable system that might hit us next Monday.

Keep it white.....

Couple comments

Well......the sixth and final tower was set in place yesterday. Today the comm line is being installed that goes from top to bottom for all the safety communications. Getting closer to being FINISHED! Good chance the cable will be installed and spliced the week after Thanksgiving.

Tried to make snow last night but didn't get very cold til about sunrise. Made a little but not much. Looks like Saturday night will be snowmaking temps again.

Keep it White!

Progress in the midst of a snowstorm

Wow, ended up being more than a few flurries Saturday. Think we ended up with about three inches at Seven Oaks. Not enough to open on it's own but sure made things white.........and tough to work in which we did anyway. Maybe it is an indicator as to what this winter is going to be like. Snapped a couple pics during the heavy snow.

Like I said, even though the heavy snow was was coming down, we went ahead and put a few more things up for the chairlift! Got the top bull wheel installed and all the required hardware plus towers one and two. It was just too slick to get the equipment up the hill to set tower three........but that should still happen this week. Worked again Sunday putting the hoops around the towers. The hoops keep the chairs from ever swinging into the towers when the lift is operating.

Have a private party Friday night in the lodge and then a big fundraiser in the lodge Saturday night.

Looks like snowmaking temps again Saturday night after Thanksgiving..........might even get more snow made tomorrow night and maybe Tuesday night........we'll see and I'll let you know via the blog if we do.

Remember to get your date picked for your group's winter outing-------reservations are coming in on a regular basis now.

More later..........keep it white!