Disc Golf

Never played disc golf before? Never heard of disc golf? Check out this introductory video...you'll be amazed at what some of these guys can do!



Powderhorn has an 18 hole disc golf course that is FREE to play. As soon as the snow melts and the ground is dry, the course will be setup and open 7 days/week. In the meantime, buy a disc, get to the park and practice!

Gee It's Quiet

This is our only way to communicate with the outside world today. We hear a bonfire got a bit out of control and burned up some pretty important wires. So we have no incoming calls, cannot make calls out, no cell service, and no email. That makes work pretty difficult for those of us in administration! We're like a little island up here today with little contact to the outside world.

Maybe it will make us go crazy and "Survivor- Powderhorn Resort" will begin...

Dallas Sales Trip

I'm currently sitting in the DFW airport bored out of my mind. The last few days have been full of meetings of which all were very good. It seems almost everyone I met here in Texas is a skier and had great stories. They usually involved a lift unloading mishap or an incredible crash. It's always fun sharing those stories. It perplexes me that a state with no snow has such a high population of skiers! Here are a few pictures of the trip.


This is the lobby at American Airlines headquarters. They have a flag of every country in the world!



This is the American Airlines lobby. We quickly noticed they have not put a dot on the map yet for Grand Junction...better get someone on that ASAP



We got a tour of their training facilities. This is one of the simulators where flight attendants train.



Last night the Grand Junction Visitor & Convention Bureau hosted this reception at the flight museum. I don't know what year this plane is from but it's old and very cool....except it smelled like feet inside.




And here is your history lesson for the day. This is the building where President Kennedy was shot from. Unless you think there was a second gunman on the grassy knoll...that is to the left of the building.

Humidity is Evil

All I have to say is thank God for the single digit humidity we have in western Colorado! It makes for easy breathing and champagne powder. Humidity is most definitely evil.

Off to Texas

Things are fairly uneventful right now around the resort. Besides building the Trader Cafe, we're just waiting for the snow to melt. I'm off to Dallas, TX for the rest of the week to participate in a sales mission. You've probably heard about American Airlines' nonstop flights from GJ to Dallas/Ft Worth. This opens up a lot of opportunity for the Grand Valley.

A group of us including airport personnel, hotel partners, and even the mayor, are heading to Dallas to spend some time learning more about American Airlines. We get a tour of their headquarters and we're hosting a special reception at their CR Smith Museum which I hear is very impressive.

So, the blog might be a little stagnant this week...unless you want to see pictures of Dallas?

Runoff

I'm sure many of you are crazy excited to get on the rivers this summer. Colorado snowpack overall is said to be at 127% of normal! We're obviously above normal here at Powderhorn.

Those of you that check the webcam have probably noticed the giant mountains of snow that our cat drivers made this week. They pushed the snow in those areas to help with the runoff. We have drainage ditches around the base area and by pushing the snow like that, it will help the water follow those routes...instead of washing the lodge into Plateau Creek.

Trader Cafe

Que the annoying guy with the bullhorn..."The renovation starts now!" You have to watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition to get that one.

The rental shop is undergoing a transformation to become Trader Cafe for the summer. This is the newest edition to our summer services. Trader Cafe will be open Fridays-Sundays and offer coffee, soft drinks, sandwiches, wraps, and snacks. Make sure you stop by and check it out this summer!

Getting Geeky

April is our geek month for many of us at Powderhorn. It's the time of year when we look at stacks of reports from the season to see what worked...and what flopped. These reports help us determine our plans, budgets, prices, etc. You'd be suprised at how much we can track. Here are some examples:

Average use of season passes (in general and by age group)
Average use of Plus Cards
Number of visitors to the website
Most popular web pages (blog readership increased 40%)
What town/state our web visitors live in
Promotion use
How people found our website
What color underwear you have on

Ok the last one is a lie. But we can find out a lot of info just by the wonder of technology. Ok back to the world of pie graphs and pocket protectors...

Shoot Out Winner

Congratulations to Kelli Konicek! She has won an 08-09 season pass with this picture

MOG Outdoor Fest

The MOG (Manufacturers of Outdoor Goods) sale is this Saturday in downtown Grand Junction from 9am -4pm. It's the last place to snag a Powderhorn season pass at last year's prices. Just look for our booth.

You'll find other amazing deals from Loki, Mountain Sprouts, Chaco, Zeal Optics, Mountain Hardware, Mountain Khakis, Ulu Boots, Osprey and many more.

See you there!

Spring Storm

As I was watching the Today show this morning, I heard Al Roker say something along the lines of "a large freak spring storm has hit Colorado and could leave 5-6 inches in Denver." Sheesh....buck up buttercup! This is Colorado!

We have 10" at the base area that fell overnight. Here are some shots from 9am this morning.

More Fun

There's certainly more fun to be had on your boards this season. I know some of you have already returned your skis or snowboard to that corner of the garage or closet. But for those of you that will ski right up until the last little patch of snow seeps into the soil, there's not only opportunity for more turns this season but in fact there's a possibility for more face shots!

We continue to get snow here at the mountain. Another 15" could fall in the next 36 hours so grab the fat boards and some skins! Or, for the season passholders, don't forget about your free days at Crested Butte and Monarch. I'm typically not one to send business to other places...but we're closed and there's still good skiing to be had!

Crested Butte & Monarch Mtn both close this Sunday, April 13th. It's your last chance to use those free days.

Crested Butte
24 hour: 0"
48 hour: 9"
Base: 100"

Monarch
24 hour: 0"
48 hour: 3"
Base: 101"

Both are expecting 10-18" in the next 36 hours. Enjoy!

West End

A reader asked for clarification on where the new ski runs would be if we are able to cut them this year. Let me try and answer that as best I can without a picture. The first run would be on the west side of Redeye. It would start at the top of the West End Lift and link up toward the bottom actually crossing around lower Sweet Misery. The second is a shorter run that would take off from Snowcloud (also on the West End) and head straight down to the lift.

We are using Google Earth to develop our new trail maps for next year. Our first draft already has the new runs sketched in....let's hope it all works out! If you've never played with Google Earth you should download it. It's free and you can check out satellite pictures of your favorite ski areas and locations all over the world.

Attention Hikers

If you're willing to hike for turns you can get some more freshies!

A few inches of new snow has fallen already this morning and it's not letting up. If you've never hiked for turns before why not try it out? It's obviously a great work out and there are methods to make it easier. Ask around to borrow some snowshoes or skins for your first time. Make sure you have a backpack or straps to hold your skis/board on your back. Oh and grab plenty of water. Start out hiking up Bill's Run or Tenderfoot. Then you can progress to Wonderbump. We've seen lots of people hike Bump in the last week and get some amazing lines!

Closing Weekend Video

Season Snow Total

And the total is.........320 inches!
That's:
26.66 feet
8.128 meters
8.88 yards
426.66 fingerbreadths
0.04 furlongs
65,024 gnat's eyes
8.597 light years
320,000,000 microinches