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State of the Mountain 1/17/25

Welcome back to your MLK Weekend edition of State of the Mountain. Let’s jump right into the topic on many of your minds: Castlerock. We made significant progress on the lift this past week, but there’s still some more electrical work to complete and sensors to swap out before it can be inspected. We want to be spinning Castlerock as much as you do, but it will continue to remain accessible via hiking access only through this weekend. While there is certainly a contingent of skiers who prefer hiking access, we know for many of you this is a major disappointment. The bottom line: we wanted to have this done sooner, it wasn’t able to happen, and we are truly sorry. We will continue to provide updates as the work continues.

The team is working hard and the resort as a whole continues our recruiting efforts to add additional lift mechanics to the staff through things like signing bonuses, raised pay, using recruiters and paid ads, and continuing to offer training to mechanics through Alterra Mountain Company’s partnership with Colorado Mountain College’s lift maintenance training program.

Conditions Outlook

If you’ve been out on the hill at all over the last week, you’d know that conditions are nothing short of phenomenal. We’ve now received over four feet of snow since the start of the month and though most of it has been light, fluffy, and not great for base building, enough of it eventually transforms conditions beyond the first couple of pow laps each day. Starting tomorrow, 100% of our terrain will Conditions for the weekend are looking pretty good too. Saturday is going to be warmer, with temps in the upper 20s and mid 30s with a chance for some snow showers later in the day. Then on Sunday temps fall back down into the teens and low 20s with the potential for some more snow showers. Monday might require some extra layers, as we see the mercury drop to around zero at the summit and single digits in the base. With these temperature swings comes the potential for some higher winds, so be sure to keep an eye on the snow report throughout the day for any updates with wind holds.

Grooming excitement on the hill includes Ripcord, Paradise Extension (snowmaking finishing on Lower Ripcord, more on that below), and Sugar Run at tonight, and a Stein’s, Hotshot, and Waterfall groom last night. Of course the grooming fleet will be out in full force over the next few days smoothing out plenty of regular suspects.

Snowmaking

Right now the snowmaking crews are focused on finishing up Organgrinder and Lower Ripcord. Once we get through the aforementioned brief Saturday warm-up, our attention will turn to Stein’s Run and Coffee Run. Further out, we’ll hit Birdland before getting refreshes on Downspout, Snowball, and Spring Fling as we prep for another hopeful journey into the beginning of May. That should just about take care of Lincoln Peak outside of any potential touch ups. The one trail currently not in the plans is Sunrise where there’s an air leak, which a repair to would affect operations over there for a bit.

As for snowmaking at Mt. Ellen, thanks to a number of upgrades to that infrastructure over the past several seasons, we’ve completed our operations over there for the winter. We were able to make just as much snow as last season in a much shorter time and coverage is looking great across that mountain.

Parks

The Parks Team continues to add features to Riemergasse, which is now fully open top to bottom as of last weekend. Sugar Run is getting groomed out tonight and should be fun over the weekend before the team works to install features to be ready for the middle of next week.

Events and Initiatives

Finally, there are a ton of great events happening over the next couple of days, from live music, to torchlight, to courtyard entertainers and beyond. Plus an incredible New Orleans-based band, The Rumble, will be bringing the late night party Saturday night in Gate House from 7:00 – 10:00 PM.

We’re also really excited to be expanding our festivities to more meaningfully celebrate MLK Weekend and what it stands for. We’re welcoming back Harlan Mack, a Johnson, VT based artist and creator of the newly installed Bola Ace moose sculpture located in the Lincoln Peak Base Area. He’ll be doing a meet and greet on Sunday from 2:00 – 4:00 PM in Rumble’s before walking everyone up to the moose to talk about the piece and the inspiration behind it.

There’s also a fundraising promotion for the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV.) Sugarbush and the AALV have had a close relationship for the last several years through the Share Winter Foundation, a non-profit grantmaking organization that provides resources, advocacy, and community support for youth learn-to-ski and -snowboard programs. To help continue and expand the AALV’s mission of helping new Americans settle in Vermont, Ikon Base Pass holders, who are typically unable to use their pass during the MLK holiday, will be able to unlock their pass, for both Saturday and Sunday,  by donating just $99 to the AALV. The AALV will also be on resort Sunday sharing more about their incredible work.

With plenty of fun to be had this weekend, the MLK holiday is shaping up to be a fun time for all. We can’t wait to celebrate with you.

See you on the mountain.