# Mount Snow Opening Day 12/10/2011: Bluebird Express



## Glenn (Dec 10, 2011)

Awesome day at Mount Snow today. We ended up arriving earlier than expected and were able to snag two freebie shirts they were giving away for the new lift. 

We took two runs on the Grand Summit Express. The new chairs are nice....they now have footrests on the bars. 

Mt. Snow usually opens with edge to edge coverage on the trails and a decent base depth. They opted to open with a little less than usual to make the Saturday opening. The fanguns were ripping the entire time, so conditions got better as the AM went along. I'm always amazed with how much snow those things lay down. 

We ended up in line for the Bluebird around 8:40? They had a mic and did an opening ceremony which was nice. One of our friends and his family received a golden ticket in his t-shirt and they rode up on the second chair. All the lift bubles are blue...except #50 which is gold to match all the other gold chairs on the other lifts. 

The lift is impressive! It moves a lot of people in short order. It's smooth quiet and buffers the wind very well. I think this lift will be a huge hit at the mountain. 

Pics! 

Early AM:






Lift ops prepping the base area:





Mrs. Glenn clicks in for the first time this season:





When we arrived at the top of the Grand Summit, we saw them peeling off the protective film on chair # 50...very cool:










Looking down Long John, South East direction:





Just as we got in line for the new lift to open:





Mt Snow did a great job today and with getting this lift up and running despite some serious weather "issues" this past summer. Awesome job!


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## o3jeff (Dec 10, 2011)

Who got to ride the first chair up since the t-shirt winner got second chair?


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## marcski (Dec 10, 2011)

Nice report Glenn.  Did they break open a bottle of Champagne on the first chair??


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## mlctvt (Dec 10, 2011)

Thanks for the great report and pics Glenn. My wife and I couldn't make it up this weekend due to Holiday parties. We can't wait to try out the new lift next weekend!


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## drjeff (Dec 11, 2011)

o3jeff said:


> Who got to ride the first chair up since the t-shirt winner got second chair?



It was random based on the golden tickets that they handed out in some of the t shirts for the 1st 200 passholders and day ticket buyers - the golden tickets were number, and our friend just happened to get the t-shirt that had golden ticket #2 in it!


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## snoseek (Dec 11, 2011)

That looks like a sweet ride! The chairs whole setup looks nice and heavy, maybe good for wind even with the bubbles.


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## bigbog (Dec 11, 2011)

Nice TR Glenn....those bubbles look nice.


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## drjeff (Dec 11, 2011)

snoseek said:


> That looks like a sweet ride! The chairs whole setup looks nice and heavy, maybe good for wind even with the bubbles.



It was blowing a steady 15-20mph this morning with higher gusts at the summit this morning, and the bubbles weren't moving at all! 1400ish lbs before you put people in the seats + a very aerodynamic profile is quite wind resistant!


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## thetrailboss (Dec 11, 2011)

Man, Poma's new lifts look sweet.  Love the wood paneling and the new sleek look.  The logo grows on me.  With Burke, they were busy this summer.  I also like the side unloading.


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## Glenn (Dec 11, 2011)

mlctvt said:


> Thanks for the great report and pics Glenn. My wife and I couldn't make it up this weekend due to Holiday parties. We can't wait to try out the new lift next weekend!



Its such a cool ride up. I cant get over how smooth and quiet it is.  We rode it again today a number of times and it's just awesome.  It was a little windy and you don't feel iit all; we stayed really warm. 

The mountain should be in good shape for you guys next weekend.  There was a big difference between yesterdy and today.  If they cn keep the fan guns ripping ll week, next weekend should be sweet.


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## carbonXshell (Dec 11, 2011)

Glenn said:


> The mountain should be in good shape for you guys next weekend.  There was a big difference between yesterdy and today.  If they cn keep the fan guns ripping ll week, next weekend should be sweet.


I will be there on Sunday for my first day this season... I'm hoping you're right and they're able to open a lot more terrain by then... do they blow snow during the day if it's cold enough or just at night?


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## Newpylong (Dec 11, 2011)

that is one sick lift, that's all I can say...


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## drjeff (Dec 11, 2011)

carbonXshell said:


> I will be there on Sunday for my first day this season... I'm hoping you're right and they're able to open a lot more terrain by then... do they blow snow during the day if it's cold enough or just at night?



As long as they have the temps now, they'll be blowing snow 24/7 right through Christmas, especially since with all the rain the last few weeks, the snowmaking ponds are being filled back up at a rate that is almost equal to what they're pumping out of them. If the weather is favorable for snowmaking this week, you'll have Ridge, Cooper's Junction and Nitro for sure open and my guess would be Snowdance, River Run and either Chute or Freefall on the Northface too.


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## wintersyndrome (Dec 11, 2011)

Wonder how long it took for that chair lift to get a 420 christening?


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## thetrailboss (Dec 12, 2011)

wintersyndrome said:


> Wonder how long it took for that chair lift to get a 420 christening?



With the bubble down for full effect?


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## Glenn (Dec 12, 2011)

marcski said:


> Nice report Glenn.  Did they break open a bottle of Champagne on the first chair??



They actually took a bottle and sprayed the lift terminal. :lol:


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## marcski (Dec 12, 2011)

Glenn said:


> They actually took a bottle and sprayed the lift terminal. :lol:



Nice!  I figured they would and they should have!


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## wintersyndrome (Dec 12, 2011)

thetrailboss said:


> With the bubble down for full effect?



Of Course....that bubble makes it so easy to light up now.


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## Glenn (Dec 12, 2011)

marcski said:


> Nice!  I figured they would and they should have!



I imagine it was a big day for the employees as well. A lot of folks at the mountain worked really hard to get that lift up and running for this season. Hats off!


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## vcunning (Dec 12, 2011)

Glenn said:


> I imagine it was a big day for the employees as well. A lot of folks at the mountain worked really hard to get that lift up and running for this season. Hats off!



Over the summer and fall, it wasn't uncommon to see people working early Sunday morning on various components.  Given Irene, I would say they over-delivered.

Thank you Mount Snow


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## woofydoggie (Aug 2, 2014)

They worked really hard.


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## mriceyman (Aug 6, 2014)

woofydoggie said:


> They worked really hard.



Especially if it took 3 years lol


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone


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