Gunstock Mountain Resort plans early start for 90th season, opening Dec. 4

GILFORD — Gunstock Mountain Resort is celebrating its 90th anniversary this winter, and with about three weeks until opening day, General Manager Robert Drake is stoked for skiers and snowboarders to experience improvements they’ve made in the offseason.

For the second straight year, one of the mountain’s trail maintenance vehicles is parked in front of the access road, with a countdown to the Friday, Dec. 4 opening day. Every day that goes by, Drake said there is a feeling among the employees that showtime is right around the corner.

“This coming Sunday, we have our rehire orientation, which about 350 people show up for that, to learn all the new things that we’ve done over the summer,” Drake said. “This is when the excitement starts.”

The ski resort is coming off its best winter ever, and Drake said records have been set consistently since he arrived two years ago. Skiers were hitting the mountain at full force from Day 1 last year, thanks to Mother Nature piling on some early natural snow.

There is a hint of the white stuff in the forecast for this weekend, but it’s looking more like the dreaded wintry mix. With a Super El Niño in effect, he isn’t sure what that will bring, but the great thing is 98% of the mountain can be covered with human-made snow.

Once it hits 28 degrees consistently, you can bet your bottom dollar the snow guns will be blasting.

“I just had a meeting about snowmaking,” Drake said Wednesday. “We’re preparing to put some snow down, and probably as early as next week. It’ll be an early start for us.”

Snowmaking has been a major improvement, with about 10,000 feet of new pipe installed over the summer. In the past, snow could only be made at the bottom or the top, but now it can be done simultaneously.

“Which is the first time that’s ever been able to happen,” Drake said. “We still have the same amount of water that we can push through the system, but that doesn’t matter, because we can do both. That’s going to be a big bonus for us when we get the temperatures, and we can really push the snow out.”

Nearly all of the mountain can be covered by artificial snow, but he also knows there’s an appeal to have fresh white stuff in the woods.

“We also cut in a bunch of new glades this year, so those glades do not have snowmaking on them,” he said. “They’re going to be awesome.”

Glades were created for different difficulty levels. One easier glade is off Stonebar, which Drake said will be low angle, and “kind of a cool intro to glade skiing.”

Another one is off Red Hat, which will be “far more difficult,” and drops into Flintlock Extension.

“That’ll be a good expert run,” he said. “We also cut one through from Middle Trigger down to Upper Smith, which people would ski before, but now we’ve just cut it and we’ve gladed it.”

Another trail improvement was the widening of Derringer, a connector trail that generates a good amount of traffic. This will prevent congestion at the top of the Ramrod quad. It’s also where the Powderhorn glade will drop out.

The offseason was full of improvements, mainly to the Panorama lift and rehabilitation of other infrastructure. Drake said over the past two seasons, about $2 million was spent on refurbishing the lift.

“Every single piece of electrical wire, drive motors, everything is brand new on that lift,” he said. “Including all of the lift shacks at the top and bottom. It’s essentially a new lift aside from towers, and those are all in good shape.”

Drake said “modernization” was vital, and a new gate was added to the other side of the lift, to improve flow with two access points.

“Really, what it’s going to do, is help with loading,” Drake said. “The guest will be able to go through the gates and get in position, load normally, and not get hung up. The access gate is not so close to the load.”

The Tiger lift has a new ball rope, which stretches over time and needed replacement. The spacing on the Pistol chairlift was also adjusted, so skiers can get to the top about a 90 seconds faster than before.

“That’s going to be a big deal,” Drake said. “We’re also adding a snack shack over at the Pistol area with one of the old lift shacks from the Pan. We’re converting it to a snack shack over there, which will be super cool.”

Drake said about $8 million has been invested into mountain improvements, and he thinks after a couple highly successful seasons, following some difficulties several years back, Gunstock is in a great spot.

“We continue to try to make it better for our guests, and we’ll continue doing that.”

Celebrating 90 years

Gunstock had 253,000 skier visits over last season, and more than 300,000 people visited the mountain the entire year. Before that, a good season would have been about 212,000 visits.

“We had a considerable amount of additional skier traffic,” he said. “We had a really good year. The two years I’ve been here have been record years for us, each year. This year, we’re kind of pacing to do that, as well.”

This year is special for the mountain, at the major milestone of 90 years. Drake said in December 1936, the first trails were opened on Gunstock Mountain.

“We have a lot of events planned for that, but some of those events will stay as annual events, and some will be specific to the 90th,” he said.

Then in February 1937, the 70-meter ski jump was reopened. These two dates are the focus of the celebration. During the weekend of Feb. 27, for the first time in many years, Gunstock will be holding its Winter Carnival.

It will run from Friday to Sunday, and include a number of events including a ski race on the NASTAR course, and a cardboard race, where participants must dress according to a theme: lumberjack. Prizes will be given out for the best costumes. Lumberjack-themed events, like axe throwing, will be taking place all weekend.

“That’s going to be a big event,” Drake said. “We plan to have that as an annual event. We’re doing a lot of special things for the 90th.”

Drake said there will be discounted $90 lift tickets available, giveaways for the 90th skier on the mountain, 90 kilometers of skiing at the Nordic Center, and other prizes for people who hit the 90-run mark. The number of runs will be tracked through the pass electronically.

Other plans throughout the winter include a fat bike race, a sled dog race, and a race for the Snow Angel Foundation, to encourage first responders to get involved for a good cause.

“That’s just a few among many.”

Drake was excited just talking about what is to come, and he said the feeling is contagious. He knows that feeling is the same for the die-hard skiers who are likely champing at the bit to get some turns in.

“The energy just starts getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger from here.”