12/26/22 Update From Mountaintop Condos
Good morning! I know that you are all very excited about your upcoming stay at Mountain Lodge for the Christmas holiday. I wanted to let you know that due to the recent winter storm and frigid sub-zero temperatures that a water pipe froze and burst yesterday at Mountain Lodge. Because of this, the water had to be shut off on one side of the building and I believe the unit that you are staying in has been affected. The maintenance staff did all that they could to restore the water yesterday. But because this happened on Christmas Day, they could not secure the part that was needed. I can promise you, that they will be working quickly to secure the needed part to get the water back on hopefully by this afternoon.
The timing of this couldn’t be any worse as this is the biggest check-in day of the entire season! I cannot make any guarantees that the water will be back on today, all I can do is hope and pray! As you can imagine, with no water in half of the building, this also creates difficulty for the housekeeping staff in getting units cleaned quickly. Everyone there is doing the best that they can – the past few days have been challenging to say the least. Please remember that this is no one’s fault – mother nature unleashed some very severe weather on Snowshoe the past few days.
I am hoping that the water will be back on before your arrival and that this will be a complete non-issue. But we did want to give you some notice so that you can be prepared by bring some extra water with you. Your patience and understanding with the staff would be greatly appreciated. We also suggest that, if possible, you delay your arrival to as late as possible today as it is highly unlikely that the housekeeping staff will have the rooms ready by 5 p.m.
Below is the official update that we received from Mountain Lodge late last evening:
From: ML Bookkeeper
Date: December 25, 2022 at 9:40:46 PM EST
Subject: WATER OUTAGE AND IMPACTS FOR DEC. 25-26
We write to wish you a Merry Christmas and to share some extremely challenging news. As some of you know, the Arctic Blast that hit much of this portion of the United States has caused massive power and water outages, and businesses across Snowshoe have suffered these same issues, with some condo buildings losing power, heat, and/or water due to frozen and burst pipes.
Here at Mountain Lodge, we have had several pipes and sprinklers break, some that were able to be repaired, but some that have proven particularly difficult and have resulted in a current and very serious water outage that is disrupting usage for many owners and guests.
Currently, a water trunk line in the basement is broken. Water to almost the entire B wing (the side of the building with the arcade and playground) is off as a result, and there are some units in the A wing (the side that faces Ballhooter) affected as well. The supplies needed to repair this pipe were not available on Christmas Day. Our hope is that the necessary supplies can be secured in the morning, but the specifics of the break make this a potentially difficult repair.
The earliest that the water may be turned back on is likely tomorrow afternoon, however, there is a possibility that locating supplies or making the repair could take longer than we hope. The temperature will dip again tonight and we are hoping that no additional lines or pipes will break, but this is very much a moving situation and we canÂ’t know for sure this pipe will be the last and only one with damage after another night of freezing temperatures tonight.
The lack of water in half of the building makes everything more difficult. Tomorrow is normally one of the biggest check-in days of the entire year. At this point, we hope, but can not say for sure, when or if the water will be on. We need to notify you that many rooms will not be ready for check-in at 5 p.m. We have more than 100 rooms to clean, and no water in many of them. If the water does not come back on early enough, we can try to carry water from one side of the building to another, but this will cause much slower cleaning times for all. All of this makes tomorrow beyond challenging, and we are notifying you now so that you can let your guests plan accordingly.
If you or your guests decide to postpone your arrival tomorrow, please update your Booking Center reservation as soon as possible so that staff can prioritize rooms with arrivals.
Our staff is prepared to work hard tomorrow, but it would help if you and your guests would be courteous to all who are trying their best in a difficult situation. The storm has not just impacted Mountain Lodge – many staff members have had personal difficulties at their homes, two staff members were in car accidents trying to get to work the past few days, and some are dealing with damaged vehicles or other personal challenges on top of a hard week at work.
We recognize this is a difficult situation for guests and owners, and wish we had more concrete news, but the storm’s severity makes it unwise for us to make promises we are not sure we can keep. We also recognize that uncertainty will cause stress — just know that we share this with you and will update you as soon as we have news of a successful repair. For now, we are pointing guests to Split Rock Pools for showers and other public buildings for bathroom needs.
We hope to have positive news at some point tomorrow afternoon. Please understand that we will not be able to check individual units and provide individual responses to emails while we have all staff on the floors trying to do all they can to prepare rooms and deal with guests who are on site.
Thank you for your understanding,
The Mountain Lodge Management Team
