The NEW Magic Mountain

Newpylong said:

Oh nice, I was told they were just going to dig down and tie in severing the pipe back to the pit. The way you described certainly makes more sense so they can switch back easily. Once they blank that flange they'll have to bleed some volume out the aboveground drain when they go back to electric otherwise that spur will freeze.

Considering the pump worked fine last year and the pond was just dredged I would bet money Stage 0 is full of sticks and other sh*t assuming there's no basket on it. As soon as the ground re-freezes I'd get a tracked crane or long boom hoe in there to pull that pump ASAP. It could be that simple, or maybe not lol.

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Yep, but with 1500 GPM rated capacity on that transfer pump but only 1000 ish going uphill there's plenty of capacity for that, the air cooler, etc. That all assumes the pump fix is simple, though.

drjeff said:

There are so many AZ regulars that have ZERO concept of mtn ops realities

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This comment….who drives by the magic on way back from a clinic at Okemo and makes judgment. Kinda humorous.

Been riding Magic since the 2000’s and love the terrain. I’ve had a pass and/or throwback card the past 10 years. This year I switched over to a bromley pass. I just can’t deal with the poor infrastructure of Magic. Between the janky red chair, piss poor snowmaking, and the black chair taking 3+ years, I’ve moved on. Powder days are now a complete shitshow with massive lines on the red chair that rival Ikon/Epic. Being closed mon-weds is also a big factor. I’ll be back when they up their snowmaking game and get the black chair working.

Was up a bromley a couple days this week and they were blowing all over the main face and east side. Looking over to Magic, not a snowmaking cloud to be seen.

skiatomic said:

This comment….who drives by the magic on way back from a clinic at Okemo and makes judgment. Kinda humorous.

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No offense, and not to toot my own horn, but guessing I have a greater grasp of mtn ops knowledge than 90% of the regular AZ crew... been incredibly fortunate to have numerous folks in the industry to not only be able to legitimately call friends, but also who have taken the time over the years to answer numerous ops questions I have asked, and do so in a legit way that factors in the realities of snowmaking as well as lessons and regular ops

drjeff said:

No offense, and not to toot my own horn, but guessing I have a greater grasp of mtn ops knowledge than 90% of the regular AZ crew... been incredibly fortunate to have numerous folks in the industry to not only be able to legitimately call friends, but also who have taken the time over the years to answer numerous ops questions I have asked, and do so in a legit way that factors in the realities of snowmaking as well as lessons and regular ops

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Ok. I respect that. Happy holidays!

This thread has just become such a parking spot for those with an ax to grind or Monday morning QB an area that people enjoy and understand the work by the staff is well intended. Is it perfect. Nope. Not the point.

Have a great holiday to those lucky enough to have family to share it with and everyone just take a deep breath and realize what this forum is and can be. Peace.

Ski2LiveLive2Ski said:

Magic says they will reopen Mon with 50 trails. How well do folks think their conditions will be able to bounce back? Better to head somewhere with more grooming expertise on Monday?

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Magic has one of the best groomers in the business working for them.

Judder said:

Was up a bromley a couple days this week and they were blowing all over the main face and east side. Looking over to Magic, not a snowmaking cloud to be seen.

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Scroll back through here and you'll see why there has been little to no snowmaking.

Newpylong said:

Scroll back through here and you'll see why there has been little to no snowmaking.

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Always something at magic, it's getting really old.

I'm sure they enjoy it happening to them too.

drjeff said:

No offense, and not to toot my own horn, but guessing I have a greater grasp of mtn ops knowledge than 90% of the regular AZ crew... been incredibly fortunate to have numerous folks in the industry to not only be able to legitimately call friends, but also who have taken the time over the years to answer numerous ops questions I have asked, and do so in a legit way that factors in the realities of snowmaking as well as lessons and regular ops

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9 years in the industry now for me and Dr Jeff still probably knows more about snowmaking, lifts, and grooming than I do.

skiur said:

Always something at magic, it's getting really old.

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Agree with the overall sentiment, but in the case of snowmaking this year it was “no good deed goes unpunished”. They spent a fortune to dramatically and permanently increase their water resources for snowmaking, and the work delayed testing which found issues that are fairly typical. Just typically you find them in October with plenty of time to fix pre-snowmaking weather. Hopefully all goes well these next 4 days or so of optimal snowmaking weather.

PS Dr Jeff is one of the most knowledgeable non-ski industry resources there is……

Newpylong said:

I'm sure they enjoy it happening to them too.

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Of course, it's never their fault, it's always something out of their control.

They've recently made some hires that will help bend that bad luck back in their favor, too. Coming into an operation right during fire up doesn't give their new Ops manager any ability to, say, change how summer maintenance is done - yet.

Based on what I am hearing, they are going to need A LOT more than just luck.

I'm told that they managed to get the rental pump thawed out and pumping again, but that is just the beginning of the troubles. The rental pump is getting water to the pit in the main pumphouse, but for some (still unknown, according to my source) reason the VFD's in the main pumphouse aren't able to generate enough pressure to move water uphill. As a result, they can only blow snow in the base area. Last weeks warm weather & cold snap left the snow in terrible shape, and temps are supposed to be >32 from Thursday - Sunday of this week. Unless a miracle occurs, this will likely shut down the upper mountain and possibly the lower mountain as well.

The most frightening part of this is what happens when they shut down the pumps. Apparently lots of rock and soil has made its way into the new pipe between the pond (disgruntled former employee???) and main pumphouse. When the pumps get shut down and the system starts to drain you can actually HEAR the rocks bouncing around inside the pipe. At this point there is no reason to worry about the black quad. It will NOT carry paying customers this season, but the far greater concern is if Magic will actually be able to blow snow outside of the base area. If they can't get that together, and mother nature pulls her usual tricks they are going to have a very tough time operating at all.

One has to wonder if the VFD pumps they purchased a few years ago have been damaged by to the rocks and other contaminants that have made their way into the system?

I'm usually pretty pessimistic, but this is far worse than anything I could have imagined. While the cheerleaders will surely chime in and say "But everyone there is working SOOO hard - these are just growing pains" it is starting to look a lot more like death throes to me.

FYI, "VFDs" are just the drives that control voltage frequency to the motors which drive the pumps. They installed them on all of the pumps a few years back, the pumps are not new.

Does the main pumphouse have a wet pit or are they can pumps? That would make a big difference in determining where the sediment's origin is.

With the weather and crippled snowmaking it is sad. I was going to ski a few runs at Magic today on my way to my VT place. Just could not muster any enthusiasm for what's on offer. If they fix more snowmaking then the temps look bad for many days. I'll try Th through the weekend but it will be fair at best. Imagine if the big storm had not hit.

Newpylong said:

FYI, "VFDs" are just the drives that control voltage frequency to the motors which drive the pumps. They installed them on all of the pumps a few years back, the pumps are not new.

Does the main pumphouse have a wet pit or are they can pumps? That would make a big difference in determining where the sediment's origin is.

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Wet pit.

They are troubleshooting the 400 line, and started a few guns on the 400 line on upper Wand around noon today. Note they made snow at the Summit on Thursday so whatever the issue it’s new.

16 or so guns going on 300 line covering lower mountain.

JoeB-Z said:

With the weather and crippled snowmaking it is sad. I was going to ski a few runs at Magic today on my way to my VT place. Just could not muster any enthusiasm for what's on offer. If they fix more snowmaking then the temps look bad for many days. I'll try Th through the weekend but it will be fair at best. Imagine if the big storm had not hit.

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white out /uts/ vertigo was better than expected today and rotd.
worth the trip to pick up the passes and take 8 or so runs.

blowing on show off, Wand and around the base area.

good coverage really and better than last xmas week.

when it warms up later this week it should be fun

slatham said:

Wet pit.

They are troubleshooting the 400 line, and started a few guns on the 400 line on upper Wand around noon today. Note they made snow at the Summit on Thursday so whatever the issue it’s new.

16 or so guns going on 300 line covering lower mountain.

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Then the idea of debris entering the high pressure system from the pond feed is highly unlikely.