As we near the end of the summer, the project is ramping up for the coming season. Royal Trails is hard at work installing snowmaking pipes, grading the new trails, and helping with expansion of the equipment shed. Trail work will continue into the Fall, followed by installation of the compressor house and intake vault. We await final approval from Liberty for new electric service, but they assure us that the service will be up and running prior to the start of snowmaking.
The Royal Trail crew has done the hard work all summer to maintain the trails and continue progress despite all the rain. They have had to build retention ponds, install water containment measures, and clear culverts to deal with the extraordinary conditions. The Oak Hill Board thanked them for their extra work with a cookout last week as a small measure of our appreciation.
The office/rental center has been cleaned and opened up, creating a more comfortable space. The equipment shed is expanding to accommodate our grooming equipment. Some of the logs from the forestry work were retained and sawn for lumber that will be used next year during construction of the warming hut. Thanks go to Welly Ramsey, Jordan Sutherlin, and a couple of Hanover High students who have helped with this work.
More needs to be done, however, and the Board is inviting all willing volunteers (i.e. you and all your friends) to join us on Sunday, September 17 from 1:00-6:00 pm for trail work and a cook out. We will be organizing groups to clear culverts, trim brush from the trail sides, clean and paint the office, build benches, install kiosks, etc. We will follow the work with a cookout at 5:00, including music and general festivity. We hope to make this an annual event, including the community, Ford Sayre, Hanover High School, and Dartmouth ski team members. It should be fun! Please sign up here.
The new website is now partially operational. When fully available, skiers will be able to purchase memberships and day passes, check trail conditions, request lessons, and check for new events and announcements. We appreciate all the work that Phil Belena and Michael Holmes have done to design and code the new site.
Korry Vargo, our Operations Manager, is back from fishing in Alaska and ready to dive in as we prepare for the season. You will meet him at the Volunteer Day on the 17th if you haven’t already met.
If you have questions or comments, please let us know at info@oakhilloutdoorcenter.org.
Peter Milliken
