What is in store for us?. The next trail to open will be Lower Sundance. I expect that to happen late in the week, probably Saturday. That trail will be open using both natural snow and man-made snow. All of the previous openings have been primarily with man-made snow. In our various water agreements, A-Basin is only allowed to divert water for snowmaking until the end of the year. Despite this season's challenges, by the end of December, we will have made snow on about 90% of the areas we normally make snow. There are places it is a little thinner or a little narrower, but generally I am pleased with what we have done considering the available resources.
From here on, new terrain will open with natural snowfall. The next major trails to open will likely be Wrangler, Lenawee Parks, and Cornice Run/West Wall. A good number to keep in mind is a 20" natural base. Once we cross that approximate benchmark, we usually start seeing these trails open. It is hard to predict exactly when that will happen. If we scored on the high end of the Opensnow.com forecast this weekend and have favorable winds, additional terrain openings aren't far away. We will give it our best shot.
