In more conventional neighborhoods than the one in which I live, in more conventional careers, towns, lives, having high pressure air and water cannons blasting away in the dark of night with a sound audible for a great distance would be a bad thing. My home here in Vermont is on the flank of Okemo, at an elevation just slightly above the main base area of the resort and above town, and tonight I can hear the snow guns and the compressors firing away. No, it’s not an annoyance, not even close. It’s music to my ears, and the same is true for the many people depending on our resort for their livelihood, both directly and indirectly in the many businesses in town.
Okemo has been open for the winter season since Thanksgiving Day, one week ago. Our originally scheduled opening day was on the prior weekend and it’s only due to the vigilance and dedicated hard work of our mountain operations team that we were able to open when we did and that we have been able to stay open. We’ve had a bit of rain in the last few days and temperatures here have been unseasonably warm (though in the modern world perhaps we need to consider what we mean by ‘unseasonably’, in the sense of needing to define the ‘new normal’), so the challenges for our snowmakers have not gotten lighter. Until tonight. The clouds moved out, the sun set, the temperatures dropped, the call went out, and our guys have been making a meal of it up there on the mountain.
Fire away, team! Give ‘em hell! Make as much noise as you want, fire up those compressors, and beat Mother Nature at her own game! Wile E. Coyote may have a good idea, but thankfully we’re not that desperate here at Okemo and we have a team of experts who really know how to make it happen.
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