Letter from the GM - Our Biggest Holiday Week Ever

Black Mountain has been open for skiing and riding for over 5 weeks now. Following the earliest opening in our 91-year history, we have not let up on the biggest snowmaking push that this little mountain has ever seen.

In addition to making a lot of snow, we have been extremely focused on making high-quality snow and grooming the mountain with passion and purpose. The proof is in the product, as those of you who have made early-season turns have seen firsthand. We have fantastic surface conditions with top-to-bottom access across all aspects of the mountain.

Down the center of the mountain, our redesigned Maple Salom run has quickly become a signature and showcase trail. On the East side, the reconfiguration and addition of snowmaking to the historic Sugarbush area have vastly improved the skiing at Black Mountain for all ability levels, uphill and downhill. A twisty and playful new opening way down the west side gets folks directly back to the double for constant, hot laps. Both the advanced and intermediate options are open from the summit. Both trails of the famous Platter Lift are groomed and open. The new Handle Tow area, now called Fluffy Cow, came online yesterday, featuring the perfect pitch for making those first turns. By all accounts, the mountain would be considered in good Mid-winter shape, but the remarkable reality is that all of this has happened before Christmas.

That is not enough, and we are not stopping. For the first time ever, today we have all three booster pumps charging water up the mountain. You can expect a significant terrain expansion by the time you throw out the wrapping paper. To start, Upper Speedwell and Sun Valley will open tomorrow, connecting another route from the Alpine Cabin. Lower Black Beauty is ready and will funnel to Juniper for another green run before Christmas Day. Our new tower guns are hammering Big Dipper, and the winch cat will be crawling up that trail 48 hours from now. Today, we lit up the mid-mountain favorite, Lower Galloping Goose. Lower Speedwell gets our full attention starting tonight. Every last piece of snowmaking hose that we own is getting moved to Jackson Standard, where we will make a big push. Finally, while the J-Bar might be the oldest overhead cable lift in the world, and a bit separated from the rest of the area, it will not be forgotten. We will make sure that historic area opens ASAP, utilizing all the new snowmaking pipe in that area.

That sounds like a lot, because it is a lot. In fact, it is significantly more snow than Black Mountain has ever made over an entire season. We value the time you are spending at the mountain, especially over a special holiday week. We are doing everything we can to have as much terrain open as possible.

Mother Nature is about to help. We are forecasting significant snowfall over the coming week. This will not only bring lots of natural terrain back online, but will also soften and refresh all of the snowmaking trails to near-perfect conditions.

We are open 7 days a week through January 5th with a jam-packed holiday event schedule that celebrates the culture of skiing. Join us on Christmas Eve for our tree lighting and cookie decorating. On the 28th, we will have our first public race down Maple Slalom of the season, with a lot of prizes.

We are open on Christmas Day, and you can ski for free if you are dressed in a full Santa outfit. We will run “Friday Night Lights” every day from the 26th through the 30th, with the addition of snowcat rides for downhill skiers and foot traffic on each of the “Friday Night Lights” events. 10 seats are available at each departure time of 5, 6, and 7 pm. I expect these to book out quickly.

In addition to incredible live music every day at the base lodge and beyond, New Year's Eve is setting up to be all-time at Black Mountain. A 200-person torchlight parade opens for a fireworks display that we fought hard for. I will come back to you with more details as we get closer to closing out 2025 with a bang.

The plan is working. Black Mountain has never been this good, this early.

Thanks for being here.