Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Fresh snow this morning...hang in there!

We made some snow in the early morning hours and until about 9am.  Most of the snow we made was on the 7 runs that are already open and we started on the magic carpet learning area.  It was cold and dry this morning so if you come down tonight you should be able to instantly tell.   The snow quality will improve with just that 5 hours of fresh snow this morning.  I am skiing tonight for sure, the snow looks great right now.  Heading into this weekend, we will have the same amount of runs open, same lifts, same hours, same rates.  The weather pattern appears to make a huge shift mid next week.  We are ready to make a lot more snow and open up more of Welch Village for all of us!








Sunday, November 19, 2017

Great night of snowmaking

We probably had our best night of snow making of the season so far last night and the guns were still going strong until about 11am this morning.  I took a hike up Lookout, down Long Way Home & Paul's Trail, and down the terrain park/Heidi's Hollow areas.   We have at least one more night, maybe two of snow making before Thanksgiving.  More updates coming this week.  We should be able to tell you how much will be open and how many lifts will be spinning by late Wednesday.
Hey guess what....Welch will be open this week!










Monday, November 13, 2017

Monday morning update - 11/13/17

Snow guns are still going strong at the time of this post (about 9am).  The piles are getting bigger, a lot bigger.  I took just a few photos from out in front of the main chalet and towards the terrain park area.  No snowmaking for the next few days as a warm front settles in.  We are keeping our eye on Friday's weather especially the chance for a decent amount of rain.  The rain on on Friday will determine whether we choose to open this coming weekend or not.  Long story short, we don't want compromise a opening with great conditions on Thanksgiving weekend.  We won't know if we are going to open this weekend until probably Friday. We will continue to give you updates throughout the week.  Either way, Thanksgiving weekend is shaping up to be an awesome skiing & riding weekend this year.  Our view is this....anytime we are able to ski in MN before Thanksgiving is a bonus.  Our crew is working hard to get Welch Village open as soon as possible.









Friday, November 10, 2017

Welch is white

Kudos to our snowmaking crew who has been working hard around the clock the past few days.  They were able to turn Welch Village white by Nov. 10th this year.  We had to shut down snowmaking late afternoon today due to the clouds (=humidity), the rising temps, and the east winds.  Still too early to tell how much progress was made towards a possible opening.  But there are a lot of big piles of snow out there.  I plan to take a hike tomorrow and check it all out.

Congrats to the ski areas to our north who have opened for the season.  Our time is coming soon, don't worry.  When we open, it will be worth the short wait.

Don't forget...Day 2 of our Job Fair is this Saturday noon-3pm.  We are hiring in all departments.  I may be a little biased, but you won't find a more exciting and rewarding winter job than working for a  Midwest Ski Area!





Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Snowmaking Update Nov. 8th

Considering it's only the 8th of November, we had a good night of snowmaking last night. As of 9am this morning, the guns are still on.  Forecast calls for clouds most of the night tonight which may delay things a bit, but we will make snow again tonight.  And from the looks of the forecast, the guns may stay on through Thursday and into Friday sometime.  On Friday, the winds switch back from the east.

Let's be real here.  It's only Nov. 8th.  I/we are well aware that a couple other ski areas "opened" a couple of weeks ago and another ski area or two might "open" this weekend.  Welch Village will not be opening this weekend.  It's our philosophy to wait and open for skiing & riding when we know we can offer you a good experience.  We are concentrating our efforts right now on Lookout, Long Way Home,  Harley's Hollow, the Terrain Park and couple other areas.  When we open, we plan to offer you a great skiing experience if possible.

With the warmer temperatures and chance of rain in the forecast this weekend and next week, we are choosing to leave our large piles of snow alone.  Once the snowcats blade those piles out, we are much more at risk of losing the snow we would have made this week when the temps rise and if it rains.

After Friday morning, we don't see much snowmaking weather next week.  This is our chance this week!  We are going to make as much snow as possible this week and then turn our eyes towards a week from this weekend.  These pics were taken this morning.





Monday, November 6, 2017

Here we go!

We started up the snow guns around 11pm and the guns are still on as I am writing this at 9:30am.  New are pretty happy to start snowmaking technically on Nov. 5th. That's weeks ahead of last year.  That might even be about a month ahead of last year.  If the current forecast for this week holds true we still have a few days of snowmaking in the near future.  Next week it's supposed to warm up again so our crew is hitting it hard this week.  We are finding more leaks in our pipes but that's common.  Better to find them now then in December.  Too early to talk opening day...we might have a better idea later this week.  Stay tuned!

My girls are off of school today for a teacher in-service day.  So they get to come to work with Dad.  Life is good!





Saturday, November 4, 2017

We are ready

We are targeting tomorrow night (Sunday, 11/5) to start snowmaking if the current forecast holds true and we get some temps in the 20's.  I am hoping we can start some guns around 8pm.  If the skies are clear all night, that would really make a big difference in the amount of snow we can make.  The recent cold weather has hopefully cooled the water temps in the river which would also help a lot.  The forecast this week looks really good right now.  Hopefully, we can make snow several nights this week!  Have your phone, tablet etc handy tomorrow night just in case you get an alert from Welch Village live on Facebook.

Friday, October 6, 2017

The Good News (and bad news) for this weekend

Good News first. According to current forecasts, the rain for this approaching storms appears to end early afternoon tomorrow, possibly as soon as 1pm.  That means, the Bakkelyka Brew and outdoor music event (3-7pm)appears to be ok.  In fact, the sun may even be shining when you taste your first beer at 3pm.  Tickets still available online until Friday at midnight for $15.  $20 in person Saturday.

The Bad news.  We are foretasted to receive about an inch or 1.5 inches of rain today, tonight, and tomorrow am.  As a result the mountain bike park will be closed today (Friday) and most likely Saturday.  That's really a bummer because we were excited to have the ski swap, brewfest & music, AND the mountain bike park all happening at the same time!  I just walked the trails now and they are rock hard, so hopefully they will shed water and dry quickly.  Say a prayer....we might be able to open Sunday at some point.

MTB Update:  Rain or shine...this is the last weekend of mountain biking for this season.  We have several weeks of work to do on the Lookout chairlift.  The priority is to make sure it's ready by early November by the time we start making snow.

Bakky Brew Update:  It's still on!  If you don't want to partake in the beer tasting, admission is free.  We will be selling beer and food all day & night.

Big Ski & Snowboard Sale today 4-9pm and Saturday 10am-5pm

**Old School Season Pass & 4-pack Lift Ticket Special happening the same time as the ski & snowboard sale!  In-Person ONLY!

The leaves are really turning in the Welch Valley.  Join us this weekend!




Saturday, July 22, 2017

Trails Closed Sunday too. Get ready for Grand Opening Weekend!

I just walked the trails and there are still too many places where it's too soft to ride.  These brand new trails are just taking a little too long to dry up right now. We are are going to stay closed Sunday and get ready for next weekend. Before making this decision I consulted with Trail Source our trail builders and talked to Adam project manager.  He walked the trails too and recommended staying off the trails for the weekend based up the amount rain we received.  They also stressed that these trails are in their most fragile state right now.  A year from now, things should dry up faster.  These are brand new trails...and....we received 4+ inches of rain Wednesday night and another downpour just yesterday.  Even though some of you maybe be disappointing, we will error on the side of caution and protect the trails.  We will spend next week repairing certain spots on the trails from this week's heavy rain and storms and get things in great shape for next weekend.  Remember, next weekend (July 28-30) we are open on Friday too from 3-7pm.

Trail Construction Update:  Even though we are closed this weekend, the good news is that trail construction is still happening at Welch Village this weekend! Trail Source is working all weekend on the next intermediate trail.  They are making great progress and hopefully with good weather next week, that trail could be ready for next weekend.  There are a couple photos below taken during construction of this next gravity flow trail.  It looks incredible! Please note, these pictures were taken just before all the rain on Wednesday.







Friday, July 14, 2017

Important Info for MTB Opening Weekend

Welch Village becomes a chairlift-served mountain bike park tomorrow and a new era begins.  If you are planning on being one of the first to try our new MTB Park out this weekend or in the weeks following we have a few things we would like to tell you.

  • First and foremost, this is the first time we have done this.  Therefore, we are going to try several new things this first year.  For example, this weekend we will offer a basic food menu. Don't be surprised if we change things quite often.  We are just getting to know the MTB crowd.
  • Please read the MTB rules,safety information, and orientation guide on our website before visiting. 
  • We only have 2 trails open right now.  Please know that the trails may be busy at times.  Hoping to have a third in about 2 weeks.  A fourth a few weeks after that. 
  • Please read the signs around the trails and park.  Caution and Slow signs are there for your safety. 
  • This is just year one.  We have a lot more planned in the future for the Welch MTB Park.  This is just the beginning.  
  • Lastly...Have a blast!  
We are ready for you....see you tomorrow.