Diamond Peak confirms opening day, adds to grooming fleet, and reorients Child Ski Center learning area

Incline Village, NV (Dec. 7, 2017) - The slopes of Diamond Peak Ski Resort are in for an upgrade for the 2017-18 ski season – set to kick off on Thursday, Dec. 14 – as the resort has added a new PistenBully 400 ParkPro 4F grooming machine to its fleet and has reoriented its Child Ski Center magic carpet lift to allow for increased capacity in the dedicated children’s learning area.

Diamond Peak’s mountain operations teams have confirmed the resort will open top-to-bottom on Thursday, Dec. 14 for the 2017-18 ski season. Plans call for skiing and snowboarding on Crystal Ridge, Sunnyside, Lodgepole, School House and in the Child Ski Center’s designated learning area, with the potential for Ridge Run and Popular if conditions permit. Snowmaking operations have been running non-stop since Saturday when the temperatures dropped enough to make snow, and Diamond Peak’s groomers have been busy pushing the piles of snow onto the runs in anticipation of opening day.

Taking part in that operation is the resort’s new 400 ParkPro 4F grooming machine – the second ParkPro groomer in Diamond Peak’s fleet of five snow cats.

According to Mountain Operations Manager Jay Rydd, “The ParkPro is a machine that was designed around the needs of terrain parks, but its enhanced features and ergonomics make every task on the mountain easier. Diamond Peak already had one ParkPro, so adding a second one just multiplies what we are able to do every night.”

The new PistenBully 400 ParkPro 4F comes equipped with PistenBully’s newest diesel engine technology, which burns cleaner and allows for more power when needed. The new groomer is also equipped with the PistenBully SNOWsat snow depth monitoring system, which allows the resort’s snow surfaces team to more accurately monitor snow depths on the resort’s developed terrain and see where additional snowmaking might be needed throughout the season, and also allows cat operators to know where more snow might be needed on a run in real time. The SNOWsat system also tracks all aspects of Diamond Peak’s snow cats operations including: run time, gas consumption, GPS tracking on the mountain, and service maintenance.

While Diamond Peak’s ParkPro groomers will be heavily utilized in building the resort’s two main terrain parks – the Spillway Park and the new Lakeview Park – these machines will also be used in grooming the newly-reoriented Child Ski Center learning area.

Diamond Peak’s Child Ski Center has long been renowned as one of the best children’s ski lesson programs in the Tahoe Basin both for its dedicated magic carpet lift and private learning area only accessible to kids in the program. This offseason, Diamond Peak’s lift maintenance staff realigned the magic carpet lift so that the kids utilizing it will have an easier time getting on and off the lift, and more space on either side for practicing their first turns.

“I’m very excited for the new location of the Child Ski Center’s magic carpet lift,” said James Pedersen, Child Ski Center Manager. “The new layout will give us more room on each side to accommodate more beginner-level lessons, and will also give our students a better view of what they are going to learn and play on before they walk out onto the snow.”

Diamond Peak Ski Resort will open for the 2017-18 ski season on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017. The next day, everyone is invited to come celebrate the beginning of the ski season at the resort’s Kickoff Party & Passholder Appreciation event on Friday, Dec. 15 starting at 4:30 p.m. in the Base Lodge – part of the month-long Tahoe Northern Lights Celebration. There will be live music by The Sextones, with appetizers and beverages available for purchase. Full details can be found at DiamondPeak.com.