Sometimes it’s too easy to get lost in the long hours of snowmaking. Juggling a twelve hour shift seven days a week with any length of commute back to home life or en route to the next job, for time spent with family and friends, or to enjoy a decent meal before sleep and the alarm sounds again. What we compromise is the play that brought us here in the first place: skiing and riding. What we hold is the magic that keeps us coming back: making snow.

From a very young age, I knew this mountain as a second home. The feeling of connection and calm that a deep breath of this mountain air subsides. The opportunity of exploration and adventure within miles and miles of forested acreage and sloped terrain. The open sky and bird’s eye view atop the summit of Challenge. The beauty of streaming water, like splayed fountains, that form the village of frozen castles adorned with dribbled icicles along the backside of the school hill pond. The smell of machine exhaust and sweat on papa miser’s clothes after a long day on the slopes, boots wet, eyes tired.

Still today, that feeling continues. What each of us appreciates about our second home is personal and unique, and plays its own role of inspiration that keeps us coming back.

Now, we’re in the thick of it. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Two full crews, shifts set around the clock, blowing snow, grooming trails, slopes officially open seven days a week. Our bodies are adjusting. Our families are forgiving, as we run this race in a sprint to open as many trails as quickly as possible while the temperatures lay low.

Green to white.

Dump ’em out.

 

New miser, frosted.

Nate works to remove pipe fittings.

Ricky fixes automated hydrant pieces.

• Vista
• Midway
• Come Around
• Lower Main Street
• Lazy Mile
• Upper Main Street
• Connector
• Summit School Hill

 

Fan gun, go.

‘Round the clock.

Again, we thank Mother Nature as we continue blowing snow and making magic. We invite you to join us, and enjoy the show.

See you on the slopes, every day,

the snowmisers