Black Diamond Bar and More

We are happy to announce that the newly renovated  Black Diamond Bar is open for business.  Of course, in order to enjoy the bar this summer you will have to be invited to a wedding at Welch Village.  We would like to thank Chris Hellie and Trilogy Construction for their great work!  We highly recommend Chris and Trilogy if you have any construction or remodel needs.  We will continue to add to the décor and feel of the Black Diamond Bar throughout the summer.  The Black Diamond Bar will have a really cool brand of it's own in the near future.  We will also keep you posted throughout the spring and summer on the rest of our improvement projects.  The big one for this summer is our new state of the art maintenance facility.  This facility will enable us to even better serve our ski and snowboard guests by making our snowmaking, grooming, and all maintenance operations more efficient and effective which will lead to an even better experience on the slopes.  We are also hoping to add more snowmaking guns to key locations.  Stay tuned.  Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

A Saturday in April

For those of you who showed up right at 10am today to take the first few runs, you were rewarded with  incredible snow conditions.  For a while today, it was hard to believe it was April.   I skied today for about four hours.  It was some of the best conditions we had all year.  Yes, it got a little soft in the afternoon but it was a great day.  Thank you to all of you who spent this April Saturday with us at Welch Village.  Tomorrow is the final day of the 2014/15 season.  There is still plenty of snow left...hope to see you on the slopes. 

Rare April Weekend

As you may have heard by now, we are offering a rare April weekend of skiing and riding this Saturday and Sunday.  Originally, we were hoping to open Friday but with snow conditions we have right now, it's going to take our grooming crew the rest of this week, including most of Friday to get the  snow in suitable shape.  On Monday night, after the rain we had, the temperature dropped from about 60 degrees to 20 degrees in just a few hours.  Needless to say, it was a little firm out here on Tuesday and today with that sudden of a temperature change in addition to the rain.  Now, we have this impending spring storm on our door step for tomorrow and Friday.  Even though we could receive 6+ inches of snow,  the heavier and wetter  snow that is being predicted is not normally the kind of snow that makes for great powder turns.  The conditions will be better this weekend if we groom what snow we do receive into the existing base.  It should be a great weekend to get out here and make your last turns of the season.  I will see you on the slopes!

Golf can wait!

I am an avid golfer.  But with snow like this...I am in no hurry to golf.  We were barely missed yesterday by the a lot of the rain and wet snow.  We got some rain but most of the heavier stuff missed us to the north.  As a result, the snow here held up very well and it's still in great shape.  We may need to close a run or two this weekend depending on how warm it gets.  I took a few runs this morning and had to keep reminding myself that it's the last weekend in March.  Check out these photos from this morning...you be the judge.  Thank you in advance for all of you who are going to come out this weekend to make some turns.  I'll see you out there!

Improvements have started

We have already started improvement projects for next season.  Most of you by now have probably noticed that we have a new three-sided maintenance building.  The new shop will be constructed this spring and summer right next to that building on the west side of it.  We have also begun work on remodeling the Black Diamond Bar.  Stay tuned for updates on these projects and additional improvements that will be ready for the 2014/15 season...our 50th Anniversary season!

This Week

It was another great weekend of skiing and riding at the Village.  It was hard to believe that it was the end of March with hard fast snow and temps. in the 20's.   I was truly impressed at the impressive turnout at our annual Pond Skip event.  Impressed with the number of spectators and very impressed with amount of participants considering it was about 15 degrees at the start of the event.  Our well pump on the east side was not working so we had to fire up the big snowmaking pumps alongside the Cannon River to fill the pond with water.  So in essence, all of you pond skippers were skipping over the Cannon River! 

This time of year, we literally have to take things one day at a time in determining just how long the snow conditions will hold up.  The forecast for this week still appears to be on the chilly side, but a warm up is imminent at the end of the week and into next weekend. We will be operating under usual operating hours this week through Saturday, the 29th but will close at 6pm on Sunday the 30th.  We are hoping that by Thursday or Friday, we will make a determination if Sunday the 30th will be the last day for sure. 

This will most likely be the last week to take advantage of our pick-a-day weekday and after 4pm ticket deals.  It should be a great week to get down here and enjoy all of the snow that we still have. 

It's still really good

The skiing and riding is still very. very good.  It's supposed to be in the 20's this weekend and there is not a huge warm-up in sight.  The Pond Skip takes place this Saturday which usually...usually...marks the end of the season.  However, we are now planning on being open the weekend of March 29-30 for sure and possibly beyond.  Stay tuned for an update sometime next week.  This time of year, it's better to wait and see what the weather does before we assume anything.  If we were to get some rain, we would need to keep an eye Cannon River levels.   In the meantime, the sun is warm, the bumps are soft, and the beer is cold at Jaxx. Enjoy!