Hidden Valley, Boyce Park, Laurel Mountain set to open ski season
Hidden Valley will open Friday for limited skiing and snowboarding, Boyce Park also will open Friday and Laurel Mountain will open Saturday.
Hidden Valley plans to open the Bobcat beginner slope serviced by a conveyor lift and three runs — Continental, an intermediate run (top half) and beginner/novice (bottom half); Rambler, a beginner/novice trail; and Riviera, an intermediate run that branches off Rambler. The runs will be serviced by the Sunrise or Sunset triple chairlift.
That won’t satisfy some Hidden Valley passholders and homeowners, but it’s the best the resort could do given the above freezing temperatures and rainy weather earlier this month that prevented sustained snowmaking. Snowmaking requires cold temperatures, preferably in the teens or lower accompanied by low humidity and little or no wind. Temperatures in the Laurel Highlands can be five- to eightdegrees colder than in Pittsburgh.
Vail Resorts, which owns Hidden Valley, has installed four portable Techno/Alpin TR8 fan snow guns and new snowmaking valves.
“These enhancements will help the snowmaking team quickly and easily shift their snowmaking strategies based on weather patterns and needs,” the resort said in a news release. Translation: They can be moved where needed. The TR8 snow gun “is designed to require less maintenance and produce more man-made snow per hour, even during marginal snowmaking conditions,” according to TechnoAlpin’s website.
The resort added a new snowcat to its fleet of grooming equipment that prepares snow surfaces for easier turning, and it bought new rental gear, installed new LED lighting in the plaza and erected new resort signage on Route 31.
Hidden Valley will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday; and noon to 9 p.m. Christmas Day. Hours Dec. 26-29 will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The hours on Dec. 30-31 will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. New Year’s Day.
Vail Resorts also owns Seven Springs and leases state-owned Laurel Mountain.
Boyce Park, the Allegheny County-owned ski area in Plum, will open with a 10- to 24-inch base at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Two of its five slopes, Adam’s Run and Casper’s Beginner area, will be serviced by the chairlift and a surface lift. The Four Seasons Lodge, where equipment rentals, concessions and restrooms are located, will open 15 minutes before each morning and afternoon session. Concessions will open when the lodge opens and will close one hour before closing time. The snowtubing slope will open later this season.
For more information, visit https://alleghenycounty.us/ParksandSports. For daily snow conditions, go to https://alleghenycounty.us/Parks-and-Events/Parks/BoycePark/Snow-Conditions.
Laurel Mountain, the state-owned ski/snowboard area that overlooks the Ligonier Valley, will open at 9 a.m. Saturday. It has been making snow on Tame Cat, the beginner slope in front of the lodge, and the adjacent Ski Top beginner slope; Broadway, an intermediate run and Deer Path, a trail that leads from the bottom of Broadway to the Laurel Lift, a four-passenger chairlift.
The area will celebrate opening day with a first skier or snowboarder banner break, free hot chocolate, cookies and Nature Valley granola bars while supplies last. The area has new rental equipment, new fiber-optic Internet service, new guest Wi-Fi and a new web camera. It made improvements to the lodge, including exterior doors, cleared the terrain under the Laurel Lift and is testing snowmaking equipment in “strategic locations.”
For more information, go to www.laurelmountainski.com.