dunefreak

Start planning your 2019-2020 Dumont season now. The holiday weekend dates have been confirmed by the BLM. Many have asked when the official Halloween weekend is. It is October 26-27 weekend, the weekend before Halloween. After Halloween we have Thanksgiving, New Years, then MLK and President's Weekend in 2020. The 2020 cleanup date has not been set, but it will be in mid-March. Keep checking back on our site for more upcoming Dumont events. Dates when a holiday pass is required Halloween: October 22-October 28, 2019 (since Nevada Day is the last Friday in October, there will likely be staff the following weekend as well. Holiday passes will not be required that weekend) Thanksgiving: November 26-December 2, 2019 New Year’s: December 31, 2019 - January 6, 2020 Martin Luther King: January 14-January 20, 2020 President’s Day: February 11-February 17, 2020

Many duners have been anxiously awaiting to hear news that the Dumont cell tower is up and running. Although early reports stated it would be completed in November 2018, that was not the case. Towards the end of the 18/19 season we saw that the service access road was completed, but that was all. Then in March, we saw they were pouring concrete at the top of the hill and that was an exciting and big step towards more progress. It is now May and we recently received word that the tower has been placed on the hill south of the camp area at the big dunes/ memorial hill area. The tower was installed using a crawler crane. Originally they were going to use a helicopter, but that would have involved additional permits which caused more problems and delays. High speed coverage for all should be available by Fall of 2019! Tom Gammon, president and founder of InterConnecting Wireless, advised us a perimeter fence goes in sometime in June. Phone carriers will soon thereafter start installing their equipment for the cell tower to be functional. AT&T is looking to start their full equipment install or deployment in July. This takes 90 to 120 days until phones work or all is fully completed. Verizon should be installing everything this fall and T-Mobile is in the process of working on doing the same. All 4 carriers will provide service as Sprint “roams” on Verizon and T-Mobile does that on AT&T! Related: Cell Tower Construction Updates, https://www.dumontduneriders.com/invision/news/cell-tower-construction-updates-r163/

Halloween weekend is Oct 26-27 weekend.

In the beginning of the season, users of Dumont Dunes were very excited to hear about a new cell tower going in at Dumont Dunes. Shortly after the announcement, we were told it was going to be finished by November 19th, 2018! In early November, we received some selfies from a well-dressed project manager in a cowboy hat. The photo showed the completion of the access gate and the road that was graded to the top of a mountain just south of the big dunes. Nov 2018: Access Road When November 19th rolled around and there was still no cell tower, we weren't very surprised. That sounded way too good to be true. We did, however, get an updated from the BLM stating the tower would be installed and functioning by April/May of 2019. That sounded much more realistic. Throughout the season, however, we saw no work being done and we wondered if there was some sort of holdup. Would this cell tower actually be done this season...or ever? Duners were very eager to get out to the dunes and stream movies I guess. I was getting multiple messages before every holiday weekend asking if it was done. I would send everyone the following photo of the last update of their "tower". It's a photo of the top of the barren mountain where the cell tower site will be. Feb 2019: The Cell Tower Site Construction! It is now March and I can finally share some good news of some progress at the cell tower site. Over cleanup weekend, truckloads of cement were being hauled into Dumont. The trucks were driving out to Dumont from Las Vegas. It was taking them 3 hours to get there at which time the cement was quickly poured into front end loaders and hauled up the steep access road to the cell tower construction site. From the looks of it, the forms are in the ground and the foundation will be ready for the tower very soon. According to the BLM, the cell tower will be helicoptered in and set on top of that mountain. So it looks like that April/ May completion date may be a reality after all! We will keep you posted on the progress. The cell tower will be a great addition for Dumont users not only for selfies and live stream dune videos, but for emergencies and better communication in the dunes during breakdowns and recoveries. Here are the photos from the progress on March 16th, 2019. March 2019 More cell tower discussion on the forum...