Snow Storm!

There is only one word to describe the type of snow that fell during yesterday's snow storm:

PERFECT

These photos were taken Monday around Noon.

Many more inches fell after that.

Twelve inches in all.

Amazing. Helpful.

And oh-so BEAUTIFUL.

Hello Winter.
I must say your first impression was BRILLIANT!

pssst: there are 3 snowguns operating now, with more to be connected throughout the day

OPEN Dec 5 & 6

Buena Vista will be open this weekend.

Saturday & Sunday

December 5 & 6

10am - 5pm

The Chalet is all lit up because the Rental Department staff had their first training session this evening. Everyone is excited to learn about the new Elan skis and bindings. Kirby and Mike have designed and built new stations for distributing rentals. New charts, new storage, new everything. Time to put it all into practice.

If you look carefully...click on any image to see a larger version...you can see three guns going on this view of Julia.

The main goal was to get the Julia Vista run open by Saturday. This photo suggests Sunflake (Bunny) may also be open. I'll update tomorrow from the office.

Sigh of Relief

After weeks of waiting, days of studying the hourly forecasts, and several attempts which created only puddles; the weather finally graces us with favorable conditions for snow making. John and his crew were just turning on the guns yesterday when I left work.

Then later, returning from Bemidji after dark, I swung into BV to snap these photos. The best view of all was rounding the curve on Co.Rd 15 by the Dickinson Ranch. From that angle the entire hill was visible and draped in clouds of snow. I didn't want to pull over on the side of the road, though. These are photos taken from the parking lot.
The drone of the guns was a constant, gentle roar...and the plumes of snow drifted away like smoke. It was all so mesmerizing and beautiful in the black and white of night.

John and the crew stopped by on their ATV's to say "Hi." What an enormous amount of effort they put in to get this base made: working 'round the clock, repositioning the equipment as the wind changes, dragging hoses, getting soaked with water and half frozen, juggling moisture and electricity... And yet, this endeavor is exactly what they have been impatiently waiting to begin.

The forecast looks good. The frustration of waiting seems to be over. It's a beautiful, snowy relief.

Patience

Julia Vista

It's true. We got a lovely inch and a half of PERFECT snow yesterday.

Unfortunately, the humidity was, again, too high last night to make snow. But the crew is poised to turn on the guns the moment the temperature and humidity are balanced enough to create snow and not rain.

It is doubtful we will be open for this weekend. Not such exciting news...but since there is nothing that can be done about the weather, improvements to the Rental Shop and machinery maintenance are getting accomplished. We do plan to be open December 12 & 13.

Continental

I will be updating the blog and Twitter often over the next weeks. Hopefully now that the hills are white, winter will decide to stay for a while.

Snowmaking!

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Many thanks to the crew that keeps this going 'round the clock!