Thursday, November 29, 2007

Dance Dance

Alright everybody..I'm rallying the troops here! It's time to do a collective Snow Dance. How about 8:00 tonight, dance your little heart out! This storm that's coming in could drop at least 20 inches here on the mesa. Check out this link for the forecast:

Grand Mesa Weather

Only our snowmaking crew will be here this weekend so I plan to call them each day and ask for updates. If I can get updates I'll post about it on the blog so check it out! Happy dancing....

Grand Junction Parade of Lights

The Parade of Lights is this Saturday on Main Street in GJ starting at 5pm. We'll be there! Hope you will too. Powderhorn is the 10th entry so look for us as the parade gets started. We'll be passing out coupons for free hot chocolate and coffee from the Sunset Grille as well as $5 off ski/snowboard tunes from the Rental Shop. There will be a healthy dose of candy going around too.

All week we've been trying to come up with a way to pull skiers behind our Subaru....so far we haven't come up with anything that is reasonably safe or practical. If you have an idea, let us know!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Snow Update

If you were headed to work anytime around 7:00 this morning, you saw the huge pile of clouds sitting on the mesa. It did indeed bring us some snow. I measured about 3 inches here at the base area through a highly technical system of sticking a ruler in the snow. Up top they actually used the official snow stake which recorded 4 inches of new snow. It would probably be more but the wind was blowing pretty hard last night. Here are some pictures just snapped this morning...







Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Town Tickets

We all just got out of a meeting where we've decided to bring town tickets back to Grand Junction. I know a lot of you have been asking about this. This season you will be able to purchase Adult, Student, and Senior lift tickets in town at Traz, Board & Buckle, Gene Taylor's, Sports Authority, and the Ramada Inn. These won't have a special discount or anything but they will be direct-to-lift tickets so there is a huge convenience factor. No waiting in any ticket lines here at the mountain! Plus you can purchase these as gifts. It will be another week before they are available at these locations so please don't head to the shops just yet.

On a totally different note- have you seen this month's SKI Magazine? There is a great article on the GEMS of Colorado including pictures and a story on Powderhorn. Make sure to check it out!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Snowmaking is Underway

A blog reader asked if snowmaking operations are underway yet.
Yep!



It's really hard to see on our webcam...mainly because it's a piece of junk. We're buying a new fancy webcam that will give higher resolution shots and be much more reliable. All 3 news stations will be at Powderhorn this week with different stories. So look for those as there will be snowmaking updates.

Snow Squall

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Kudos to those of you that braved the malls and department stores!

A little random storm just passed by the mountain this morning. There was nothing forecast however some clouds stopped by and dropped about an inch of big fluffy flakes in a very short amount of time. The forecast this week is calling for snow Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

Just to try and keep the rumors under control, we are still planning to open December 6th. If that changes you'll hear about it straight from us via the website, blog, and press releases. So until then, don't believe anything else you hear :)

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Finally!

We finally received a little love from Mother Nature. Now I haven't seen it myself as I'm not even in Colorado, but I hear we got about 2-3 inches at the base and much more on top. Cold temperatures have helped snowmaking get under way as well. Keep snow dancing...it could really pay off.

And a big Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow from all the folks at Powderhorn!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Bus is Back

Hallelujah! Bus service from Grand Junction to Powderhorn is back for another season. You might be wondering what the 'hallelujah' was all about. We weren't certain until recently that bus service would be offered again this year. Laidlaw was bought out this fall by Students First. With all the changes, they were unsure that they would be able to provide the service this season. But they're making it happen for which we are very grateful. Click here for the schedule and prices.

Now...envision the voice of your stern grandmother for this....Please keep in mind that any shenanagins on the bus will make you unwelcome on the bus and at Powderhorn. We want to keep this service available to everyone so please don't abuse it!

p.s. please don't forget to do your daily snow dance today :)

Monday, November 19, 2007

Flight for Life Training

We prepare for the ski season in every way possible. Our ski patrollers are in training all day today covering various scenarios. Our friends at St. Mary's Hospital are important partners in the pre-season training. The St. Mary's Flight for Life just landed here at the mountain for their annual practice and training with our ski patrol. It's rare that the helicopter needs to visit the mountain, but we make sure we're prepared when they do. It takes about 11 minutes for the helicopter to get from St. Mary's to Powderhorn. When the helicopter arrives, our patrollers have the patient ready and load as soon as possible depending on the patient's condition. If it's extremely critical, the flight crew can touch down and our patrollers will have the patient on the way to the hospital in a matter of seconds.


Skiing & snowboarding are (in our opinions) the best of the outdoor sports but it can be dangerous too. It's good to know that if something should happen, you're in good hands!












They must have gotten a call because the crew just took off after only being here about 15 minutes. Always on call!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Orientation

The Sunset Grille is packed today as almost all our seasonal employees and managers are on hand for orientation. This is the day where we introduce new employees to the mountain and talk about policies, guest services, start training, etc. It means that ski season is almost here!

Now if Mother Nature would just cooperate we'd be all set. It looks like this Sunday the jet stream is going to sink down into Arizona and New Mexico which is exactly what we want to see. Lows for the Grand Mesa are forecasted to be zero to 10 degrees. Perfect for making snow. I know some of you are getting antsy and worried. We still plan to open December 6th. It's too early to tell if that would need to change. A Thanksgiving storm should help us out a lot. So it's not time to worry yet! Of course I will let you know as it develops here on the mountain. This will be the first place to see snowmaking pictures and both natural/man-made accumulations. Once we figure out how to use the video camera and edit, we'll get video up on the site as well.

Welcome all 2007-08 Powderhorn employees!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

It's Not You, It's Me

If you've been trying to get on our website this morning and have had no luck....it's not your computer, it's our server. We apologize, the site is down for 3 hours while we move it to another server. From what I hear, the server it was living on "freaked out." It should be back up and running by noon today. I realize some of you might be trying to order Plus Cards since today is typically the last day BUT we've pushed back the deadline to December 1st. If you'd like to order one today you can call us at 970-268-5700. Otherwise you can order it online as soon as the site is on the new server.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Sick of the Sun

About this time of year we really don't want the sunny skies as much as you would like in say....July. It's been sunny, warm, and dry all across the state for weeks on end now. Here at the mountain our forecast is calling for upper 40s to even 50 for the next several days. This really puts a damper on ski season stoke. For the record, we are still planning for an on-time opening of December 6th and we still plan to start snowmaking this week.

As you can imagine, we watch the weather pretty closely up here. We have several websites that we watch for current satellite images and other maps to see if we can expect anything in the next few days. It's an interesting science but it can also drive you crazy. It's all worth it though when you see the jet stream drop and a low pressure heading for western Colorado.

Here are some good sites if you want to be a fellow weather tracker.
http://www.accuweather.com/
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/sitemap.html

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Denver Ski & Snowboard Expo

If you live on the front range or happen to be in Denver this weekend, don't miss the Ski & Snowboard Expo! It's at the Colorado Convention Center downtown. Visit the Powderhorn booth for 2 for $49 lift ticket deal. These don't have any blackouts and they're totally transferable.

Open: Friday, Nov. 9: Noon - 10PM
Saturday, Nov. 10: 10AM - 8PM
Sunday, Nov. 11: 10AM - 6PM


**Bring a new or gently used coat to donate to those less fortunate and
receive a $3 off EXPO admission coupon (optional)
Admission: Adults $10; Children under 12 are FREE.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Mountain Update

Now that we've all gotten settled in our new offices, we can refocus on the push to opening day. We open in exactly 1 month! While it's been a little warmer than normal for this time of year, it looks like a cold front will slide in on Sunday. The low forecast for the mesa Sunday night is only 12 degrees so we should be on schedule to start snowmaking the week of the 12th.

The pace has definitely picked up. The amount of Starbucks cups I see in the trash rises as the number of days to Opening Day decreases. As I've said before, people always ask me what it takes to open for ski season. It's a little more than turning on the lifts. Last week we completed our last round of lift inspections to get the final 'go' to host public for ski season. The rental shop managers have arrived to start sorting out their inventory. They had a little hickup though as they found their computer had gotten fried over the summer do to a lightning strike. Our IT manager is burning roughly 10,000 calories per day right now running around the mountain checking ticketing systems, replacing computers, and (as always) answering our wonderful questions. Did you know a computer technically has to be plugged into an outlet in order to work? In marketing we are wrapping up our travels to various ski shows, setting up sponsor and advertising contracts, planning events, and watching the occasional ski video....for inspiration of course. The ladies of the Alpine Trader are once again buried in merchandise. And the ticket office is consuming large amounts of chocolate to keep them sane as they print pass after pass. If you have a request for our ticket manager right now you have to knock on the door, hand her chocolate, make your request, smile, and bow before you leave.

This post is getting a little long so I'll wrap it up. But start those snow dances! Just make sure you do it in appropriate places, unlike this guy...

Monday, November 05, 2007

Wheelin & Dealin

As the alarm went off at 5:30am on Saturday I laid there wondering why I had to get up at such a rediculous hour on a Saturday. Ah, the ski swap! It's much easier to get out of bed that early when it's skiing related. Many of you showed up bright...or dark...and early this year to snag all the great deals. It's always exciting for us to see familiar faces again and to talk about our hopes of powder for the upcoming season. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth to pickup a Plus Card or have their pass photo taken. I saw many of you snag amazing deals as well. By the end of the show, merchandise was marked down to 75% off!

Getting ready for the season at the Powderhorn booth

The family on the left has the right idea- get the kids up high to scout for the best deals.
Eightch Snowboards- locally owned quality snowboards. Look for their tent at Powderhorn this season!

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Want a Job with FREE Skiing?

Who doesn't right? New this year, Powderhorn employees ski/ride free all season at 17 resorts! You can be an official ski bum this season only you won't have to live in a van down by the river.

We are hiring for tons of full and part time winter positions. Everything from dishwashers to ski patrol to snow makers. If you are interested please come to our Job Fair:

Nov. 10
9am-noon
Powderhorn Base Lodge

Bring photo ID and social security card. If we like you, we'll hire you on the spot!

And now the good stuff. You will ski/ride FREE all season at Powderhorn and: Crested Butte, Telluride, Steamboat, Snowmass, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands, Copper Mountain, Winter Park, Durango Mtn, Monarch, Sunlight, Ski Cooper, Loveland, A Basin, SolVista, and Eldora