Kirkwood was 100 percent back online today after an unexpected New Year’s Day power outage shut down the resort through Saturday, and kept all but four lifts closed on Sunday.

According to Kirkwood Senior Vice President Tim Cohee, around two o’clock Friday afternoon, one of the six engines in Kirkwood’s power plant suffered an exhaust failure.  The resulting fire destroyed the contents of the cinder block building housing the power engines.  A total of three portable CAT generator sets were in place Friday night, but complications integrating the new power source into Kirkwood’s distribution system caused unexpected delays.  Resort operators thought they were ready to fully open as of five o’clock Sunday morning, but then ground faults and transformer issues created challenges getting the new power supply to the source that drives the lifts.

Chairs 11, 2 and 5 were running most of the day Sunday, and chair 6 (Cornice) opened mid-afternoon.  From that point on it was like weekday skiing, with run after beautiful run down Zachs and Sentinel bowl with no lift lines to speak of.  Throughout the day, Kirkwood employees were on hand pouring hot chocolate and giving out food and drink vouchers to season pass holders.  Guests who purchased day passes on Sunday will receive two free lift tickets in compensation for the partial shutdown.

By Sunday night, the rest of the lifts were functioning.  After one final power switchover Monday morning, Red Cliffs Lodge was the last of two buildings to come online, and the resort was fully operational with the entire front and back of the mountain open.

Kirkwood is estimating a cost of five million to seven million dollars to replace the power building, plus another million in business losses.  The resort will run the rest of the season on the three portable generator units, which provide Kirkwood with more combined power than before the fire.  The power plant will be rebuilt this summer.

Most of the guests I spoke with thought Kirkwood staff handled the situation well, and my nephew was thrilled that Aunt Sonja’s birthday gift of a day of snowboarding is turning into three days on the slopes.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed that Kirkwood will make up its losses with a slew of good storms and a nice long winter season.