Anybody at Snowshoe when they shut the lifts down on Wednesday due to lightening? Nothing like a 2.5-3hr wait to catch a bus ride back to the top.

Bus ride? That sound like an interesting story!

At about 2:45pm on Wednesday, Snowshoe shut down their lifts due to lightening. The shut down of the lifts left at least 300+ people stranded at the base of the mountain including the Western Territory. People were standing in line for a van and finally a bus for several hours. Did I mention the torrential rain that fell on all those people waiting in line? I fortunately knew better than to get in line for a shuttle, so we made a b-line to the Boathouse and got a table before the crowd poured in. I had no cash, but luckily I had grabbed a credit card before heading out for the slopes for the day. The credit card and the associated refreshments being sold made the wait a lot more tolerable. The lifts never reopened on Wednesday and we caught the last bus to the top at about 5:30pm.

Snowshoe was offering a coupon for a $15/lift ticket voucher for next season if you showed then your lift ticket from Wednesday. The ticket is good for a $15/ ticket even during the high season, which will save me $50/ticket (well maybe more, I haven't seen next years lift ticket prices ). I got three vouchers.

It was good to see Snowshoe step up to the plate on this matter.

Similar thing happened on Saturday.. before Easter. Around 3pm we were jibbing in the park when the entire park crew came outside and told everyone to get to the base of the mountain ASAP due to lightning. They then got on snowmobiles and cleared-out the rest of the upper park. It was a bright and sunny day, no clouds really in the sky.. so after about 10 minutes of confusion management announced they'd be running buses. Everyone stampeded to the Boathouse and right as we headed that direction I heard Courtesy Patrol discussing reopening the lift to keep people from being vulnerable to inclement weather. So we rushed back into the liftline for Ballhooter and strapped-in and beat the rush of the crowd as it swarmed back from the Boathouse. Hit Widowmaker afterwards and got in a few great runs... the storm completely bypassed the mountain.

But... I'm glad they have a procedure in place. The last time I rode in a thunderstorm it was less than pleasant. I was riding Canaan's quad and the skies were ominous looking... right after passing mid-station the thunder and lightning closed-in and I knew I was in for the ride of a lifetime. Everyone behind me was forced to unload at mid-station so I was the last chair. Right above Canaan Curve the mountain lost power. Lift stopped. Winds increased to gale-force and the lift chair blew-out from underneath me... good thing I put the bar down, it saved me from a bone-crushing fall. Sleet began falling, and quickly materialized into hail, lightning began hitting closer objects and FINALLY the lift started-up again at a slow pace. As I unloaded at the top there was a single Ski Patroller assuming the lightning position and screaming at me to get to the base as fast as possible. When I got to the lodge my face was on fire and bright red from flying through the hail. Worst lift ride ever... I'll take a sunny-day evacuation over that always.

And just in case you're wondering... in a t-storm the lightning rod atop Ballhooter is the most frequently struck object at Snowshoe.