Monday, April 30, 2007

Mountain Biking Update

The dirt on our lower lot is finally dry! A crew will be here this weekend to start mapping out the new trails. As soon as that's done we'll begin building. The plan is to construct loops that will accommodate beginner through advanced riders. There will be signage and trail maps available. These trails will be absolutely free to the public!

If you want to be the first to hear when the trails open, we'll send a free message straight to your cell phone! Just text the word DEALS to 95495.

Watch the website and this blog for more updates as the project gets moving.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Clean Up Day

Today is our semi-annual clean up day here at Powderhorn. All 25 or so of us gather up to pick up all the trash around the lodge, parking lots, and our stretch of highway we've "adopted". Personally, I like clean up days because we get outside and chat plus we have some pretty good stories about the different items we find. Usually everyone compares how much loose change they found and determine a winner. Mud-caked quarters are like gold! We also find out who has the best listen-to-what-I-found story. I recall the winner from last year found a fully loaded soggy baby diaper. Just a tip- if you find a plastic bag full of something, it's best just to throw it in your bag...don't inspect it!

After the campus and highway are spotless we all meet up at the restaurant for an amazing lunch (after scrubbing our hands like we're going into surgery). Then somehow we must find the strength to get some work done for the rest of the afternoon.

Side note: the Alpine Trader and Wildewood Restaurant are opening soon! Check out www.powderhorn.com for the full details. We'll start building the mountain bike trails as soon as it gets dry around here. And there is an exciting summer announcement on the horizon but I've been warned to bite my tounge for just a bit longer...I'll blog on it as soon as they remove the duct tape from my mouth!

Monday, April 23, 2007

Music Downloads

Have you ever been watching a ski or snowboard movie and wanted the soundtrack for your iPod, yet can never find info on it? You end up googling the 3 words that are stuck in your head from the song....but to no avail. Problem solved! Check out this website http://lcymeeke.nobody.jp/snow_mp3/

You'll find artist and song titles on full soundtracks from just about any ski, snowboard, or telemark video. Many of the songs can be downloaded on iTunes right from this site. I just filled up my iPod the other day and now I'm torturing myself with music that makes me think about skiing...but it's worth it!

Above the Clouds

Every once in awhile the valley below the resort gets socked in with clouds. But Powderhorn sits just high enough to make it look like you're in an airplane. Here are a few pictures from this morning.








Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Spring Into Fashion

First Take Productions and Powderhorn present the "Spring Into Fashion" auction and fashion show to benefit Community in Action. This is going to be a really fun event. The evening includes a silent auction, social hour with cocktails & hors d'oeuvres, fashion show with professional models, and after party with entertainment by rising country star Kelly J.

Tons of sponsors, national designers, and professional models will make this one party you don't want to miss!

(click to enlarge)

Monday, April 16, 2007

Recycling

During the 06-07 season, we launched the biggest recycling program Powderhorn has ever had. Our business is to promote fun outdoors and is dependent on the environment, so we are making more efforts to reduce our impact.

We now recycle office paper, aluminium, plastic, glass, newspaper, brochures & trail maps, cardboard, grease, oil, and even our old uniforms. Recycling used uniforms is a great program. We ship loads of coats and vests to the National Ski Areas Association where they are distributed to those that are in need of warm clothes throughout the world. We are in the process of adding new programs to continue to reduce our environmental impact.

This is an area where we all need to make a greater effort! Here are some practical things to try:

- Turn off electronic devices when you are not using them. Don't leave lights on around the house. Turn off & unplug devices when on vacation. This will help your bill as well!
-Avoid products with a lot of packaging. This can cut garbage by 10%.
- Adjust your thermostat up a couple degrees this summer. You could save 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this small adjustment!
- Change those lights! You've probably heard of the "curly" fluorescent light bulbs. They last much longer than regular bulbs and can be purchased in bulk at Sam's Club with great savings!
- Check your airconditioner filters this spring!
- Don't leave your car running. It's a myth that it takes more fuel to restart your car then leave it idle.

Want to find out what your Environmental Footprint is? Mine shocked me! Go to http://www.myfootprint.org/

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Snow Day

It looks like winter again! We've got a couple inches here at the base area and it's snowing quite hard. You wouldn't really guess this is April but Colorado is famous for spring storms. Check out the webcam to get the view of one last look at winter.

The animals are all over the place lately. A fox ran past the front of the lodge a few minutes ago. I scrambled to snap this picture...

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Turkey Crossing

Sorry it's been awhile since the last post but I was out of town getting a little more skiing in before the entire season is over. We had some visitors to the lodge the other day. These pictures were snapped by our IT Manager as he watched these Wild Turkeys walk right up to his door.






Thursday, April 05, 2007

Moose Sighting

This is how our CFO and HR Director were greeted this morning....

The momma moose and calf have been spotted around the Powderhorn entrance a couple times now. Thanks for posing for the picture!

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Statistically Speaking

I'm a nerd. And if you are too, you'll find this kind of thing interesting. We run TONS of reports at the end of the season to find out where people came from, what they bought, how many times the average person skis, etc etc

We can also see the geographic location of visitors to our website. Did you know that when you visit a website, the owner of that site can see what town you live in, what pages people viewed each day, how long you were on the site, how you got to the site (google, msn, etc), and even which Internet service you use. Hmmm...sounds very Big Brother doesn't it?

Here are a few of our website statistics from the 06-07 season:

63% of you are returning visitors, 37% are new visitors

Our Top 5 pages are: Home page, Ticket Prices, Trail Map, Snow Report, and Mtn. Info

Most of you type
www.powderhorn.com in directly to get to the site while other Top Sources are Google, www.coloradoski.com, and msn.

65% of visitors to our site are from Colorado. Other Top States are Texas, California, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Utah.

Of the Colorado folks, 68% are from the Western Slope, 25% from the Front Range, and 7% Other.

Top Countries (outside of US) are the United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, and Germany.


You're probably bored now....but that's just scratching the surface of my little geek center here!