Gearing up for the beginning of ski season

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Ali Reid reports from Blue Mountain Resort in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, where they are preparing for the ski season. Snowmaking machines have been lined up to prepare for skiers.

Transcript

00:00Well, Allie Reed knows this area well. I hear some boys that sound cold.

00:06Stay warm and keep that hat on, Allie.

00:12It's a crisp, it's a crispy 20 degrees here, okay, in Carbon County, as you mentioned,

00:17Bernie. It is a cold one here this morning, but a beautiful shot at that.

00:21We're live at Blue Mountain. It's opening day here. A lot of people, a lot of skiers,

00:25snowboarders going to be coming down the mountain in about an hour's time.

00:29I want to bring in Nick with us this morning. You're kind of running the operations this

00:33morning for the mountain, and there's a lot happening, obviously, and a lot happening

00:36behind us. I want to talk about the snowmaking. That was a big thing for you guys leading into

00:41this season. I've been covering opening day for the last five years here, and depending on the

00:46year and the weather is when you guys open. So I'd be curious to hear what that was looking like,

00:50the weather for you guys leading into opening day for you guys this year.

00:53Sure. So this year, it was weird, right? Everybody in the state of Pennsylvania knows

00:57we've been in a drought, so we were all consciously watching our water levels,

01:02since we obviously source our water from local streams. So we've been super conscious about that.

01:07Luckily, we had some moisture that came in right before this cold front came through.

01:10Yes. So we were all praying for that, and it came. The cold temps came through. We started

01:16last Friday producing, and here, less than a week later, it's a winter wonderland.

01:21Now, I'd be curious, and again, it really matters if you get snow. If you don't, this year,

01:26I know some areas of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York saw a little bit of snow,

01:32but not enough, obviously, to cover an entire mountain. So in terms of how much you guys were

01:36actually having to produce this year, what did that look like for you guys?

01:39Right. So the biggest thing for us, everything on our mountain is 100% man-made snow. We don't rely

01:45anything on natural snowfall. The nice thing for us is our Philly market, our New York City market,

01:50it's that awareness. Even if we get a half an inch of snow, it's the awareness for those markets.

01:55People start thinking about snow, getting their skis out, their snowboards out, tubing. It really

02:01helps with Mother Nature when it gives a hand, and that natural snowfall comes, and it gets

02:06your mindset thinking about winter, Christmas, outdoor activities. So it's been a huge help,

02:11regardless of how much snowfall it is. And there is a lot happening behind me.

02:14Barry, if we could take back to us live, if possible, if we were showing some video on

02:18your screen. This is really interesting, because this is the snowmaking that's going on, which I

02:24really love. It's a beautiful sight to see, but also, I mean, that's a big thing for skiers and

02:29snowboarders this morning, is making sure that there is enough, that it is that pattery type of

02:34snow to allow for a good season, and really leading into this weekend.

02:40Absolutely. So we've prided ourselves in the state of Pennsylvania, not only nationwide,

02:45as being the leader in snowmaking automation. So all these snow guns here, we've invested an

02:50incredible amount of money in this year and years past in our automation technology. I can control

02:55all these snow guns from my phone, which is really nice. We can control and really pinpoint

03:00where we want that snowfall to come from these producers. It allows us to use the most efficient

03:05use of the time that we can produce with the cooler temperatures coming in, which is really

03:09the name of the game to get the most terrain open to our guests. Now, there's a lot that we're going

03:13to be showing this morning. In the next hour here on the morning show is the rope drop. Do we think

03:19there should be a decent amount of people? We're expecting a good turnout. People have been really

03:23excited. Okay. All right. So we're going to show that the action. I know a lot of people looking

03:28forward to that for ski and snowboard season. We're also this morning, Nick, going to show,

03:32I think, kind of the background operations as to how all of this works. That'll be certainly

03:37interesting. Something that a lot of you probably have never seen before, but nonetheless, a very

03:42interesting perspective when coming to a mountain like Blue Mountain. But guys, I think I need to

03:46toss it back to you. It is freezing bone chilling cold this morning. Are we going from, I mean,

03:52it's just such a stark difference. Hurricane season, tornadoes, the warmth in Florida,

03:58and here we are. The blizzard season, snow season is among us.

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