saratogahalfday
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2020
LIMITED OPENING DECEMBER 26
Greetings from Londonderry,
It's been quite the week with even more r**n than predicted and the continual struggle to get consistently cold temperatures to optimize snowmaking to open.
While flood waters closed Route 11 in Londonderry on Monday, we are thankful that small businesses in the downtown area didn't have to go through the extensive building damage as happened in July, just after finally getting open again. Up here on the mountain we had water running every where, a culvert or two again clogged, but no major damage other than the loss of all natural snow and erosion to some of our prior snowmaking piles. Just another obstacle to overcome as we continue the fight to get back to normal operations after the damage done this summer. Kudos to our team here at Magic and their can-do, "whatever it takes" attitude! And, we hope you all came through the storm in good shape as it swept up the east coast.
The snowmaking team started up almost immediately the night after the storm stopped--mostly up top from the summit down Upper Magic Carpet and down Medium to Sunshine Corner--as temperatures for making snow have been marginal at best all week down low until last night finally. And, it's been more start and stop with mid-day warm ups halting production. The current cold window ends on Saturday morning just as we've started on the lower half, and doesn't return until Friday next week. So it will be almost impossible to connect the dots down low for chairlift skiing on 12/26.
Therefore, our plan is to make the best of what mother-nature has thrown at us and open the Nelson Family Learning Center for lessons on Dec 26th as well as the terrain park handle tow area for anyone who wants to take some turns on that slope—there will also be three rails set up on the side for a "mini-park" there! Those lifts will run 10a-4p. We will know more Saturday midday after running the system through the night again on Show Off, the terrain park slope, learning area, and also starting up on Wand from Sunshine Corner and let you know if anything changes. The Tavern will be open for food/bevs, music, entertainment and fun all week as well. The ticket office opens by 9am on 12/26.
Our snowmaking team will be out trying to get us to chairlift skiing some time for New Year's weekend if at all possible as soon as those cold windows happen. We just need to get by another wet system mid-next week. A better pattern change is coming around the New Year so keep the faith!
Lifts: Once we get enough snow down, both Red and Green Lifts are ready-to-go, with the new Black Line Quad not far behind. Pfister's crew has been here all week installing tower safety switches, and they have a little more work to complete that next week, plus connecting the electric drive to those safety switches so we can then start to put the lift though her paces. Expecting the Quad will be ready when we need it in two weeks.
In closing, I really tip my hat to our mountain ops team working day and night trying at every little opportunity to make some Magic happen for us all. In addition, there has been a lot of work implementing new ticketing and food & beverage systems for this new ski season--change is never easy, but our staff is focused on delivering a better experience for you in all aspect of what Magic has to offer.
This has been a challenging journey since last summer and on behalf of everyone at Magic, we thank you for being with us and supporting this independent ski venture. We wish you and yours a joyous holiday season, a Merry Christmas, and good fortune and tons of great skiing in the New Year!
Keeping the soul in skiing,
Geoff
Geoff Hatheway
Magic Mountain Ski Area
Where Skiing Still Has Its Soul
___________
Greetings from Londonderry,
It's been quite the week with even more r**n than predicted and the continual struggle to get consistently cold temperatures to optimize snowmaking to open.
While flood waters closed Route 11 in Londonderry on Monday, we are thankful that small businesses in the downtown area didn't have to go through the extensive building damage as happened in July, just after finally getting open again. Up here on the mountain we had water running every where, a culvert or two again clogged, but no major damage other than the loss of all natural snow and erosion to some of our prior snowmaking piles. Just another obstacle to overcome as we continue the fight to get back to normal operations after the damage done this summer. Kudos to our team here at Magic and their can-do, "whatever it takes" attitude! And, we hope you all came through the storm in good shape as it swept up the east coast.
The snowmaking team started up almost immediately the night after the storm stopped--mostly up top from the summit down Upper Magic Carpet and down Medium to Sunshine Corner--as temperatures for making snow have been marginal at best all week down low until last night finally. And, it's been more start and stop with mid-day warm ups halting production. The current cold window ends on Saturday morning just as we've started on the lower half, and doesn't return until Friday next week. So it will be almost impossible to connect the dots down low for chairlift skiing on 12/26.
Therefore, our plan is to make the best of what mother-nature has thrown at us and open the Nelson Family Learning Center for lessons on Dec 26th as well as the terrain park handle tow area for anyone who wants to take some turns on that slope—there will also be three rails set up on the side for a "mini-park" there! Those lifts will run 10a-4p. We will know more Saturday midday after running the system through the night again on Show Off, the terrain park slope, learning area, and also starting up on Wand from Sunshine Corner and let you know if anything changes. The Tavern will be open for food/bevs, music, entertainment and fun all week as well. The ticket office opens by 9am on 12/26.
Our snowmaking team will be out trying to get us to chairlift skiing some time for New Year's weekend if at all possible as soon as those cold windows happen. We just need to get by another wet system mid-next week. A better pattern change is coming around the New Year so keep the faith!
Lifts: Once we get enough snow down, both Red and Green Lifts are ready-to-go, with the new Black Line Quad not far behind. Pfister's crew has been here all week installing tower safety switches, and they have a little more work to complete that next week, plus connecting the electric drive to those safety switches so we can then start to put the lift though her paces. Expecting the Quad will be ready when we need it in two weeks.
In closing, I really tip my hat to our mountain ops team working day and night trying at every little opportunity to make some Magic happen for us all. In addition, there has been a lot of work implementing new ticketing and food & beverage systems for this new ski season--change is never easy, but our staff is focused on delivering a better experience for you in all aspect of what Magic has to offer.
This has been a challenging journey since last summer and on behalf of everyone at Magic, we thank you for being with us and supporting this independent ski venture. We wish you and yours a joyous holiday season, a Merry Christmas, and good fortune and tons of great skiing in the New Year!
Keeping the soul in skiing,
Geoff
Geoff Hatheway
Magic Mountain Ski Area
Where Skiing Still Has Its Soul
___________
