Added by: Luke

Today was bittersweet. It may very well be the last day of the season, and the signs were everywhere.

Justin and Danny of Park Crew fame were hauling rails and boxes, belly up, to a makeshift rail purgatory where The Pit once stood. Approaching the Nitro Express quad required some waterskiing/wakeboarding skills. Kelly Pawlak, our General Manager, was running the cash register in the cafeteria (this is the same woman overseeing our multimillion dollar West Lake water project). Burger and hot dog aromas filled the air.

Ahhh, spring.

Added by: Halley

I definitely look forward to our events. This was my first ReggaeFest and let me tell you... I had an awesome time. Usually when the base area is packed, people aren't exactly happy because it coincides with lengthy lift lines. In this case however, the live Reggae music, warm temps and sunny skies worked magic and kept the frowns at bay. I'm thinking the copious amount of Bud Light consumed didn't hurt, either. It wasn't just a party on the deck. Oh no. People showed up with their intricate duct tape creations and slid to victory or barrel-rolled to defeat over on the tubing hill in our Duct Tape Derby. As if that wasn't enough, these gluttons for "punishment" made their way over to Standard where they again, slid to victory or face planted in defeat during the Sink or Skim pond skimming contest. Here's the footage in case you missed it. And just to warn you... after watching, you're going to have the uncontrollable urge to be here next year.

Added by: Luke

I'm not that guy. The one who likes to say "I told you so."

But...

Remember a few blogs back when I said everyone needs to keep an eye on Shaun Murphy, a member of our Carinthia park crew, cause this kid is gonna be big someday? Yeah, well, he travelled to Loon Mt. a few days ago and beat some stiff competition to take first place in their Last Call competition. Shaun even beat Vermont legend Yale Cousino, who's been winning big rail comps for years. He took home $1200 cash, too, which is nice.


Shaun slaying the dragon rail at Last Call. (photo by Brooke Geery)


Told you so.

Full coverage at yobeat.com

Added by: Luke

Three inventive men celebrated the last day of winter 2009 by skiing 11 different Vermont ski resorts, all in one day. The Green Mountain Alpine Adventure, they called it. We call it downright impressive. Their journey began at sunrise atop Jay Peak. They hopped into their idling truck after one summit-to-base run at each Vermont resort, finally ending up at Mount Snow as dusk set in.

They skied on 14 mountains;
at 11 resorts;
on 17 lifts;
with 14 runs;
in 10.5 hrs;
driving 270 miles.

At the end, our General Manager, Kelly Pawlak, popped the cork on some bubbly and they celebrated their achievement. Congratulations to the Kings of Vermont: Bo Adams, Tom Aicher and Mark Petrozzi.

Added by: Halley

Lately, I feel like I’m always going to be late for work. Why? Because I stand in front of my closet pondering whether or not it’s actually going to feel like spring or not and what I should wear. Girls… you know what I’m talking about, especially if it takes you an eternity to decide on an outfit anyway. I mean, is it still hoodie weather? Hoodie and jacket? Just Jacket? Just hoodie?! Someone stop the madness!! This dilemma is cutting into my overly sweetened coffee time. Not cool.

Added by: Luke

Anyone who was here on St. Patrick's day is in on the secret: it was one of the most beautiful days of the year, weather-wise and conditions-wise.

These guys were in on it...

Scott Stevens and Austen Granger massacred Carinthia all day long, while Carinthia Park Crew's own Shaun Murphy (tie-dye shirt) and Ian Key showed 'em how the home crowd does things. Keep your eye on Murphy - the kid has Style, with a capital S.

Added by: Luke

You asked for it.

You texted your votes to 'rightarm' at 44144 and chose to see Nasty Nate and I compete in a ski blade race. And compete in a ski blade race we did.



Congratulations to the winner of a pair of lift tickets, "GIG PILE", who was one of our text voters selected at random (and by random, we mean we chose him because his phone number spells out "GIG PILE").

Up for grabs for the next episode is another pair of lift tickets. To win, submit your own video to rightarm@mountsnow.com. It can be anything, from your dog drinking beer out of a frisbee to a Right Arm tribute song recorded on a 1986 Casio keyboard. Make us laugh and you'll probably win. Good luck.

Added by: Luke

DISCLAIMER: Mount Snow did not pay the author of this article, printed in the Boston Herald this week. Said author simply recognized the deal, and wanted everyone to know about it. So here it is: unbiased prose printed in the March 4th issue of the Boston Herald...

"Think next year now. As the weeks roll on, resorts will begin to offer seasons pass packages for next season. Many, like Mount Snow, will allow you to ski free for the rest of this season as soon as you purchase a pass for next season. So lets do some math on that. Buy a Mount Snow pass for next year now ($849) and you save $200. Or pay $499 for the Classic pass that blacks out just Christmas week, MLK weekend and Presidents Day weekend. If you then skied the remaining weekends in March and the first one in April, youd rack up eight ski days. At $75 a day, that would be a $600 savings. In other words, youd really only be paying $249 for next season. And for the Classic pass, theyd almost be paying you."
-Moira McCarthy

Pay day (when 2009/2010 passes go on sale) is March 14.

Added by: Halley

I rode around as a jester yesterday in light of the Bud Light Mardi Gras Party. I think I might have to bust out some more costumes in the near future because it was so fun. Anyway, we ordered an obscene amount of beads to distribute throughout the mountain. I find it fascinating how something so simple can send people into such a frenzy… :)

Added by: Halley

So, I’m sure you guys know about my unhealthy obsession with beanies. While in NYC for the Red Bull Snowscrapers event, there was a girl walking around selling beautiful handmade beanies and I started to drool when I saw the one she was wearing around - lime green and dark purple stripes with a purple pom pom on it. She seemed pretty attached to it, so I snagged a different one with bright blue and brown stripes and mentioned it in the mount snow minute: red bull snowscrapers video I did.

Well, I guess she saw it because I found a package on my desk today addressed to “Halley the Blogger” from Elizabeth Mihalek, residing in Pennsylvania. Much to my delight, it was THE beanie with a note saying thanks for the shout out in the last video. I am STOKED. This hat is awesome… and while I was scanning tickets earlier today, I even got a few compliments on it. So yeah, I just wanted to say thanks. That was really awesome of you.

Added by: Luke

We laughed. We scratched our heads. We forwarded the gems to co-workers by email. And in the end, no one was able to beat out Jesse, from Shelton, CT, in the Right Arm haiku contest. Oh sure, we received lots of poetic entries. But Jesse's haiku really captured the spirit of the show. Thanks for playing, everyone.



Mobile phone users: sign up for Right Arm mobile alerts and participate in our "Nasty Nate vs. Luke - The Race" poll. Text 'rightarm' to 44144 for instructions. Everyone who participates is entered to win a pair of lift tickets and a Right Arm tee-shirt.

Added by: Luke

We've been getting tons of entries for the Right Arm haiku contest. If you haven't heard about it, check out the latest episode for the details. Nasty Nate, Halley, Shane and I will be judging all the entries and the winner scores a pair of lift tickets and a Right Arm tee-shirt. Not too bad for a poem with 17 syllables.

Due to the sheer volume, I won't be able to read all the poems on the next show, so here's a sampling of what we've received so far. Send your haiku to rightarm@mountsnow.com if you're feeling haiku-y, but hurry, contest ends when the next right arm goes live in a few days.

right arm just dangle
rippin' down ripcord, n' stuff
cold freshies down my shirt
-Katie Woolley

My mighty Right Arm
Boarding Mount Snow's fresh powder
Forever a blast
-Robbie Perless, age 11

feel the mountain's might
i pause, raise my right arm
and drop in the pipe
-Duncan Enista

The glades are awesome;
Ridin 'cord' is definite.
Boardin this weekend!
-Daniel Travis

Come join the party
The ground hog saw his shadow
Six more weeks to ski.
-Lisa Mullany

Sit in school,Dreaming
Snow glistening like diamonds
Teacher taps Right Arm
-Vinny Pugliese

My right arm is broke
I get in sled and hang on
Patrol hit a jump
-Connor Meaney, age 10

Luke and Nasty Nate
Filming from the stinky couch
Give us more Right Arm
-Dan Ellis

(this one could be my fave so far)
Gotta Love Right Arm
The Pow-Pow makes me tingly
Hippopotamus
-Jesse from Shelton, CT


So as you can see,
the competition is fierce.
Good luck, Right Armers.

Added by: Halley

The competition in the city was AWESOME. Even though we were outside for 12 hours straight in the frigid temps, we had an amazing time. As promised, I had my trusty video camera in tow. Since so much was going on the entire day, I’ve thrown together a special 2 minute edition of the mount snow minute. Congratulations to Jersey boy, Shayne Pospisil, winner of the whole kit and caboodle.

the mount snow minute: red bull snowscrapers


*Slower internet connections will result in longer loading times.*

Added by: Shane

Back before the Dew Tour kicked off, Freeskier Magazine’s videographer and Mount Snow native Mike Thomas spun a few Carinthia laps with the Mount Snow Academy ski program coaches and athletes. Check out the video:

Added by: Halley

In just a few hours, I'll be hittin' the road southward bound. Yep, I'm going to the Red Bull Snowscrapers jam taking place tomorrow at the East River Park in NYC. It's going to be insane! Apparently, it's the biggest snowboarding contest ever held in an urban setting. I can only imagine how big that jump is going to look. Sixteen pro snowboarders are scheduled to compete for the $100,000 prize purse. Dude... that's a lot of money, and rightfully so. I mean, they ARE dropping in from a 9 story building to launch themselves off a 90 foot ramp. I'll have the video camera in tow... but I suggest you come out and witness it for yourself OR watch it live on MSG TV, RedBullSnowscrapers.com or GO211.com. See you on Saturday, kids!

Added by: Halley

What kind of music do you listen to while you’re skiing or riding? Do you even bother with music on the hill? I know some people can’t live without it. For me, it’s more dependent on my mood, the weather, what hat I’m wearing (headphones can get annoying), who I’m with, etc. Anyway, I asked what kind of music you shred to because I noticed different songs affect my mood and riding style. Pink Floyd came on yesterday and I was just cruising at a pretty slow pace, completely relaxed. Then Rihanna’s, “Disturbia” came on right after and I was literally dancing down Cloud Nine and Thanks Walt going mach 10. I think it’s so cool, and kind of weird, how music can influence your riding style. On a powder day, I’m all about the silence. I feel like I can appreciate the sound, or lack thereof, of floating through powder without anything in the background. Well, I just thought I’d share that with you. Smell ya later!

Added by: Halley

This morning's conditions were incredible. I've been off my board for about a week now thanks to a spiteful tree in the woods off of Long John. In case you were wondering, my quad is healing up nicely. So anyway... the snow looked soooooo good this morning. I was using as much self control as possible to not go out this past weekend, especially yesterday in the 5" of fresh powder. Yet, there was something about today... the sun, the weather and my board sitting in the corner, taunting me - I needed to go out. The snow is soft, fast and consistent on all of the groomed cruisers. I stayed off the natural terrain for the most part. I wanted to avoid tumbling in shame after catching a bump or mogul in the wrong way and possibly whacking my leg in the process.

I had most of my fun on South Bowl. I think that was the first time I've ever gone down that trail. Now that we're 100% open, it's my mission to experience as much of the mountain as possible. Yeah... South Bowl was very fun. Just enough natural snow on top of corduroy. I think of it as a pseudo-powder day. Anyway, I hope all of you had a good holiday weekend and find time to get up here again soon.

Added by: Luke

Park Powder. Don't forget about it.

It's a powder day, and I had the best run of my season this morning while scoring passed-over powder stashes. It wasn't in The Trials. It wasn't on Cut-Off. It wasn't even in some secret woods location off of Jaws. It was on the side of the Nitro terrain park. Right there, just chillin'.

See, park rats pretty much have one track minds when they get into the parks. The powder on the sides of trails is left untouched while the rails and boxes get all the traffic. So combine all that fresh snow with a fun 45-degree wall created by the snow cats on the side of Nitro, and you've got a dumptruck-load of fun.
Park Powder - legit.

Added by: Luke

The very same Dew Tour superpipe and slopestyle course where the pros competed this past weekend, live on national television, is now open to the public.

The slopestyle run on Inferno was hailed by athletes as one of the most fun courses ever at a competitions - we've got Snow Park Technologies and Mount Snow's own park crew to thank for that. Freeskier mag threw a helmet cam on Tom Wallisch before he took a few laps in the sunshine during practice, so now you have a bird's eye perspective of what to expect when you hit the Dew Tour slopestyle course...



Thanks to Dave A. (that boy can dance!) and the Freeskier crew.

Added by: Halley

Usually, people walk around here with bed head, goggle tans and other disheveled articles of clothing covered in snow. So when you notice four dapper young men with perfect hair, skinny jeans and eyeliner, you know they’re either super lost or in a band. Luckily for them and the hundreds of adolescent girls, they were the members of Boys Like Girls. They put on a great, FREE show at the bottom of the Grand Summit Express on Saturday, Jan 10th. As if there wasn’t enough flare strewn about the base area, a laser show provided by the Mountain Dew Voltage Sphere immediately followed the Boys Like Girls’ performance. It certainly wasn’t your typical day at Mount Snow. I told Randy and the rest of the snowmakers that those teenyboppers were cheering for them and the fantastic snow they were laying down. Shhh – don’t rain on their parade. It’ll be our little secret.

Added by: Luke

I'm not being sarcastic here - I had 4 of the best days of my life at the Winter Dew Tour at Mount Snow.

January 8 - 11, 2009 was a whirlwind, for sure. I was running on adrenaline the entire time (Mountain Dew had nothing to do with it), trying to soak in the nonstop activity all around me...
-Oh look, there's Danny Davis in line at the Carinthia base lodge, waiting to buy chicken fingers.
-Is that Glen Plake skiing down the side of the slopsestyle course in an all-yellow snow suit? Yup.
-Kelly Clark takes first place in the superpipe in front of her hometown crowd. Hannah Teter, another Vermonter, takes second.
-Justin Dorey executes a corked double flip in the superpipe.
-Flobots concert. Parties every night at the Snow Barn. Boys Like Girls concert at the Main Base, followed by a laser light show. Kid Koala DJing the Toyota party at the Hermitage Thursday night. Really? Kid Koala - a world renowned DJ who's opened for Radiohead - is in West Dover, VT, playing a party?
-A foot of snow falls Thursday night, creating an insane powder day. The sun comes out Friday and Saturday for the competitions. Then another 10" of snow falls Saturday night. The sun comes out again on Sunday before the superpipe finals air live on NBC for 2 hours, under the lights at Carinthia. Could the weather have been any better?
-I interview Shaun White and we talk about snowboarding a total of... zero times. Instead, we discuss the new Batman movie and Shaun admits he cried during Benjamin Button (look for that interview in this week's Right Arm episode). Ummm, okay.

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Dew Tour, and making my weekend one for the record books.

Let's do it again next year.

Added by: Halley

So I figured I’d share my morning with you all. I didn’t have my video camera in tow, but I did have a digital in order to snap some stills. You can check them out below. The conditions were fantastic this morning. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t expect anything less. We’ve been blowing snow around the clock since 2008. Tra la la… I’m so clever. Anyway, if there were an Olympics for snowmaking, we’d probably Phelps it. Our machine made snow mixed nicely with the 4-5” of unexpected powder that fell last night, too. It was weird since we thought it would snow during the day on Friday, but after a mild flurry, we didn’t really get anything else. Then… WHAM! My car had 5” of snow on it this morning. Surprise!

You can never have enough powder – that’s a given and maybe 4-5” doesn’t sound like a lot, but it was just enough to float through on the untracked/ungroomed areas. I headed over to Sunbrook and got some freshies over there on Cloud 9 and Thanks Walt. Afterward, I hopped on lift 19 and had PLENTY of time to ponder my previous run, if you know what I mean. Lifts like that give you a true appreciation for high speed quads. I even had time to figure out what I’m cooking for dinner tonight. Pasta, if you must know.

Added by: Halley

No need to panic – those trees are supposed to be there. Head over to Carinthia and take a run down Prospector for a rustic jibbing experience. Remember that intense ice storm that passed through here and left everything crystallized? Well our park crew decided to get creative AND green by reusing the trees that snapped under the weight of the ice. They’ve been cut, sanded and mounted so you can get the feel of jibbing a tree without the worrying if it will break under you.

Added by: Halley

Follow us on Twitter! This is probably one of the easiest ways to know what’s going on here in 140 characters or less. Check how Twitter describes itself. “Twitter asks one question, ‘What are you doing?’ Answers can be sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the web. The result of using Twitter to stay connected with friends, relatives, and coworkers is that you have a sense of what folks are up to but you are not expected to respond to any updates unless you want to. This means you can step in and out of the flow of information as it suits you and it never queues up with increasing demand of your attention.”

Yeah, so now we have one. That way, you can always feel like you’re chillin’ like a villain here at Mount Snow. Separation anxiety is a thing of the past. Here's the URL: http://twitter.com/mountsnow

Added by: Luke

Defending the Grand Prix title she won during the 2007-08 season, our hometown girl, Kelly Clark, took yet another halfpipe win at the competition at Copper Mountain yesterday. It was the first of three Grand Prix stops.

Kelly will be competing at the first stop of the Winter Dew Tour this weekend in Breckenridge, CO. Check your local listings for the live coverage on NBC, and root on our hometown girl.

And of course, she'll be here at Mount Snow for the second stop of the Dew Tour, January 8 - 11.

Added by: Halley

As a former resident of New Jersey, I don't have many legit powder days under my belt. When snow was in the forecast, I usually found myself in a pickle. Do I drive up that morning for first tracks and risk sliding off the road? Let's face it. In NJ, not many people own or need Subarus to get around in the winter. So then I'd contemplate waiting to leave after the roads are clear, which would defeat the purpose as all the fresh snow would be tracked out by then. Usually, snow in the forecast meant I wouldn't be snowboarding that day.

So yeah, I guess you could say the only "powder days" I'd see were caused by snowguns running on open trails. Pathetic, I know. I wanted to experience a real winter with real snow storms, so what better place to go on the east coast than Vermont?

The past two days, I've gotten a small taste of what riding will be like after we get dumped on. We got around 3" for Monday and another inch this morning. They're like mini-powder days with just enough natural snow to float on without ever really touching the base below. It made for some of the quietest snowboarding I've ever experienced. Very Zen like. I could get used to this...

Added by: Luke

Now, I'm a Today Show guy. There's something about Matt Lauer's gentle reporting style and Al Roker's corny delivery that starts my morning off right.

So I missed it this morning when Mount Snow was mentioned on Good Morning America. From all the second-hand info I've received, it sounds like Mount Snow was recognized for having one of the best ski deals in the Northeast - the $72 ski and stay package. If you think about it, that is a phenomenal deal: lodging and lift ticket, for less than the price of a regular adult lift ticket. How does that work? I wouldn't question it. Just book it. Robin Roberts will be pleased.

Added by: Halley

Hey-o. So I was riding over at Carinthia today and decided to check out the newly revamped base lodge. It’s got a very sleek look to it. Black picnic tables outside on the deck, couches surrounding flat screen TV’s and a bunch of stainless steel tables to rest your French fries on. I think they’ve even got an Xbox 360 over there with Shaun White Snowboarding available, so when you’re having an off day on real snow, you can chill in front of the TV and dominate the pixilated terrain park.

I made my way downstairs where I was instantly attracted to bright colors and patterns. Behold: The Vault, the sister shop to Backside Snowboards. It’s a great little gem of a shop, too. If my memory serves me correctly, you can pick up some belts, Skullcandy headphones, lots of hoodies, gloves, socks, outerwear and of course my favorite accessory: beanies. Backside Snowboards is still your main destination for hard-goods, but there are a few snowboard and skateboard decks in stock.

So yeah, head over to the Carinthia base lodge and check it out. You’ll walk in a zero and come out a steezed out hero.

Added by: Halley

We opened this past weekend. And not with just some dinky top-to-bottom trail, otherwise known as, "the white ribbon of death." No, I didn't make that up, but every time I hear that phrase I chuckle. So dramatic. Anyway, I was perusing our myspace page and came across this comment:

"braaaaaaaaaaaavoooooo! first day of shred today, everything was so smooth...and unreal snow. way to dial some of that stuff in first try.
good job guys and keep it up"

Well, thank YOU my avid little myspace-er. We really appreciate your comment and coming out for opening weekend. Let's hug sometime. Another comment left on our official Facebook fan page by Thomas Callahan from Boston, MA:

"this weekend was so sick"

A man of few words, but who needs a lot of words when you nail it on the head in five of them? Thanks for your comment, Tommy. Can I call you Tommy?

Anyway, this kind of thing just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I love that people had a great time this weekend and I'm even happier that we have the whole season ahead of us. Plan to be wow'd this season, kids.


_____
Check out our myspace page. Viewable by everyone, friend-able if you have a myspace account.

Become a fan of our Facebook Fan page. **Note: You must have a Facebook account/profile in order to view this page and become a fan.

Added by: Luke

So I finally got the opportunity to ride this new loading conveyor at the bottom of the Grand Summit Express lift, and I gotta say, it's a pleasant experience. When it's your turn you scoot up to the red gate. Instead of reading some command like "WAIT HERE" or "THOU SHALL NOT PASS", the red gate says, in lowercase, "lean on me." How inviting is that? It's like an old friend waiting to get you up to the summit. "You know what, I WILL lean on you, friendly red gate."

So you use your arms to push yourself onto the belt, and that's it. In the past, Nasty Nate and I were always getting our legs tangled when skating up to the LOAD HERE line (he's a tall goofy-footed rider and I'm short and regular-footed). But now, the experience is smoother than Country Crock. Good thing, too. Getting all man-tangled was starting to get really awkward.

Added by: Halley

Last night I was granted the opportunity to ride up with Josh Boyd and the snowmakers to see what goes down after we go to bed. Let me start off by saying snowmobiles… are fricken’ sweet and probably one of the most fun ways to travel around the mountain (outside of one or two planks of course).

The snowguns are very impressive. I couldn’t believe how much quieter the fan guns were compared to the air/water guns. All of the fan guns have lights inside the barrel and they’re used to see which direction the wind is blowing. Sure it makes for a cool nighttime webcam view, but apparently there’s a little more logic behind it. The fan guns can be programmed to oscillate as well, which I thought was pretty futuristic.

While these machines and their product are amazing, they really wouldn’t live up to their potential if the snowmakers weren’t so knowledgeable. Snowmaking is not for the faint of heart. They withstand temperatures you wouldn’t even dream of being outside in for any length of time. Snowmakers have a keen eye for the weather, wind and things like how the snow is coming out of the gun. Josh and I drove up to each fan gun so he could make some minor adjustments to either the amount of water going to a gun or the direction in which it was aimed so the snow was falling just right. I kept thinking, “Hey, if there’s snow coming out of it, then it must be fine.” Good thing I’m not a snowmaker for Mount Snow, eh?

The whole experience was really enlightening and I’m so happy I got an up-close look into the routine of a snowmaker. I’ve always been a fan of snow, that’s no surprise… but now more than ever, I can appreciate the time, effort and knowledge that goes into this whole process.

Here's some of the footage from my adventure last night:
the mount snow minute: nighttime snowmaking

Added by: Halley

Shane and I went to Boston on Friday to represent Mount Snow at the TGR movie premiere for "Under the Influence." If you've never been inside the Roxy in Boston, you're in for quite an experience. I can imagine it looking like Prince's bedroom: chock full of disco balls, purple paint and gold trimming. Now add some huge screens, lots of industry reps, winter enthusiasts and Mount Snow stickers. :) We gave out free lift tickets to the first 400 people in the door, too. Not too shabby, eh? The movie was sick... I would recommend seeing it, but make sure you have at least a solid hour to watch since slow motion shots can really add to a film's length. Check out some of the pics below.

Added by: Luke

Construction of the new "Chair Kid" conveyor belt at the bottom of the Grand Summit Express lift is complete. It took Dennis and the boys about 2 weeks to install, and it's going to make your loading experience smooth and pleasant.

How does it work? You shimmy up to the red gate. When it opens, you move a few feet forward and, voila, the hard work is over - the conveyor takes over and glides you about 10 feet forward. At the end you are deposited back on solid ground. About 5 seconds later, the chairlift is kissing the back of your knees, and you're off. Enjoy.

Here's Halley to show you how it's done:

Added by: Halley

We had someone in California reppin' Mount Snow's Carinthia Peak. No, they weren't wearing one of those sandwich boards with our logo plastered all over it, but they did have a few Carinthia stickers with them. So if you plan on visiting the legendary Haight Street in California, make sure to take a gander at the Haight/Ashbury street sign. It'll give you a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Added by: Halley

I wasn't surprised by the turnout for our impromptu Halloween themed rail session on Launch Pad today. The Discovery Lift was turning, the grill was fired up and music was blasting out of the Carinthia Truck.

People showed up in costumes of all kinds. We saw fluorescent retro onesies (modeled by myself and Shane), a banana, an ice cream cone, a homeless man (who kept asking me to spare some candy...) and believe it or not, a whoopie cushion. Yes, someone was a human whoopie cushion. I enjoyed that one in particular.

We gave out prizes, including a pair of bindings for most creative trick, a snowboard, and a pair of skis for best costumes.

We had a blast with this post-Halloween extravaganza. Hope you did, too!

Added by: Halley

I finally made it out to Launch Pad this afternoon to get some runs in. The park crew installed a pretty sweet setup with around 7-8 features including a down box, culvert bonk, battlebox, flat down rail, flat down box, culvert jib and skate quarterpipe. The fanguns were running throughout the day so nothing really had a chance to get tracked out in the process.

Everyone was having a good time with the early season jib session when my new friend, Kelly, and I decided to learn tailblocks. For those of you who don't know what a tailblock is, it's a ground trick that looks like a nosegrab done with your tail in the snow. Anyway, I stop a talented gentleman and ask him to teach us. Turns out, it was pro-rider Scott Stevens. Thanks to his expertise and patience with my slow learning curve, I actually nailed a few. :)

Moral of the story: This was probably the most fun day I've had thus far and I can't believe we have the entire season ahead of us. It's going to be epic.

Added by: Luke

A crowd of about 40+ showed up on Launch Pad around noon today, snowboards and skis in tow. The park crew salvaged a strip of snow about 5 feet wide and 200 feet long that served as a runway for a down box, down rail and skate quarterpipe. The sun was shining, mud was flying… a good time was had by all.

-Halley

Added by: Luke

Launch Pad reopened with a BANG today. Snowmakers and park crew came out in full force through the night and this morning. In fact, you couldn't get the park crew to stop adding features! Anyway, I figured I'd share some of the pictures with you guys. Enjoy!

-Halley

Added by: Luke

Need some gear? Stop by Backside Snowboards right next to our Main Base Lodge. Snowboards, boots, bindings and all the steeze-tastic outerwear, street wear and accessories you could ask for are in the shop right now. Check the beanie I've got below. I'm in love.

Anyway, there’s even more stuff arriving as we speak. They have product from Skull Candy, Burton, Lib Tech, Dakine, Neff and many others. Winter is rapidly approaching, so do yourself a favor… retire those suspender snow pants you got from Dad five years ago and check out the stock at Backside Snowboards.

-Halley

Added by: Luke

Word of the small terrain park set up on Launch Pad spread like wildfire earlier this week. NECN, a New England cable news channel, caught a wiff and showed up with a small production crew. Here's the end result...

Take note of my quote of the year: "If we can blow it in Ocbtober, why not?" Really? That's the quote they chose? I gave them like a 5-minute interview with all these eloquent tidbits, and they chose to represent me with "If we can blow it in October, why not?"

Added by: Luke

Hey everyone! I’m Halley and as of today, I am officially your new Snow Reporter. No worries though, Luke is still alive and kickin’ as Mount Snow’s fancy schmancy Communications Manager, which means I’ll be bringing you all that’s happening at Mount Snow. Make sure to check back regularly for updates!

So unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that Mount Snow is open. Yes, open WITH snow on the ground. Our snowmakers and park crew love freezing in the middle of the night to get snow on the ground and decorate it with jibs. In fact, we’ve got about 2-4 inches of snow on Launch Pad with roughly 5 or 6 features set up. There’s a group of about 20 skiers and riders out there RIGHT NOW making turns. Did I mention it’s only October 20th?

So at this point, I guess I should ask you what you’re doing still reading this? Grab your gear, get in the car, and get here ASAP.

Added by: Luke

It's all coming together. Crews are working hard on renovations to The Foundry (formerly the Carinthia Base Lodge). Carpenters are about 2/3 of the way done on the new deck extension - it's HUGE. Electricians are busy juicing up The Vault, the new board and freeski shop in the bottom floor of The Foundry. And a big 'ol batch of freshly constructed rails and boxes just arrived from the fabrication lab at our sister mountain, Big Boulder in PA.

Added by: Luke

Let's hear it for Mitch Wertlieb, everybody.

Driving in to work this morning, that 'ol familiar voice of Mitch came crackling over the VPR airwaves. Mitch's "Eye on the Sky" forecast is how I get my morning weather reports (it's tough getting a Vermont-centric report from Al on the Today show. his pick city is pretty much never West Dover, VT).

So this morning, Mitch issued a frost warning for the Vermont, warning everyone to cover their tomato plants.

Frost warning? Yesssss. It's on now. Winter is coming, it's official. There's only one thing left to do to make it completely official: head over to Jesse's house and rerun some old snowboard videos to get psyched for the season.


You DO NOT mess with the Mitch.

Added by: Luke

So have you recovered yet?

2008 ended up being the biggest Mount Snow Brewers festival in history. Over 2,000 lager-heads showed up on Saturday, and nearly as many made it on Sunday.

No big deal or anything, but the Magic Hat reps told me our brewfrest is the best they attend year after year.

We distributed 3,500 pint glasses. 112 full kegs and 20 logs of 60 different types of beer and cider were tapped.

Brewers Fesival tee-shirts sold out in one day, so don't ask me for any.

In fact, things went so well, we've decided to host a Winter Brewers Festival in early April. Keep an eye out.

And now, see if you can find yourself in Right Arm!'s special intoxi-cam...

Added by: Luke

Turns out, playing in the dirt can be productive.

Crews from Plimpton Inc. tore into the valet parking lot at the bottom of Mixing Bowl this week, removing the asphalt to make way for tons and tons of dirt. The plan is to fill the parking lot and provide a backstop for the new tubing hill, which is moving from its old location at Ski Baba. The new tubing park will have its own magic carpet lift, lights and music. The old park at Carinthia is slated to become Grommet, a beginner's freestyle terrain park with small features.

So where's all that dirt coming from to fill the parking lot? The Soil Emporium? Nope. Plimpton will be dredging Snow Lake, pulling truckload after truckload from the bed. The situation could not have worked out better... 1.) The lake had already been drained for repairs to the culvert that flows under the dam. 2.) The dirt only needs to move about 200 ft., which saves on fuel and has minimal environmental impacts. 3.) Every truckload of dirt removed from the lake translates to more water that can be stored once the lake is refilled. More water = more snow coming from 251 fan guns this winter. Yay.

Added by: Luke

The Voncooper Boys had another strong showing at SoBe Energy Downhill Race #4 this past weekend. Check out some of the action they caught on film. We've still got one more race left in the season, Sept. 27 + 28...

Added by: Luke

Kelly Clark has done it again.

We may be in the dog days of summer here in the States, but New Zealand is filled with funny-talkin' people that do things backwards, so they're in the middle of winter. And that's where Burton hosted the New Zealand Open last week. It's also where Mount Snow native Kelly Clark took home the bronze in halfpipe, adding another layer to her already ludicrous stack of medals.

Kelly took gold at the 2006 New Zealand Open (pictured).

Added by: Luke

Fan gun installation is rolling right along, with about 100 guns already in the ground. The crew finished up work on the Long John runout yesterday, then moved on to lower Meadow. Lower Exhibition is set, and the electric crew has started running power to guns freshly installed over at Carinthia. Check out some photos from Monday, Aug. 4.