37 replies to this topic

[egieszl]

http://www.trinitymountainresort.com/

I just got word that the ski area in Green Valley Lake, CA (Trinity Mountain Resort) is on fire because of the Slide Fire.

No exact details on the Riblet Double, Poma and structures other than word that the entire forest in the area is a blaze and nearly every home on Angeles Drive and Falling Leave Drive was destroyed.

The snowmaking reservoir at Snow Valley is being used by aircraft to help fight the fires.

[cjb]

Here is what fire news that I can give, I am staying at Snow Valley with about 4 other employees. We are less than a mile as the crow flies from Green Valley and I don't see how the Trinity Mtn could have survived. The fire has been burning on the ridge line where the resort is for two days. We have had 6 helicopters dipping from our lake for most of the day. We have three snowmaking resevoirs on the hill but only one is safe for them to use so we have been transfering water into that one because it was low already.(we are in a drought after all) There has been a DC-10 dropping retardent most of the day also, he probably made about ten drops today. I took a bunch of pictures but can't download them since I left the camera cable at home. They are setting up the fire camp here tonite and the parking lot will probably be full of firefighters by tomorrow night. From the top of our hill I can see a landmark that is across the street from my house. As of this afternoon the fire was about 1/2 mile clear of my house but we will see. We have 1 employee who has lost his house and many others have houses in areas that have burned we just have no specifics yet. The scope of this fire is enormous, especially since it is burning right through the town, and I would guess that it will be well over a week before anyone is allowed to return to there homes. (probably more like 2 or even 3 weeks). I will be staying at Snow Valley for the duration along with my wife, three kids, dog, and bearded dragon. It is a very safe place with the snowmaking system, natural clearing, and soon to arrive hundreds of fire fighters. The determining factor on them leaving will be the kids behavior and her patience. One problem is my parents and one sister live a couple blocks from me, my other sister lives in Running springs (3 miles away) and one brother lives in Lake Arrowhead (10 miles away), everyone in my family has been evacuated along with me except for my brother in Florida.
If I can get home tomorrow then I will get the cable I need for the camera and post a couple of pictures.

[mikest2]

Good luck, my thoughts are with you.

[Peter]

I did not realize that these fires were so big. I can see why they diverted Crystal's helicopter flying to much more important things. It has rained so much here I thought fire season was over. My thoughts are with you and everyone down there as well.

[Peter]

Look at this, the mountain's website celebrates being unscatherd by the last fire, on Sept 15th.

http://www.trinitymountainresort.com/

[cjb]

The last fire started to the east of Trinity, (near Big Bear) and burned both north and west from where it started to threaten Green Valley (Trinity Mtn). The current fire started just a mile or two to the east of the resort and the first day saw winds gusting to almost 80 miles an hour here. (Our weather station recorded one at 77 mph),
I have not seen Green Valley to confirm what is lost but for those who know the area there was fire on both side of green valley road, but not total destruction, starting just above camp cedar crest. Fir burned around much of Calvary chapel campgrounds, but the structures appeared to be OK, (Randy your trailer appeared unharmed too).
I didn't go past Calvary Chapel but the local news is reporting 80 homes lost in GVL. I went to my house and the fire is in Deep Creek/The Narrows behind Running Springs. (1/2 mile from my home) but the neighborhood appears ok.

[102Terry]

Good Luck and remember thar all resorts are one big family. If You or Your family need anything be sure to post something, I'm sure everyone would be more than happy to pitch in. We had 2 families affected by the Angorra fire at Heavenly and we literally gave them the clothes off our back!
Terry

[cjb]

Thank you very much. We have a long way to go before we know the outcome of all this. I arrived in Tahoe the day the Angorra fire started, on my way to Sugar Bowl for CSIA. It looked terrible that day but this is even worse. I got the items I needed for my camera so I will post some pictures soon. Thanks again.

[Emax]

We're all feeling for you Chuck - and hoping for the best outcome possible from this nasty situation. I imagine that Rick is involved with the firefighting effort.
Snow Valley will likely remain protected, but no employees live there. Keep us posted on who needs what.

[poloxskier]

My thoughts are with you as well and I know we are all hoping for the best possible outcome.

[cjb]

Thanks Bud, none of us are directly fighting any fires, although we were ready the first two nights with hoses strung out and the snowmakng system charged. Now we are just providing the fire camp support like access to offices, water, phones, etc... here is a photo from yesterday; this is the view from the top of slide peak and lift 11 at the resort with the smoke plume from the slide fir in the background. This is looking to the northwest and trinity mountain would be on the right of the picture.

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This post has been edited by cjb: 24 October 2007 - 08:56 PM

[cjb]

Here is a shot of the DC-10 either before or after his retardent drop, flying over lift 11 at Snow Valley.

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This post has been edited by cjb: 24 October 2007 - 09:14 PM

[cjb]

Here is one of the helicopters dipping from the lake, now good night.

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[egieszl]

Thanks for the photos. That reservoir is low. I thought the lines had been laid to the Lake Arrowhead water district so you could draw more water for snowmaking.

I too wish you the best and hope your home stays safe. The destruction has been sad. I have relatives who live on Fairway Drive in Lake Arrowhead, directly southwest of the golf course (Grass Valley). I've been reading the scanner reports from Rimoftheworld.net and it sounds like based on someones account today that their house may be ok. It's amazing since it seemed that they were directly in the path of the fire.

Eric

This post has been edited by egieszl: 25 October 2007 - 12:00 AM

[liftmech]

Good luck out there and our thoughts are with you as well.

[SkiBachelor]

Is that DC-10 owned by the US Government or is being rented from a company/country?

http://www.liveleak....=1a7_1193165376

[cjb]

About the DC-10 I don't know who owns it although I was told it costs $8,000 an hour. I don't know if that is the cost to 'rent it' or the actual cost to operate. As for the resevoir level it is low for a couple of reasons. First we had a very dry year and it was empty at the end of the season so we took the opportunity to dredge out some of the silt that had accumulated over the last 20+ years. During that time we used 2 other sites as storage. About the water line we have shelved that project for now due to many factors and instead are trying to drill more wells. We just finished one and are in the testing process for certification/permitting and all of that. Currently our snowmaking water is supplied out of one deep well and it takes us all summer to fill our lake from it.

As for the fire it has been slowly approaching the resort from the north side and has slowed down alot over the last day or two because the winds calmed. It sounds like three of the year round emplyees have lost their houses as of now and there are many houses that we are unsure of. My house and all of my families houses are ok except my youngest sisters. We don't know about hers yet and it is an area that saw some losses. A sherriff is going to check it today. My wife and kids left here yesterday because the smoke was too thick and are going to her parents house by Redding. They are unofficially estimating another week or more before opening the area again. We are kind of guessing around Nov 3 or so. I Guess I'll have plenty of time to catch up on paperwork since I am living in my office. This spring we built a breakroom in the maintenance shop, along with a bathroom (thats right, never had one), shower, and washer/dryer. I am SO glad we were given the time to do that.

[egieszl]

There are now photos of the damage to the Trinity Mountain Resort on their web site.

http://www.trinitymountainresort.com/image...%20lift%201.jpg

http://www.trinitymountainresort.com/image...%20lift%202.jpg

You can still see the hill smoking in the background and this 6 days after the fire began.

[Snoqualmie guy]

Can the ski area still operate? I feel bad for all who have lost so much.

[RibStaThiok]

The motor room of Lift 1 is hisotry. While the lift still stands, the fatigue to the metal caused by the fire will more then likely mean that lift will have to come down, or at least a new bottom terminal be put in.