Monday, December 31, 2007

Pictures for Passes

I'm guessing you could use a free season pass for next year? Or maybe some free lift tickets for this season? I bet you would take almost anything that's free right?

Snap some pictures of you, your friends, and/or your family out having fun at Powderhorn. Email them to shoot@powderhorn.com. Best pics (video is welcome too) will win tickets and other prizes. THE best picture of the whole season will win a season pass for next year. Tell your friends and have everyone vote for your pics.....may the best photo win!

Want the details sent straight to your cell phone? Just text 'SHOOT' to 95495.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Daily Sentinel Learn To Ski/Ride

Reservations are still open for the best Learn To program of the year!

This series is for first timers, new to the sports of skiing or snowboarding. Attend all 3 sessions and get a season pass FREE for the rest of the season! Participants must be first timers and must attend all 3 sessions to qualify for their season pass.

Intensive Series: January 2, 3, 4
Weekend Series: January 6, 13, 20
Cost: $250, includes lesson, lift & rental
Reservations required! Call 970-268-5700

December to Remember

Friday, December 28, 2007

12/28 Friday Feed

Get the latest on the great snow conditions and other happenings at Powderhorn right here

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Powder To the People

Wow! All this snow is unbelievable! I'm not currently in Colorado so I've been scoping out all the amazing pictures of everyone riding on Christmas day. I received a voicemail from a coworker yesterday that said, "Just wanted to tell you Merry Christmas and that you're missing one of the best days ever!"

I did some checking, and there are only 3 mountains in the entire state that have a better base than Powderhorn. Monarch has us beat by only a few inches and Silverton and Wolf Creek are the other two. If you ever want to see the stats on every mtn in Colorado check out www.coloradoski.com

Go skiing!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Just Shredding Some Christmas Cheer!!!




Sorry for the dry attempt at some humor but the snow is as dry as the joke and it's still coming down hard.
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Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas from Powderhorn

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For the Techies

As you're unwrapping your new iPhones this Christmas, take a test drive on the new Powderhorn mobile site! People much smarter than me have figured out how to make our site ready for your mobile devices. So now you can grab our snow report, updates, and news from your phone.

http://www.powderhorn.com/mobile

Merry Christmas

With more snow expected tonight and tomorrow, it looks like we have a very white Christmas in store for you! Up to 6 more inches possible! What a great present.

On behalf of all the staff at Powderhorn, we'd like to say Merry Christmas and thank you for being our guests. We hope you have a great time with family and friends!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Dry Powder

It's definitely going to be a white Christmas here at Powderhorn. We've had another foot of snow in the last couple days and it's wonderfully dry powder....of the champagne nature. Cold air and no wind has made for perfectly fluffy conditions. Here are a few pictures shot this morning:






Friday, December 21, 2007

12/21 Friday Feed

Here is the Friday Feed for today.

It's snowing steadily right now and should continue all day. See you on the slopes!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Caffeine Please!

We're doing everything we can to prepare for the thousands of sugared-up kids that'll be at the mountain this weekend. We can feel the breeze all the way up here from the doors of District 51 bursting open. It's a great time. We love seeing everyone excited to be skiing & riding. We just have to get a little help from Mr. Starbucks in order to keep up. I plan on getting an intravenous line to pump caffeine as needed. I figure it'll be cheaper in the long run verses $5 triple shot lattes.

We look forward to seeing you during the Christmas break and hope you have a great time with your family and friends!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

From the Lift

You get to see and hear some great things from the chairlift. I guess part of the entertainment of the chair ride is watching others. This is why our terrain park is strategically placed below the main lift. It's purely for entertainment purposes.

The other day some of us were riding up the quad and saw a mono-skier coming down Powderkeg. A kid about 15 years old (too young to remember mono-skis) said, "Whoa what is that?" To which the mono-skier replied, "Hard." What a great answer.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Got a Question?

If you ever have questions about the why and how we do things here at Powderhorn just drop a line to ski@powderhorn.com. If you're happy about something, let us know. If you're angry about something, let us know! We're taking questions right now for this week's Friday Feed. Some of you have already emailed stuff in and though I've responded to you directly, I think others might be wondering the same thing so we'll address it on Friday as well.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Thanks and Giving

This holiday season we are partnering with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for the Thanks and Giving Campaign. Now through the New Year, you'll have an opportunity to donate $1 to this campaign at any of our checkout locations in the lodge. We are proud to support St. Jude's because they are the only pediatric cancer research center that pays for all treatment not covered by insurance, regardless of a family's ability to pay. Eighty-five cents of every dollar donated goes directly to patient care and research.

We encourage you to Give thanks for the healthy kids in your life, and give to those who are not.

Terrain Park Update

If you've been up here lately you've probably seen our terrain park crew busy digging underneath the lift. They have some exciting ideas for this season and are working hard to get new features put in. The recent snow has certainly helped them and they were able to get quite a few features up for this early in the season. Here are some of the things coming this season:

- C Rail will be back
- Step up box
- More urban rails
- His & Hers kicker
- New section on top of the mountain with rails and a hip
- Rainbow, trapezoid, kinked, and benches are all back this season

If you like to stay a little closer to the ground then you'll want to check out the Tyro Park on EZ. It will have smaller rails and jumps for those wanting to learn to jib and jump.

Keep in mind, the first park event will be here before you know it! New Year's Eve Rail Jam...only $5 to enter!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Wildewood Restaurant

If you've never checked out Wildewood Restaurant before you'r missing out! Look for our ad in tomorrow's Daily Sentinel for a Wildewood coupon. Chad and Tammy Entwistle have taken over this year and they do an amazing job! Both are great chefs and they take hospitality seriously.

Hours:
Mon-Thurs: 3pm-7pm
Friday: 3pm-9pm
Saturday: 11am-9pm (Steak Night 4-9pm)
Sunday: (Brunch) 10am-2pm (Game Day): 2pm-5pm

New this year at the Wildewood is the Bear's Den. This is the place to catch the game with happy hour food & drink specials.

Monday, December 10, 2007

History of Snowboarding

It Just Keeps Coming

The snow just keeps falling! Hey we're not complaining. It's snowing pretty heavily right now and there's no wind so it could pile up pretty quickly. Almost all of the mountain is open which is almost unheard of this time of year. The glades are skiing especially nice.

This picture was taken in Mad Dog Glade yesterday

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Opening Day Video

Here is a little video of the festivities yesterday. It's not Academy Award quality or anything but we'll get better at this as the season goes on.

Snow Report

Our snow report is published every day by 6:00am. You can check it online at www.powderhorn.com or call our snow phone at 970-268-5300. Please use that snow line and avoid calling our normal phone number for the snow report.

There are two of us that do the snow reporting here at Powderhorn. A lot of people ask me if I actually get up at 4am and drive to the mountain to do the report. No way! We take our sleep seriously so our system allows us to do it from home. The slope maintenance crew is here overnight until about 4:30am. They leave us a voicemail with snow stake readings, weather conditions, and the grooming list. All we have to do is listen to the message then record the snow phone message, update our website, and update the Colorado Ski Country site. When I do the report I get up around 5:30 and start right away. I'm usually sitting at my kitchen table in my PJs. It takes a huge glass of water to get the voice going for the day to record the message. So if we sound like we've been up for hours...we're doing a good job of fooling you.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Don't Read This

Why are you reading this....don't read this! Go skiing! :)

Welcome back for the 07-08 season! HAVE FUN!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Direct Hit

This storm was a direct hit! I'm typing this at 6:45 am and we've had a FOOT of snow over night and it's expected to continue. I'll get you updates and pictures by 10am.

What could be better than a powder day for opening day?

UPDATE: It's now 11:30am and we have 22" of new snow on top with a 33" base! I just spoke with a meteorologist who said we should get another 18" between today and tonight. There's drifts up here up to 4 feet deep. Everyone is grinning ear to ear right now. It's amazing!

UPDATE: 4:00pm
We will be opening all 3 lifts tomorrow, 90% of the mountain, and tickets will be full price. I got a run in today and it's really really really good!

Digging out the lift area



Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Snow? Yes Please

The forecast has some good news for us. We could get a foot of snow between now and Saturday. That would make for an extra fun opening day!




(click to enlarge)

If you'd like powder alerts and special deals sent straight to your cell phone, just text 'DEALS' to 95495. When it snows like crazy you'll be alerted right away and every so often we send out great deals just for those that are signed up. It's a free service from Powderhorn and we promise you won't be flooded with useless stuff.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Know the Lingo

This is a recycled post from last year. Readership on the blog has more than doubled since then (that's right I'm spying on you) so I thought some of you may enjoy this one.

BAFL- "Big Air, Flat Landing" which can result in an explosion of equipment and body parts
Boilerplate/Bulletproof- snow that is so hard you might as well trade in for ice skates
Fib- a horrible attempt at covering up a fall by saying "I caught an edge"
Gnar- one of those ambiguous terms that makes you sound intense "I was shredding the gnar" a.k.a I was really just sipping tea in the lodge
Coach- Psycho babble for instructor (Kate please don't yell at me :) )
Vermin- the easily spotted groups of skiers or snowboarders blocking access to a run, usually made up of "bros"
Bros- Fellow skiers and snowboarders living to slide the mountain. Females can be bros
Sick- an adjective used to describe anything whether it makes sense or not. Most often spoken in the terrain park. Various uses of the word also include Sicktastic
Throw Down- can be used in past or present tense. Usually just means you did or are about to do something- "I'm going to go throw down on that rail" a.k.a. I'm just gonna go ride that rail.
Disco Sticks- super short slalom and twin tip skis capable of very short turns
Expert- Someone who is lying about their abilities...usually at the bar...or while talking to a woman
Face Plant- A fall that happens so quick that your face is the first thing to make contact with snow
Trustafarian- a rich but rugged ski bum pretending to be poor
Code Zero- Ski School radio call for lost child (Not at Powderhorn though...we use Code Blue...just kidding)
Toilet Turns- sloppy turns made from a you-know-what kind of position
Snotsicle- frozen discharge of the nose
Ski Bum- someone who has found a great alternative to working
Extreme- should only be taken seriously when used on trail maps (Extreme Terrain) otherwise it's just a silly marketing word
Screaming Starfish- someone yelling for help while cartwheeling down the hill
Poodle Turns- show dog turns made by instructors even when not teaching (Kate is going to kill me)
Manky or Danky- the smell of polyester underwear after a day on the mountain
Kodak Courage- trying something you otherwise would never do just because your buddy has a camera
Minnow in the Net- when a child is caught in the orange fencing

Monday, December 03, 2007

Opening Update

I know many of you are wondering if Thursday is a 'go' or not. The weekend storm brought 8" of new snow to the base and our snow stake on top is reading 25 inches. We could have used the 25" at the base as well but we take what we get of course. Currently our ski patrol and mountain crews are on the slopes assessing the mountain. We'll have a meeting early this afternoon where the decision will be made whether or not we'll open Thursday. As soon as that decision is made you'll hear about it right here on this post, at http://www.powderhorn.com/, and press releases will be going out immediately. Hang in there!

UPDATE: 3:00pm
After careful inspection of the mountain it has been decided that we will move opening day from the 6th to the 8th. Only two days delay, not too bad! There is good coverage on top but the middle of the mountain causes some concern. We'd love just a couple more inches of snow to ensure a safe, quality product. Looks like we do have a chance for snow Wednesday and Thursday. Hope to see you all here on Saturday! First 100 in line receive prizes from Chick-fil-A, Gene Taylor's, the Alpine Trader, and Summit Canyon.

Parade of Lights

I want to commend all of you that came out to the Parade of Lights this weekend! You weathered a little hurricane that threatened the whole parade. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes. We were all wearing water-proof ski gear so nothing was stopping us! It was a really fun time. We're already cooking up plans for a bigger and better float next year. I see a large flat-bed trailer with a lift chair on it and some trees. We'll have people completely decked out, skis and all, sitting on the chair. Then we need some sort of launcher to shoot t-shirts, coupons, and a few free lift tickets into the crowd. We also learned that we need to buy even more candy.

This little guy definitely stole the show