• October 1 - 16.5 million gallons of water pumped from the creek.
• November 1-25th  13.5 million gallons of water was turned into snow
• November 1-25th a total of 424 total hours making snow.  
• That is some serious production!

Thank you snowmaking elves!  (They had turkey at the mountain so we could enjoy this weekend!)

In addition to the Pisten Bully (PB) groomer purchased last year, a second PB 400 was added to the fleet for the upcoming 2011-12 season! 

These beauties are tricked out, top of the line, German made beasts that churn out corduroy that’s better than butter and we’re super excited to start putting 'em to work.

We chose the 400 class because of our never-ending quest to make Mission as kick ass as we can and these babies will certainly help. The 400s are technically at the top of their class bringing pure power to the slopes with a fuel efficient 370hp, 6-cylinder Cummins turbo charged power plant, with a maximum torque of 1,519 Nm at 1,500 rpm.

Now that’s a lotta technical mumbo jumbo but all YOU need to know is that we’re going to have some royed up groomers out there starting opening day 2011!

Here's a good shot of the snow guns we've got going full bore this weekend.

Thanks to Mike Cushman of Cushman Photography for taking this shot from across the Ridge and sending it to us.  

You can also check out the guns on the mountain webcams here.  

Maintenance crews have been hard at work upgrading Mission Ridge’s Liberator Express lift during the offseason in preparation of the season’s winter opening. 

The ski area spent its summer maintenance capital, converting the lift’s original analog controls to a modern digital system.

In addition to new PLCs and sensors, the upgrade included replacing and insulating wiring, re-building the electric drive motor and weather shielding the Summit return terminal.  The Midway terminal received the same electrical controls and sensor upgrade.

“The electrical upgrade will significantly improve the reliability of the Liberator Express,” said Mark Milliette, Mission Ridge’s General Manager. “That’s important because the Liberator is our primary lift that provides access to a majority of our terrain.” 

“The new digital system and sensors are pretty high tech,” said Lift Maintenance mechanic, Clement Mikkelson, “They allow us to resolve problems with less of an impact to the public.” 

Milliette concurred, “If there are problems, maintenance mechanics will be able to remedy the issues more quickly, thus shortening the delay to get the lift back in service”. 

Last season, electrical problems and weather delays plagued the Liberator Express.  With these upgrades, electrical issues should be fewer and morning start-up more consistent during storm cycles. 

In addition to the Liberator Express upgrades, Mission Ridge also kicked off Phase I of a base area revitalization aimed at sprucing up the buildings at the resort, starting with the Ticket Office. 

“We think guests are really going to like the new improvements once the season gets underway,” Milliette said.