While most of us scrambled to line up Thanksgiving feasts, the Sheridan Ski Club has been busy making snow.
Thanks to an early dusting of powder, plus much late night operation of the Ski Club’s Snow Maker, the Beginner’s Hill opened Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 25 and 26.
“It’s looking pretty good”, said Area Manager Dave Branshaw. “We’ll have the rope tow going, and the Rental Shack will be open for business.”
It’s taken a couple years for the Ski Club to iron out the details of making snow, but they are becoming very good at it. The machine basically sends a fine mist spraying into the air, relying on proper humidity and temperatures to change it to snow as it falls.
“We’ve been at it roughly 22 hours over the past two weeks”, said Branshaw. “It creates a pile of snow in front of the machine, which we then spread over the slope with the Piston Bully groomer.”
Consistent freezing temperatures as well as clear dry weather have helped the process of creating a smooth base, which was then recently covered with eight inches of powdery snowfall.
Branshaw also mentioned that work continues on the new Ski Club cabin part way up the area. “We’re about a month away from getting it completed and open for rental. Because of its location, we’re calling it the Hidden Valley Public Use Cabin, and arrangements for its use will be made through the Rental Shack at the Ski Hill.”
In the meantime, while we’re enjoying turkey and all the fixings, we should raise a glass in thanks to Dave and the many dedicated Sheridan Ski Club volunteers who have brought us a very early opening to another year on the slopes.
