After opening with just upper mountain terrain for a couple days with downloading on Super Bravo, we were quick to get open a full top-to-bottom route. The snowmaking teams pumped snow on Valley House Traverse, Snowball, and Spring Fling just in time for this recent storm to hit us with 6″ of fresh snow and before the weekend crowds rolled in. Skiing Spring Fling on Friday was some of the best conditions you get on that trail. Nice and soft early. Though Saturday was a bit tricky operationally given all the wind and limited terrain, there were plenty of smiles and fun turns that I saw when up there.
Now that we have a full route down, our snowmaking teams will move to the next phase of terrain expansion: beginner trails. With this string of cold temperatures coming in for the next week plus, we have ample opportunity to start getting some beginner terrain online. The benefits are two-fold. Not only do we get terrain open for all ability levels, it also allows different skill groups to enjoy their own designated areas. When you have beginners, intermediates, and experts all sharing a trail, it can make for some tricky maneuvering for everyone involved. Once we have some beginner terrain open, it should move that group off of the intermediate/expert trails for the most part and provide a better overall experience.
Once that’s through, we’ll likely return to the Lincoln Peak/Gadd Peak sections of the mountain, with the goal to start providing multiple routes down the hill. The more options the merrier. As for natural terrain, we’ll need more snow before that’s considered. For what it’s worth, we typically always open Spillsville as the first natural terrain trail. So keep an eye on how it’s looking as you ride Heaven’s Gate, and it should give you a good idea of where natural snow trails stand.