Ah, Mother Nature you fickle mistress you. After what has been undoubtedly one of the better starts to a season in recent memory from a conditions perspective, it’s finally our turn in line to ride the weather rollercoaster. We’re welcoming in a bit of weather whiplash with temps that climbed into the 40s today and some of that lovely pre-frozen precipitation before plummeting into the single digits. Yes, that’s going to leave things a bit firm on the hill, but there are some silver linings here.
First off, the rain is already switching over to snow as I write this at 2:30 PM, and we may catch a couple more inches of snow on the backside of this weather tonight with a chance for snow showers throughout the rest of the weekend. But looking beyond that, we’ve got our eyes on multiple snow events next week, which if they play out right could result in 6-10″ of fresh. And hey, this flash freeze will really help lock in a base for the rest of the season. Plus, as we say so long to the rain, it’s with a now refilled snowmaking pond. Keep those fingers crossed, we may bounce back from this thaw/freeze a lot faster than originally thought.
Terrain-wise, we’ve been in a snow preservation pattern today with closing all of our natural terrain. With the freeze incoming we’ll be reassessing some of that terrain for potential reopening but it could stay closed until the aforementioned new snow arrives. Thankfully the snowmaking teams have been nonstop so far this season, and we have a number of trails in great shape depth-wise, ready to get groomed out tonight for tomorrow’s opening. And once this warm front dissipates, we’ll be getting the guns going again on Sleeper and Sleeper Chutes at Lincoln Peak and Riemergasse at Mt. Ellen.
Speaking of Mt. Ellen, after today’s weather delayed it an extra day, we’re stoked to welcome it to the fold tomorrow morning. We’ll be spinning GMX at 8:00 AM and North Ridge and Summit at 9:00 AM. Plus, the first 100 guests in line will get free breakfast sandwiches! Get ’em while they’re hot. And elsewhere in lift news, we expect to have Village up and running sometime next week.
Finally, what would a holiday period be without a full slate of awesome events. From fireworks to Santa sightings to live music and so much more, our events team has a full slate of events you can review in Corinne’s blog.
So welcome to the (almost) holidays. We’re already in recovery mode from today’s warm-up, and with snow in the forecast, it’s shaping up to be a great end to 2025. Keep an eye on the snow report for new snow and trail openings.
See you on the mountain.