Well today didn’t go as we had hoped.  I woke up around 4:30am to a number of emails, texts and a voicemail.  The highway had closed during the night due to blowing snow, avalanches and low visibility.  A few plow drivers on the highway said that it was as bad a night as they remembered.  Our grooming crew said by the morning that it didn’t look like they had done anything with their tracks and plowing efforts covered up by 70mph winds and drifting snow. We met up with the CDOT crew in Maysville around 5:15am and discussed the plan.  Avalanche mitigation and more road clearing would be needed and the highway was closed indefinitely.  After several more hours of emails, phone calls and texts we were able to coordinate with CDOT and get a small crew through the highway clearing operation around 1p to the ski area to start digging out and making a plan for Sunday.  That’s where we are at right now.  CDOT is hoping to reopen the pass here later this afternoon.  The forecasts have some crazy totals for snow tonight and tomorrow.  We are making plans to be open on Sunday for normal operations and we’ll see what the night brings with this next round of snow.  Several of us will be sleeping here tonight to try and stay on top of the storm along with our operators who plan to show up and try it again tonight.  Stay positive and stay tuned.