BC-Mark

We had some great snowmaking last night and looks like more excellent production tonight. After that, it looks like we are out of luck for the remainder of the 10 day period. Given the amount of snow we have on the trails right now, I am pretty comfortable saying we will definitely be open through the 15th barring any huge washouts or prolonged 70F periods. If we have average temperatures for March, I am almost as confident we will hit the weekend after that. Beyond that, it is alwasy a guessing game. Starting Monday, March 9th we will be honoring all season passes and 6 session passes at any time for the remainder of the season.

Disappointing weather last night, we didn't get favorable conditions until 4am so the snowmaking team decided to groom out the skim coat of natural snow that fell and call it a night. Tonight looks like far more promising and we anticipate a 10pm startup and 10 full hours of snowmaking.

After a mid-winter preview of spring, snowmaking weather returns tonight. We will be making on all trails and should be able to lay down a nice layer or 3" to 4" overnight. The long range shows decent temps through Monday night with a little bit of a warm up Tuesday/Wednesday followed by more cold air. Conditions should be improving each day. Look for some changes in the park this week and, if we get enough snow down, possibly a big new feature in the Tubing Jump Line.

It is correct that the piles are snow made from our treated sewage effluent. We treat the sewage in an on-site waste water treatment plant that uses a biological treatment process to produce water that is technically safe enough to drink. This water is then discharged into the larger of the two ponds at the bottom of F chair where it is held until we pump it out through snowguns in the woods. Once the snow melts, the melt-water percolates into the soil. Despite the fact that the water has been completely treated and tested, we have yet to convince the DEP to allow us to mix the treated effluent with the water in the snowmaking ponds and use it for snowmaking operations. When I worked at Whitetail, we had a very similar system that used a sand filter, chlorination and aeration treatment method that resulted in the same level of treatment we have at Bear Creek. We were not only allowed to use the water in snowmaking operations at Whitetail, we won awards for the system from the South Central Region of the DEP. In the summer months, we spray the treated effluent through sprinkler heads in the woods and allow it to percolate into the soil.

The only slopes that may have issues with base depth are Sasquatch and Extreme. Sasquatch is steep enough that we have had a few slides caused by groomers when we have large piles of snow to move. For that reason, we typically try to push Sasquatch to a consistent depth and compact the snow with a groomer as much as we can. The major risk is snow that hasn't been homogenized (for lack of a better word) and compacted or drastic changes in depth over short distances that could cause the layers to shear and slide. Extreme is right on the edge of being steep enough to slide under the same conditions but the bigger concern there is chair height. I would not want anything over a 60" base on the steep section of Extreme due to a chair clearance issues. In the past, we have had piles as deep at 35' on the top of Kodiak's headwall and consistent base depths of up to 80" on the Polar Bear and Timberline but those are rare. In those years we still had piles of snow on those trails into July. This time of year, we will go as deep as we can to try and mitigate impacts of the prolonged thaws we are prone to receive.

All I can say is Wow! It is rare we get nights like last night and it always amazes me at the amount of snow we can make in such a short period of time. I have gotten a few inquiries about the snowmaking schedule, so here is the explanation. The snowmaking strategy during prolonged cold snaps is designed to provide the best conditions day in and day out. Freshly made snow during cold snaps maintains its quality for two to three days before it begins to deteriorate. If we made snow every night at these temperatures we would drain the ponds completely in 2 to 4 days based on their current pond levels and refresh rates. This would require us to wait 6 to 10 days before the next snowmaking window. While this produces large quantities of snow in a short period of time, it does not provide quality conditions over a long time period. The forecast is for at least 10 nights of cold weather and we have a plan in place to utilize our water resources to their fullest potential. To do this, you will see us make snow on the coldest nights which guarantees the highest rate of conversion from liquid to solid and minimizes evaporation which maximizes production. The net result in quantity of snow produced is greater than making on the warmer nights and we end up with better conditions over a longer period of time.

Another excellent night of snowmaking last night. We have decided to push the Monday park build off until Wednesday. The crew has some ideas that are going to require more snow but I think it will be worth the wait.

Great production last night and we have natural snow falling as I write! The snow is supposed to pick-up throughout the day and we are forecast to get 4" to 6" of natural snow by tomorrow morning. We will not be making snow tonight but will be pounding the mountain Sunday night. The park crew will be rebuilding Cascade park Monday morning and fine tuning it Monday night so we will not be making snow Monday night. The remainder of the week looks like great conditions to bury every trail!

We had a good night of snowmaking last night and should get great production tonight as well. Hopefully we will get real snow tomorrow to add to our own home grown. The remainder of the 10 day looks excellent. I would highly recommended skipping out on all your obligations next week to come enjoy the great conditions during the day when the slopes are relatively empty and the snow is fresh!

Wow! I just got in from the slopes and the snow is as close to perfect as I have seen it! The snowmakers laid down some amazing powder last night that is dry and smooth as silk. Kodiak had about 4" of fresh coating over the groomed surface and it was great for high speed carving. Grizzly and Sasquatch were both coated just the same and really put a smile on my face. There are still no crowds anywhere and I was able to get right on every lift.

Thanks for the good review, I thought the conditions were great yesterday as well! Glad you guys had fun.

The past few nights of snowmaking have yielded some great conditions and I would expect today to be no different. We have a few marginal nights coming up but after Wednesday we look great again for the remainder of the forecast period.

Snowmaking will begin tonight around 9PM. We will be making until about 8AM tomorrow. The forecast looks great and we should be able to make every night for the next 5 at least. It looks like we might even get a hand from Mother Nature in the form or real snow on Friday.

I was talking with Tom yesterday and the plan is to get a few nights of good snowmaking in and then do major park tune ups for Black Bear and Cascade. Snowmaking should start tonight around 9pm and we should be able to make every night for the foreseeable future. I would anticipate changes for Saturday or Sunday. Just a word of warning, things might get a bit buried tonight with 15F lows. The guys are going to have their hands full keeping up with the snowmakers.

Happy Holidays everyone! Santa brought us a lot of rain yesterday and and through the night. The good news is we didn't lose too much snow. We will likely be able to make snow tonight and then starting again mid week next week. The conditions should be pretty nice today and I would anticipate them to be even better tomorrow.

I just took a few runs and the snow is great! Kodiak and Grizzly are pretty amazing and the park crew is hard at work on Black Bear getting things in shape after last night's snowmaking.

There should still be features on Cascade tonight tomorrow. The most likely day for the build looks like Tuesday, if that holds true, the features will be removed on Sunday night after closing. With the quantity of snow we anticipate putting out the features would all be buried and unrideable. We also risk damaging them when we dig/pull them out with the groomers.

It looks like we will be pulling some, if not all of the rails from Cascade on Sunday night to prepare for the massive amount of snow we will be making Sunday night and Monday day and night. Andy and Tom will likely be rebuilding the park during the day on Tuesday with an all new setup. Stay tuned for more details.

So the 8" to 10" of snow never materialized yesterday but the good news is we did get a few inches of sleet and freezing rain that added to the base and, after the groomers are done with it, actually rides pretty well. In addition, we got the guns fired up around 3am and will have some fresh made snow on top of the corduroy so today should be pretty nice. The added bonus is we were able to make enough snow to open F lift today, a day earlier than anticipated, and tickets will still be $25 for Saturday. Sunday we go to full price so come take advantage of the bargain today. The plan is to make snow tonight, tomorrow night, all day Monday, Monday night, possibly Tuesday and definitely Tuesday night. By the end of this stretch we should be covered edge to edge all over the mountain!

It looks like the weather is breaking in our favor and we are going to receive some frozen precip of one kind or another tomorrow. Let's hope the forecast calling for 6" - 10" of snow is the one that comes true but at this point, anything is better than rain. We should begin making snow Friday night and will be able to make the next 5 nights almost definitely. There is an outside chance for additional terrain to open Saturday and a much better chance for Sunday.

What a rollercoaster ride lately! I went in this morning on my day off to do some riding and couldn't believe my eyes when I drove in. I fully expected to see all trails but Extreme and Sasquatch open and what I say stunned me. The warm temperatures and showers last night into this morning combined with the water saturated snow to cause melting at a rate I have never seen. The groomers said they could watch the snow melt last night. On the plus side, the snow was really fast but still grippy enough to get an edge in. The forecast is all over the place for the next few days. I just noticed they have posted a winter storm watch now with the possibility for a few inches of wet snow/ice between rain events tonight and Wednesday night. I guess we will just have to ride it out and see what happens. By the end of the week, the weather seems to get cold for more than a couple nights so we should be able to make more snow.

Right now it looks like we will be able to make some snow on Friday night and Saturday night. The rain is predicted to move out by 7am on Friday morning. We will give it a few hours to dry out then try and clean it up with the groomers and hopefully be open by the afternoon on Friday. To answer the questions about opening, we compare opening dates by the day that the aerial lifts open. Since this was the first year for the hike park, we will have to have a stat for that.

Thanks for all the ideas. I will talk with the park crew and snowmakers to get their input. Runoff is an issue, but we have drainage swales all over the mountain to direct the water off the trail so it does not undermine the snow. The water is then channeled through off-trail swales into our ponds. If we directed water into the swales, it should not be an issue. Sanchezz is correct, typically the snow glazes over and water just runs off without doing too much damage to the snow. This is also one of the reasons we do not groom prior to rain events. This time, the rain came after a few days of warm temperatures even during overnight periods and the snow did not have a chance to develop a crust. We could just move to New Orleans where it is snowing right now.

That is a good question. Each 24 hour session costs us about $16,000 in labor and electric. That figure does not account for any other equipment costs, fuel for the snowmobiles and cats or depreciation on capital purchases. Over a 24 hour period with a 24F wetbulb, we can make approximately 57 acre feet of snow (enough snow to cover 57 acres with 1 foot of snow). I would estimate that we will lose approximately 60 to 80 acre feet of snow from today's rain. This is on the high end for winter rain events due to the relatively high temperature of the rain and the air and the extended duration of the event. Using 80 acre feet as our loss estimate, we will lose $22,456 in snow today. This does not account for lost revenue as a result of the closure which could be considerable. I have not investigated the cost of tarps to cover a trail or piles, but tarps to cover the magic carpets in the summer, 700' x 5', ran about $3,000 each. Our average trail width here is nearly 300' so you can see that this could add up pretty quick. The other issue would be storage and the logistics of deploying the tarps in a timely manner. I am definitly open to suggestions if anyone has ideas.

Bad news, the rain is forecast to take a short break late tonight through early Thursday morning but then start up again and continue through 3am Friday. Until the rain stops, we are unable to groom without accelerating the snow loss. In an attempt to keep as much snow as we possibly can, we will be closed again on Thursday, December 11th. Thanks for your patience while we attempt to work a deal with mother nature. Ahhh, the joys of mid-Atlantic winters!