Whitetail webcam pic
December 3, 2005
I was checking out Whitetail's web cams tonight to see if they had started making snow, and one of the webcams had this image:
I see some trucks, a bulldozer, a big pile of dirt and lots of activity (and no snowguns firing, yet). Wonder if there's a cracked pipe they're repairing?
That must be the reason because both liberty and roundtop are already making snow.
I'm glad YOU posted it (so I won't get fired).
See that shiny stuff trailing downhill from the backhoe. That ain't motor oil. It's a safe bet they cranked the system up and there was a geyser instead of snowmaking. They replaced a lot of bad snowmaking pipe 15 months ago, but they did not replace all of the original pipe. It's 1:30 AM and they still don't have the guns going, but the digging was done at 12:30, they've still got the lights on (that's a hopeful sign) and they've changed the angle of the camera (that's not a hopeful sign). It's not good, but it probably won't change a 12/10 opening.
That camera pans automatically every few minutes. I don't think there's been any activity since around 12:30 a.m. When you consider the miles and miles of snowmaking pipes at ski resorts, I imagine this type of thing isn't unexpected now and then. I'm sure it's not fun trying to fix a problem in 20-degree weather in the middle of the night! It deepens my respect for snowmakers and groomers who burn the midnight oil.
It's 8:30 and the guns are running. From the webcam pics, it looks like they've been making snow for a couple of hours.
This event should not deepen your respect for Snowmakers. They probably spent most of the night indoors playing cards waiting for the mechanics to finish the repairs. This is the kind of event that should deepen your respect for resort management. Between the "oh my Gawd, it did what" heart attack when told of the breakdown, the "who the heaven are we going to get to fix that" panic attack, and the "triple overtime budget busting" crap in the pants, it's a wonder they don't start drinking at 8AM.
