Benefits at Big Sky Resort UPDATE

We have pretty much completed discussions with the Big Sky people in regards to the new exclusive offers for Welch Members.  In case you haven't heard by now, Welch Village Season Pass Holders are now able to take advantage of exclusive offers from Big Sky Resort in Montana.  On our Season Pass Page, you will see a link in the Member Benefits sections which will bring you to a special Welch Village page on the Big Sky Resort website.  This page will give you step by step instructions on how to book your vacation.  These offers are valid only with a Big Sky Lodging purchase (an exclusive discount is offered for that as well!).  Click Here to go to the Welch page on Big Sky's website.  We are proud to work with a resort like Big Sky and we are excited to be able to offer such a benefit to our members for the "Biggest Skiing in America".  If you know of someone who is still thinking about making a season pass purchase, be sure to tell them about this benefit.  If you and the family go to Big Sky this winter, please share your photos and experiences with us on Facebook etc!  

Here are a few stats about Big Sky:

• 5,750 acres of skiable terrain-Biggest Skiing in America-bigger than Vail.
• 4,350 vertical feet
• 400 + inches of annual snow
• 250 named runs
• 23 lifts plus 7 surface lifts
• 9 terrain parks
• Longest run is 6 miles

Photo credit:  Ryan Day Thompson

Get your juices flowing!

There are two great opportunities to get your skiing and riding juices flowing this weekend.  Welch Village will be on the road at both of these events.  The Minnesota Ski and Snowboard Expo takes place at the Mall of America Friday-Sunday and the Minneapolis stop on the national Warren Miller premier tour takes place at the Pantages Theatre on Friday and Saturday night.  Check out the trailer for this year's Warren Miller movie, "Ticket to Ride" below.  The only negative of seeing this type of movie in HD with a packed crowd and the festive environment put on my the WM people, is that when you leave the theatre, you want to put your skis on right away and jump out of a helicopter.  

If you have any friends or family members that you would like to get into skiing or snowboarding, tell them to stop by the Welch Village booth in the Rotunda of the Mall of America during this weekend's expo.  We will be giving out Slider Cards which offers 50% off a full beginner package (lift ticket, rental, 2-hour lesson).  Stop by and say hi to us this weekend if you are attending these great events.  The expo at MOA is great for the whole family (free admission, free parking, and lots of deals and lots of free little stuff for the kids).  

The weather is changing...it's getting colder...winter is coming! 

 

What you don't see

It's very busy here this time of year.  We work on improvement projects all summer but the intensity gets dialed up a notch in October.  Here are a few photos of just some of what's going on right now.  The hills are all mowed and ready for the snow.  Yes, we even mow Chicken and Bakkeylka! We are busy replacing underground water pipe and electrical lines.  And of course, work continues on the new state-of-the-art maintenance shop.  Pretty soon...we will move all the portable snow-guns into position on the hill.  You can probably see now how much fill we have brought in to get the building high enough in case of flooding.  It's an exciting time of the year.

The New Shop

The weather is really cooperating this week.  There has been a steady stream of dump trucks hauling fill for our new maintenance shop project which we plan to complete sometime next year.  You will see by these photos where we getting all of this fill which will raise the new shop around 6 feet above the flood plain level.  We feel it's probably best to let this fill settle over the winter and then build the shop in the spring.  You will definitely notice the changes if you come down for our ski swap (Oct. 25-26).  We are also excited in how the hill will look between Bakke and Lookout once the old shop is removed next year.  There will also be a new road to the East Chalet built next year, this will be the last season the current road is used.