Mountain Update | Windham Mountain Resort

As the days get shorter and the nights get cooler, we’re reminded that the winter season is just around the corner!  While many of us are busy with mountain biking, golf and special events this summer, the Mountain Ops team has been busy making improvements on the hill for winter.  Our environmental impact, energy efficiency, the guest experience and providing the best product possible are guiding principles in our capital improvement planning.  Here is a rundown on what they’ve been up to on the hill this summer.

LIFTS
Construction of The “Westside Six”, or F Lift, is well underway.  The old triple chair was removed this spring and rather than sending it off to a landfill, we found it a new home at Greek Peak.  Concrete has been poured for the new towers and terminals, and the tree line has been widened to accommodate the wider chairs while the concrete is curing.  Parts of the new Doppelmayr high speed six passenger lift are arriving, and the Doppelmayr crew will be here next week to start assembly.

RFID
No more waiting in the lift line for a ticket scanner to find your ticket or season pass! Windham Mountain Resort is proud to be the very first resort in New York State to implement RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology, which will provide guests with easy, simple lift access in the 18/19 season.  All base area lifts will be equipped with RFID readers in the gates.  These readers will scan RFID enabled cards inside the left side of a skier and rider’s jacket or pants pocket.  Once guests have an access card, they can simply re-load it online and skip the ticket line every time they visit.  Not only is it convenient to re-load lift tickets online, it’s also cheaper! Dynamic pricing will go into effect this season, which means the earlier a guest purchases their lift ticket online, the better price they get.  Then it’s straight from the parking lot to the lift!

SNOWMAKING
When it comes to snowmaking, it’s all about efficiency.  How can we make the most snow in a short window of opportunity? How can we be environmentally responsible while we’re doing it?  Each summer snowmaking pipe and snow guns are replaced for those very reasons.  This year, over two miles of snowmaking pipe that had previously been leaking air and water have been replaced with new material on Whiteway, Wraparound, Wilbur and Way To Go.  Nearly 100 automated, high efficiency snow guns are being added to Whistler, What Terrain Park (previously Assembly Line), Lower Wipeout, and Upper Wraparound.

GROOMING
Our grooming fleet gets an upgrade each season. This year, it’s in the form of a new PistenBully 400 Snowcat. The high-performance groomer complies with Tier 4 of the emissions standards set forth by the EPA, making it the most efficient engine available, and it lays down some pretty sweet corduroy!

While we’re all excited for winter, there are still some great events here at the mountain in the coming weeks.  Live music at The Wheelhouse Lodge, a South American Wine Paired Moonlight Dinner on the patio, a Catskill Mountain Bluestone Carving Course, and much more! Windham Mountain Bike Park has seen lots of activity this season.  Trail crew is doing an incredible job with maintenance and getting some new terrain open, and we’ll be riding until Columbus Day!  Is there anything better than fall golf? Crisp mountain air, incredible scenery and plush greens abound at Windham Country Club, open through the end of October.  In November, the Catskills Beverage Trail will return for their second annual Festival, and who knows, maybe we’ll get to try out those new snow guns by then!

If you haven’t already, make sure you get your season passes before the October 8^th price deadline, and sign up for seasonal programs before they fill.  We’ll see you out there on the new “six-pack” before we know it!

See photos of the mountain updates on our Facebook page here.

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