Snowmaking Upgrades
- Geoff Hatheway
- Oct 10
- 5 min read
Greetings from Londonderry,
There is a Fall-time nip in the air, with frosts happening overnight this week! The weather is expected to be seasonably nice over the next couple of days as we head into the holiday weekend.
With cooler air heading in, it's a fine time to bring you up-to-speed on some key projects to "make better Magic" this winter:
- The Black Line Quad has the experts from Poma and Kissling in working with our mechanics for a preventative maintenance project on the critical Quad gearbox. If that goes down, then the lift will be down for weeks. We've seen this happen at other mountains, and want to be extra sure it doesn't happen here. So while expensive and requiring a couple weeks worth of work to get at it (bull-wheel must be removed so lots of rigging equipment to take the rope off the line etc, etc), it's 100% worth it. And, so far so good in terms of the gears and "teeth" being all good, with fresh lubricant going in. More to do so we will keep you posted.
- Next we have the lower snowmaking loop pipe replacement from the last Black Line ledges all the way across Red Line to the top of Show Off at its headwall. The new 6" pipe has been welded together and the team from Summit Resources is getting that pipe up the hill and laid into trenches. More work to still be done there and also later this month in the new Abracadabra "advanced beginner area" (former terrain park--which will now be under the Quad Lift on Hocus Pocus).
- In tandem, with the new pipe, our investment in new HKD tower guns (below picture) and new, more efficient nozzles for many of our existing guns arrived today! The six new fixed tower guns will be making copious amounts of snow in the Abracadabra area for lessons and night skiing as well as on lower Hocus Pocus heading into the Quad lift entry area. There will be much more snow there for access to the lift into April spring skiing time!
All these snowmaking investments will improve the efficiency of our operations as well as putting more snow where we need it most for our families to enjoy a much longer season.
And, not only longer, but earlier! We are planning to open this year for Thanksgiving weekend with a snowmaking trail down off Green Chair as well as the Abracadabra area with the handle tow. (Pssst, we're even planning a fun Season Pass Holder Appreciation afternoon starting with lift service on Black Friday, just for pass holder skiing, with a champagne party and toasts at the T-BAR to close out the day before heading to the Tavern for live music there open to all. Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend will have lift-served skiing for everybody! That's just a sneak peak, with more info coming, but wanted to get everyone thinking about their Magic Thanksgiving holiday plans. Now, all we need is for mother-nature to bring the cold come early November for snowmaking--fingers and toes crossed!)
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Quick update on Season Passes: as of today, we are 6% ahead of last year in sales, so I want to thank you for the support! Season Passes have now entered Fall Pre-Season Sales pricing, saving $50 per pass on in-season rates.
With October, we launched our Throwback Card which saves you money with every visit. In October only, the TB Card is only $99 and gets you $74 tickets all season long, plus one free ski day. That's a 30% savings off our online ticket prices any day you come to Magic. If you plan to visit Magic two days or more, this card saves you money. It's perfect even if you have another pass, like Ikon or Epic or Indy, as it is a low out-of-pocket commitment to get a little more Magic in your life. And, we all need that.
Our annual pre-season ticket sale is also happening in our e-store. This includes transferable/giftable "Flex Day Tickets" which can be used anytime this winter by anyone.
Save Now on Magic Passes, Cards and Tickets Here Also save on season-long Youth Devo, Race and Freeride Programs
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EVENTS
There's a lot going on this holiday weekend in the Tavern and on the mountain. Some work, but mostly a lot of fun!
- Friday Night is SINGO at 7pm with BLT dinner specials featuring Half-Rack of Ribs, Truffle Parmesan Fries, Pastrami Chili--tasty, hearty Fall fare. These are available all weekend long, too.
- Saturday 8:30am meet-up for Round 3 (final) of "Friends of Magic" Volunteer Day--all are welcome and the clearing glades will continue. So much good work has been done by Andrew, Matt, Magic Mountain Outing Club and other volunteers the last two weekends. The Outing Club will also be holding a gear swap on Saturday in the tent!
- Saturday 11-4pm Foliage Lift Rides to Sunshine Corner with grill, bar, corn hole and live music with Dave Domenick, all supported by our partners at The Richards Group Insurance.
- Saturday 4-7pm features Bigfoot County VT on BLT's Alpen Deck--a Grateful Dead Tribute Band presented by our friends locally at Twisted Horn Brewery. Guaranteed to be a tasty event so come try this new craft beer based right here in Londonderry.
- Sunday is our last fall Foliage lift rides from 11-4 and Jack Waldheim playing at Sunshine Corner thanks to The Richards Group.- The Tavern will have all the NFL games on and our dinner specials so stay and play after the lift rides! Both Sunshine Corner and the Alpen Deck will be happening! All events here
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We hope to see you this weekend but, if not, please know we keep investing in this special mountain oasis because all of you make it worth it, as YOU ARE MAGIC.
Keeping the soul in skiing,
Geoff
Geoff HathewayMagic Mountain Ski AreaWhere Skiing Still Has Its Soul
- 10/10 Friday Singo 7pm- 10/11 Friends of Magic Volunteer Treeskiing Work day 8:30 to 1pm
- 10/11 Fall Foliage Rides 11-4p with live music at Sunshine Corner and Big Foot County, Dead cover band, from 4-7p on Deck presented by Twisted Horn Brewery
- 10/12 Fall Foliage Rides 11-4p with music, bar and grill a Sunshine Corner- 10/17 SINGO- 10/24 SINGO
- 10/25 Live music with Acoustic Paul from 4-7p- 10/31 Halloween Costume and Dance Party with DJ Lee
- 11/8 Dying For Chocolate, Murder Mystery Dinner Fundraiser for Community Food Shelf tickets here
