To the Massanutten Community: Some fun stuff to discuss this time around, including our new Community initiatives, some exciting on-mountain improvements, and we’re gearing up for a big soiree in honor of our 50th anniversary as a resort. Let’s get to it
Community initiatives: The pandemic has been hard on everyone, but it hasn’t been without some silver linings. One of the remarkable impacts that the pandemic had on our team at Massanutten Resort was a re-thinking of our relationship with the Community – both at and around the resort, and how we fit into the larger Rockingham County community. We asked ourselves: are we doing enough to help? Are we responsive to community needs and interests?
Our first foray into this was with our Meals Program. Early in the pandemic, we had an empty resort, talented staffers, commercial kitchens and a lot of stuff in the store rooms. And as we looked at the community, we recognized that there were people who, due to health or transportation concerns, could benefit from food support. Between our culinary staff and volunteers from the Massanutten Resort staff and community members, we started providing once-a-week home-cooked meal deliveries to needy families around the area.
Once vaccination distribution kicked in and everyone had a better understanding of transmission risks – coupled with other mechanisms that ensured families got needed food – the program was really no longer necessary. So, we discontinued the deliveries (though we still provide fresh-baked bread to EAUS every week).
But the question remained: going forward, what’s the best way for us to make an impact on the community? We already had events like the Summer Jam and Fall Festival, for which the Resort provides the venue and worthy local not-for-profits like the Rockingham-Harrisonburg SPCA and area volunteer fire departments take the proceeds. That’s good, we thought, but is it enough?
So recently, we created a new staff working group to look at various mechanisms for ways the Resort and its personnel can help out. That effort is already paying off. It started not long ago with our support of EAUS’s Stock the Rock – think of a Stuff the Bus Christmas drive, but aimed at providing scholastic supplies for area school kids.
We’re actively encouraging our staff members to share their skills via the upcoming United Way’s Day of Action (September 22); we’re allowing them time off from their regular jobs, with pay, in order to volunteer at some good projects (community members can also volunteer; you can see ways to help by clicking here).
Going forward, we’re looking at other ways to help both on and off the resort’s property. We’re still in the early stages of this new initiative, but it’s one to which I’m personally committed – and expect to be for a very long time. And, of course, we’re continuing long-standing practices, such as providing complimentary product vouchers that good causes can use in their own fundraising efforts.
On-Mountain Improvements: We’ve got some big things happening on the mountain. We’re not ready to announce the entire slate yet, but I can say that we’ve got a five-year plan to make the Massanutten skiing and riding experience even better.
You’ll see the first steps of it this winter (our 50th anniversary as a resort!). It starts with snowmaking: we’re putting 50 new semi-automatic snow guns on Diamond Jim and Paradice. The semi-automation means that the guns can be started from the Snowmaking Control Room, instead of being started one-by-one by crews on the hill. Crews will still make regular runs to fine-tune them, but the new guns mean more and better snow: when a snowmaking weather window is determined by the Resort’s weather systems, crews can start these guns almost instantaneously (an example of these guns is at left).
We’re also adding four new fully-automatic fan guns on Southern Comfort. These guns can not only turn themselves on and off – they can adjust themselves for optimal snow production (that’s the one on the right). Both types of guns are highly energy efficient.
The fan guns that were located on Southern Comfort are being moved to the CMB terrain park trail (known by many as the J-Bar trail). In addition, the J-bar itself has been removed, and will be replaced by a 650’-long Magic Carpet lift. Carpet lifts are especially easy for young kids to use; this will be a real center for kids learn-to-ski programs.
Another lift upgrade: lifts will be equipped with RFID access gates. The days of attaching a paper ticket to your zipper are now behind us; instead, guests and passholders will carry RFID chip-equipped cards. The gates will read the chip and open for skiers and riders. Among other things, this means fewer trips to the ticket windows – the cards themselves are reloadable online, so you can easily purchase additional shifts of skiing and riding.
We’re also adding a new winch cat to our grooming fleet (winch cats make it easier and safer to groom the steepest trails). In addition, you’ll see improvements in the lodges: we’re installing permanent (rather than portable) restrooms at the Mid-Mountain Grill, and we’re doing some remodeling work in the lower area of the Base Lodge – including improvements to the lower entrance and a remodel to the Massanutten Ski Patrol’s First Aid Room.
We’ll announce future improvements at a later date. Suffice to say: if you like to ski or ride at Massanutten, you’ll find them very exciting.
50TH Anniversary Celebration: This winter marks Massanutten’s 50th anniversary as a resort, and we’ve got plans. LOTS of plans. You can learn more about them by clicking here. Pay special note to the Photo/Video submission link – how could it be a great anniversary celebration without great images from the past? We’d love yours. They don’t have to be from 50 years ago, but if you’ve got some wonderful images from Massanutten, past or present, we’d love to see them!
And in closing: Still no word on MPSC rates or the proposed County takeover of MPSC, I’m afraid. But there’s something more important I’d like to mention: as I write this, it’s apparent that we’re in a fourth wave of the pandemic. You’ve no doubt heard about the Delta variant, which now represents more than 90 percent of the cases in the United States. You’ve also likely heard that it’s more contagious than the first waves.
Suffice to say that we continue to follow State guidelines in all aspects of operations, and will modify operations as the situation warrants. We continue to follow protocols to promote guest and staff safety, and we hope that everyone in the community will do the same. If you haven’t yet been vaccinated, I encourage you to consider it; obviously, some can’t take the vaccine due to medical conditions and we know there are others who have personal reasons for not doing so. We absolutely respect everyone’s right to make that choice, but it does seem clear, to me at least, that the vaccines offer considerable protection against the Delta variant, and that vaccinated individuals who develop Covid-19 anyway tend to have more mild forms of the disease.
Until next time, then – stay healthy, and enjoy this beautiful summer!
Cordially,
Matthias Smith, VP/General Manager, Massanutten Resort
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