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Date: 11/25/2019
BLANDFORD – Ski Blandford is getting ready to put on the finishing touches before opening up this December for its second season under new management, according to General Manager Ron Crozier.
Crozier said the team at Ski Blandford has been working hard to prep the mountain for the ski season, dating back to the summer. “We had a very busy summer, we replaced about 4,000 feet of snow making pipe. We’ve also replaced a lot of electrical wire that we’ve had issues with in the past,” he said.
Crozier also explained that one of the things the team at Ski Blandford focused on this year was improving the ski lifts.
“We put two new drives on the chair lifts, which control the speed and control of the lifts. We put new restraint bars on one of our chair lifts, along with putting on some new seat pans,” he said.
Crozier said that they are in the final phases for getting ready to start making snow for the mountain, but they are waiting for some colder weather before they can begin. He added that they are just waiting to read their electric meter but once that’s done in the next couple of days they’ll be ready to start making some snow.
“We’re ready to go, so if we see two or three nights – and some cool days in there – we’re thinking we’re gonna try to get started here in the next week or so. We may not be able to do anything before Thanksgiving but we have our fingers crossed for some cold weather to start December,” Crozier said.
He added that they are still cleaning up after the change in ownership back in 2017. Crozier said, “We’re still cleaning up from when the purchase went through, we’re finally getting the place to look a little bit nicer how we like it. And we’ll continue with that next year as well.”
Crozier also added that they recently opened a retail shop in advance of the ski season. “Our retail shop opened last weekend and we were able to sell some nice logo items we had purchased for this year,” he said.
Crozier said Ski Blandford is encouraging season pass holders to get their season pass picture taken before they open up for the season. “We would like people to come up as much as possible to get their pictures taken prior to the first day we open because they’re going to end up waiting in a long line,” he said.
One of the things Crozier said Ski Blandford likes to do is to keep skiing affordable for the whole family.
“We try to keep things affordable, skiing can be very expensive, especially the further north you go. Our highest priced ticket is $50 on a weekend or holiday, you get into some of these areas and it’s well over $100 for the day,” he said.
While the mountain is being prepped for the season, Crozier said they are starting to train their staff for the new season in the next couple of weeks.
“We’ve got quite a bit of staff on standby and we’re doing our training now with our lift operations, Ski School and our racing coaches kick off their training this Sunday,” he said. “We’re gearing up for a great winter, we’re doing the final touches before we’re up and open and running.”