As a big baseball fan, one of my favorite movie clips of all time is from Major League II when Coach Lou Brown educates the team on what a winning streak is.
Classic. That’s basically how I feel writing this blog right now. We’re looking at three potential days full of wins in a row. After a slower start to the season than we wanted, it’s a welcome 180. Today we essentially doubled our open terrain, with 43 trails and 164 acres of skiing. We dropped ropes on basically every trail off of Super Bravo/Valley House with the exception of Stein’s Run. That’s a win.
The Second Win
Tomorrow we’re set to essentially double our trails and acreage again when we welcome Mt. Ellen to the party. We expect to open just about everything, which is going to bring our trail count up around 80. The first chair faithful will once again be rewarded with free breakfast sandwiches and high fives in the lift line with GMX set to spin at 8:00 AM. Summit will then open at 9:00 AM and we hope North Ridge will open later in the day once it passes its final inspection (alongside Friday inspections for Heaven’s Gate and Inverness as well). Plus, don’t miss the Night Crawlers Rail Jam over there tomorrow night. That all equates to the second win.
The Third Win
Then finally, our newest member of the family, the Heaven’s Gate Quad, is set to open on Saturday. We’ll be starting our 8:00 AM openings as of Saturday (along with 7:30 AM Early Ups), so Super Bravo will be opening then, but we’ll be opening Heaven’s Gate at 9:00 AM so that we all have an hour to celebrate together and build up the vibes at the bottom before loading the lift. While we’re preparing to spin the lift, DJ Black Diamond will be spinning tables in the lift line. Then starting Sunday, Heaven’s Gate will be open at 8:00 AM alongside Bravo on weekends and holidays per usual. With exact terrain to be determined tomorrow, it’s likely we’ll drop most of the ropes up there. There’s your three game winning streak.
Of course, operations aren’t just stopping there. We’ll be assessing Castlerock and North Lynx terrain for potential hiking again this weekend. Our snowmaking team continues to expand to new terrain with trails like Lower Organgrinder and Cruiser next on the list. The Parks crew revamped their base area park, which debuts tomorrow. And the lift mechanics continue to get more lifts ready to spin.
For those of you who prefer to earn your turns, you’ll be stoked to know that all uphill routes will be open as of tomorrow. But of note is that the Gate House route will only be open to the top of Gate House until we officially open that North Lynx terrain back up. Keep an eye on the snow report for the latest.
Plus, don’t forget there’s a full calendar of events set from now through New Years. Corinne wrote a great blog laying it all out.
So get up here, rip some turns, make sure you’re tracking your vert for our Descent To Rise Above Challenge, and enjoy all the newly opened terrain. We’re rapidly moving into the winning streak now.