After two weeks of serious storm systems, the last one dumping over six feet of snow at Meadows, the sun came out yesterday for our first real sunny day of the year. And of course, we all want to know: "When is Cascade going to open?"
Keep in mind, we are emerging from an active storm cycle that included freezing rain, cycled through heavy snow and high winds (100 mph+ gusts at top of Cascade). The haul rope was encased in a foot of ice, and the towers had more than two feet of ice buildup. It is unlikely for today, as there is still a ton of restoration work to do. Our lift maintenance teams have been actively deicing towers, and ice was shed en masse yesterday with the sunshine. While that may have assisted with some of the deicing, it also requires a careful inspection of all our lift tower assemblies.
We still have deicing of towers and the haul rope in some sections. We are proceeding with caution as we deice to ensure we do not damage any equipment. Also, the ice shedding caused electrical connection issues that we are currently repairing.
Cascade is a priority and we are allocating our resources accordingly to get it back in service. Check our conditions page for daily status and likelihood of this lift, as well as our others, for the most current and up to date information.
And when you see one our lift maintenance team up on a tower, at the bottom or top of a lift, or grabbing a quick bite in the lodge, tell them thanks for all the hard work they do to keep these complex and sophisticated pieces of machinery running in some extremely nasty weather conditions.