The first day out in the Midwest is an odd ritual. 

Despite your best expectation-lowering efforts, there’s always that hope that, somehow, someway, the snowmaking crew at your hill of choice piled it up deep for you. 

If your first turns were anything like ours at Welch Village this week, it wasn’t exactly like that, but you may have been presently surprised. 

Temperatures in the Midwest have been low in the last few weeks, allowing gunners at all kinds of hills to start filling the slopes with snow. Welch was one of them, as they had two of the hill’s finest slopes up and running, making good gains in other areas too. 

It’s not all filled in, but the progress is evident. This weekend’s forecast calls for another natural layer of snow and the temperatures suggest more snowmaking is coming next week. 

As for the skiing, it’s cold and those snow gun crystals really sting, but it is great to be out there. Like your home hill hopefully is, Welch Village is well on its way in these early few weeks.