The horse pastures and trails sur- rounding The Highlands’ equestrian cen- ter were destroyed. The zip tour had to be written off. In addition to the 55 developed ski trails littered with debris, there were 22 miles of mountain biking trails to clear, as well as hiking and segway-tour trails to restore. For perspective, says Kissinger, “When we finally got up on the hill, I went up there with our bike park man- ager. We’re standing at the top of one of our bike trails. We see the trailhead sign, so we know the trail is right there, but neither one of us could tell where it was.” Feeling powerless. On top of it all, the power was out—and it remained out for six weeks on parts of the property, says Kissinger. “It was overwhelming,” adds Chum- bler. “By day three or four, Robby (Ortlieb) and I would just look at each other like, ‘how are we going to get this place look- ing even remotely normal by spring?’” »
aged. Ice accumulated in the pine cano- pies, causing the tops to snap off. “Our entrance looked like we had 40 acres of matchsticks just sticking out of the ground,” recalls Kissinger. The property’s hardwoods were less affected, but in an early assessment, Ortlieb speculated “there were more trees down than left standing.” Though hyperbole, the actual scope of the dam- age was nonetheless significant, with enough downed limbs, dead trees, and widow-makers littering the property’s forests that the team is still cleaning them up as of reporting. Equipment and facilities. In addi- tion to the downed trees and limbs, por- table snow guns were damaged, as was a pump house. A radio tower on the sum- mit collapsed from ice buildup. The resort’s four 18-hole golf cours- es were decimated—sitting under a thick layer of ice and covered with debris— just three weeks before they were sched- uled to open.
cold. “That ice lingered, and that weight and that tension and that pressure just stayed on.” THE DAMAGE In some ways, the destruction was not as bad as it could have been. There was no structural damage to key facilities, and all chairlifts were intact. Apart from a few branches on haul ropes, none of the lifts suffered major damage, a testament, says Ortlieb, to the slope maintenance team’s diligent forest management prac- tices. (“I’d take that as a win,” he says.) In other ways, it was catastroph- ic. The Highlands’ 40 acres of red pine plantations were all but destroyed, with more than 90 percent of the timber dam- LEFT: A spring storm glazed The Highlands in up to 2 inches of radial ice. The pressure and tension from the accumulation left some infrastructure and assets damaged and thousands of trees downed or wounded. The remediation effort has been months- long and remains ongoing.
LEFT: One of the biggest challenges in the ongoing clean up has been securing enough of the right equipment and PPE for the scope of the work, much of which has taken place in dense forests. BELOW: Logging companies were retained to salvage timber from myriad downed red pine stands.
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