Friday, December 26, 2014

Dumping Snow!

Total of 6 feet of snow in the last week!


Well if there was any doubt before, it is definitely winter on the Mesa now!  Jeff and I were there to do some work on the cabins to get ready for opening, but we ended up just doing a ton of snow removal!  It wouldn't stop dumping!  It snowed at least 18" on Saturday, and continued well into Sunday!
We did manage to get some work done though.  You can see that cabin number four now has a nice stain on the interior.  We also finished putting up walls in the main cabin, our new lodge.
  

The sun came out and shined on us briefly.  This is it, the new lodge... Really it's just the largest cabin that had been rented before.  We have a long way to go before it is a real lodge to hang out in with a restaurant, but we are working on implementing a small restaurant this winter.  Keep checking for more info about this!

Jeff's new plow is working really well!  We had to keep plowing the lot, and then this past weekend we took the snow cat out for a cruise to push back the snow banks!  Glad it runs!!
Last weekend I had to go shovel a path to the well.  Rental cabins need running water!  They also need to be chlorinated.  The chlorination expert came up this past week to help us install our chlorinator, but first I had to shovel!
 
We had been staying in cabin number one, but since we are actually trying to open up for rentals, we finally moved all of our stuff out.  We are going to set up in the lodge for now, there are still bedrooms there from when it was a rental cabin.  I was able to take photos of cabin number one's interior now!

We also finished staining in cabin number five.  It's looking pretty good!  

Also good news, we are now officially open!!


Driving up in the blizzard was difficult!  Highway 65 is plowed but still scary...  Drive safely, and come visit!

Meet the new owner!

Thunder Mountain Lodge is Re-Opening!


Meet the new owner ~ Jeff Kieper:
Jeff moved to Colorado from Wisconsin in 1998, and is an avid outdoor enthusiast. He worked as a raft and snowmobile guide for more than 15 years in the Vail area. Eventually, Ski-doo scooped him up to become the VIP tour manager, a position he held for 4 years. During the winter, he is almost always out on his snowmobile. Although he has been know to ice climb once in a while. When the snow melts, you can find him guiding people on some of the toughest white water around. Or climbing to the top of Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks. Or maybe he's out ripping it up on his dirt bike. But maybe that's just in the past, now you will find him at Thunder Mountain Lodge. He will be plowing, shoveling, and doing repairs all over the property. Don't worry, he'll be plenty busy! Not only is he the proud new owner of Thunder Mountain Lodge, but he is also newly engaged to be married! That's right ladies, Jeff is off the market. We are planning on a wedding in June 2015 at the lodge. My name is Jessica, and I am helping Jeff with a lot of the technical work, the e-mails, the website, the reservations, and of course adding a feminine touch to the cabins.
Keep in touch, send us an e-mail, and we hope to see you soon!