Would you want to be a snowmaker?

[marzNC]

One more example . . .

Mount Snow initiated an investment offering in 2014 under EB-5 (foreign investors,$500K-$1M) to fund a major snowmaking project. Not sure how much it will cost but the total raised was $52 million for the water project and construction of a new lodge. The water project was celebrated in May 2015 with the Governor in attendance but it won't be completed until 2016 according to an article in the New England Ski Industry Journal. During the summer of 2015 pipes were upgraded and a summit pump house was under construction.

Peak Resorts started working on the idea of replacing the existing water supply in 2007. Apparently the long term goal is 100% coverage for snowmaking at Mount Snow.

"The West Lake Water Project includes the construction of a 120-million-gallon water storage pond for snowmaking, three pump houses, the installation of snowmaking pipelines, trail upgrades and expansion, a new ski lift and ancillary equipment.

Currently Mount Snow has 20 million gallons of water available for snowmaking. West Lake will increase storage by six times, enabling the resort to open more trails early in the season and increase the snowmaking capacity on existing trails.

Water will be pumped into West Lake from Cold Brook, a nearby stream. The project includes three pump houses. The West Lake pump house will pump water from Cold Brook into West Lake, and also pump water from West Lake to Mount Snow. Two additional pump houses at Mount Snow will pump the water to all areas of the mountain for snowmaking. Pipelines, totaling 28,500 feet and ranging in size from 24 inches to 48 inches in diameter, will connect West Lake and the pump houses.

Other project components include an intake structure in Cold Brook, which will allow water to be withdrawn from Cold Brook and pumped to West Lake. On-mountain snowmaking upgrades, a new beginner lift and other infrastructure improvements are part of the West Lake project."

 

[marzNC]

The difference between the east and west when it comes to water availability really shows in the way Pajarito talked about filling their new snow pond over the summer. In an August blog entry, the headline was "Nearly 8 Million Gallons in the Pond!". The pond's capacity is 10 million. Quite a contracts to Wintergreen, where the supplemental water tank holds 5 million. Wintergreen in VA has 100% snowmaking on all 129 acres. Of course, at Pajarito snowmaking is only to get the season going reliably in November so that people can ski over Thanksgiving and Christmas since the average annual snowfall is 163 inches. Snowmaking is on a small percentage of the terrain. The detailed plan to upgrade snowmaking was presented to the club members (~3000) who owned Pajarito in 2009, but a major problem caused by weather in 2011 delayed the completion of the project until the 2012-13 season. Pajarito closed down mid-season in 2014 after about 70 years but has since been bought. For the new owners, getting the new snow pond filled is obviously a priority now that Pajarito is part of a 4-area pass called the Power Pass.

Pretty clear that for any size ski area from small mom&pop feeder hills to huge destination resorts, improving snowmaking to get the season off to a good start is fundamental to financial survival. When people can't ski before January, most lose the urge even if it starts dumping in Feb. Especially true for families who must make as much use of the Christmas holidays as possible because their kids are in school during ski season.

 

[marzNC]

The local "village" paper did an article about snowmaking at Massanutten that included some numbers. Mnut has 100% coverage on about 75 acres, plus a tubing hill with 10 lanes.

• 150 air-water guns, some are fixed pole guns
• 52 fan guns

Having the mix means that can make maximize the conditions for making snow. Pole guns do better in marginal conditions. Fan guns can make a lot of snow in a short period of time in good conditions. Fan guns are easier to automate and most of Mnut's fan guns are relative new and automated. Only 10% of the air-water guns are automated.

In early Jan, Mnut managed to get the core trails open with only a few nights plus 48 hours of continuous snowmaking with cold temps at night in the teens or 20s. As I remember, 4-5 years ago it would take at least a week or two before there was enough snowmaking to open even with a stretch of cold weather. The base depth seems deeper than before at the start of the season. Which is one reason the season has been lasting into late March when late season weather cooperates.

Now that there is more snowmaking capability, water is becoming the limiting factor. The pond that is the water source holds about 18 million gallons. Blowing on 5 trails at the same time for 48 hours used up most of the pond's water. That means at times that some overnight rain is welcome by the snowmaking crew.

 

[marzNC]

Thinking about a snowmaking pond reminded me that Wintergreen in VA built a 5 million gallon tank to supplement their 100 million gallon pond a few years ago. According to a Wintergreen blog entry from Nov 2013, the existence of the tank allows them to double the amount of snowmaking possible overnight. That's pretty critical for a ski area in the southeast that often less than 30" of natural snow the entire winter. The tank also allowed Wintergreen to pre-cool the water used for snowmaking, which helps during early season or the inevitable Jan thaw.

Wintergreen spent around $6 million dollars over a year or two to enhance snowmaking capacity and capability around 2012. The difference was noticeable.

Wintergreen put more info about their snowmaking system on their website. In comparison to Massanutten (an hour away), Wintergreen has twice as many snow guns and a lot more water storage. Massanutten has a pond that can store 18 million gallons and about 200 snow guns, with perhaps 100 automated. Wintergreen as a 100 million gallons in a pond, plus the 5 million gallon tank, and 400 automated snow guns. Mnut has about 70 acres of ski terrain plus a snow tubing park (10 lanes). Wintergreen has 129 skiable acres and a tubing park. So the primary advantage for Wintergreen during early season (whenever that happens) or for a Jan thaw re-start is that they have more water per skiable acre than Massanutten.

The average annual snowfall for northwest Virginia is around 25 inches. That's why weekend lift tickets are about $70 for 8 hours on the short slopes in the region. Depending 100% on snowmaking is expensive.

How is snow made?
Wintergreen Resort makes snow from the same two ingredients as Mother Nature – air and water. The difference is that Wintergreen has a 5 million gallon water tank and a 100 percent computerized system that controls the ratio of air to water, the timing, and the placement of the snow.

This state-of-the-art system includes a network of more than 400 powerful snowguns, underground hydrants and weather sensors that control the precise mixture of air and water required for the best quality snow. The sensors, which are located on the edge of the slopes, continuously monitor humidity and temperature while sending signals to computer-controlled hydrants that are buried under each snowgun.

 

[marzNC]

Interesting article about snowmaking at Sugarbush this winter. The Sugarbush reservoir draws from the Mad River and can hold 25 million gallons. The reservoir for Okemo holds 155 million gallons, drawn from the Black River.

 

[Fluffy Kitty]

The average annual snowfall for northwest Virginia is around 25 inches.

Yikes! And yet cold enough for snowmaking...

 

[marzNC]

Yikes! And yet cold enough for snowmaking...

I have a feeling the average snowfall used to be higher along the VA mountains. Massanutten was created in the early 1970's, long before 100% snowmaking became the norm in the southeast. Night time temps under 30 are pretty normal for most of the winter in that region. With automated snowguns, a lot of snow can be made in 8-10 hours.

What's changing is that places in the northeast are having to install more and more snowguns in order to make sure there is enough open terrain during the early season and the critical end of year holiday weeks.

 

[Fluffy Kitty]

I have a feeling the average snowfall used to be higher along the VA mountains.

I believe it. We are always at or below average here, too...

 

[marzNC]

The voting is on for the annual SAM contest called "I am a Snowmaker." There are six teams nominated for 2016: Stowe, Okemo, Sunday River, Whistler-Blackcomb, Copper, and Cataloochee. Voting ends March 31 and you can vote for your favorite daily. No prize for the winning team except bragging rights.

https://www.saminfo.com/i-am-a-snowmaker-2016#

For those who have never heard of Cat, not a surprise. Cat is in the NC mountains south of Asheville. Often first to open and one of the last to close in the southeast. 100% snowmaking on 25 acres. Some folks from Atlanta drive several hours to get in their snow fix at Cat. Needless to say, the snowmaking team are critical to the success of Cataloochee.

 

[marzNC]

After Afton Alps in MN was bought by Vail in 2012, they were able to do major upgrades to the snowmaking for the 2013-14 season. Afton has about 300 acres. Vail spent $10 million on the snowmaking upgrades and other renovations. The impact on their electricity use was written up as a case study by their electric company, Xcel Energy.

With the new equipment, Ray Weller said “we were able to buy efficient snow guns, increase the size of the pond, go from pumping 1,800 gallons per minute to 3,300 gallons per minute, and we’re using less energy.” Weller has the title of Regional Sustainability and Compliance Manager at Afton. Afton got a rebate from Xcel based on the upgrades.

Better guns, less energy

They replaced 72 snow guns with high-efficiency models, in a combination of fan guns and stick guns. As an example of their increased efficiency, Weller points out that the old models were using 500-700 cubic feet per minute (CFM) and the new, low-e guns use as little as 20 CFM.

“We were able to buy efficient snow guns, increase the size of the pond, go from pumping 1,800 gallons per minute to 3,300 gallons per minute, and we’re using less energy.”

They retired 29 snow guns and replaced them with 30 new SMI Super Polecat snow guns.

Weller says it all boils down to efficiency and offsetting their compressed air consumption.

“We went from nine compressors down to four which equated to huge energy savings for us,” says Weller.

A final piece of the project involved increasing the size of the pond to have more water in storage. Weller explains that as it gets colder, they supply more water to the snow making system. They can fill the pond with smaller pumps during off peak times and have that water reserved for peak snow-making times.

 

[marzNC]

Sunday River was winner for the 2016 I Am A Snowmaker contest. There was an announcement on the SR website in early April. Other nominees in the northeast included Stowe and Okemo. Given the weather for the 2015-16 season, all those snowmaking teams had to work pretty hard all season.

 

[marzNC]

Even though snowmaking is a bigger deal in the east, more investment in snowmaking is happening out in the west as well. Mostly to help make sure that destination ski resorts can be open by Thanksgiving with enough terrain to make travelers happy. Even more important to open as many beginner/intermediate trails as possible by the Christmas/New Year holiday weeks.

Even Alta has been investing in snowmaking infrastructure in recent years. Not only fan guns, but more importantly water lines along key trails such as Devil's Elbow. The Master Development Plan (MDP) update in 2012 includes the idea of restoring Lake Flora at the top of Glory Hole in order to provide 8 million gallons of water that could be used for snowmaking when temperatures are cold enough in early season. Ideally, Alta snowmakers are out of a job by mid-Dec. I got a chance to chat with a groomer operator and he initially started out working at Alta as a snowmaker. He said a few of the snowmakers don't get another job after snowmaking season is over. They just go skiing.

Alta Snowmaking Dec 2011, by Ski Utah

 

[Fluffy Kitty]

He said a few of the snowmakers don't get another job after snowmaking season is over. They just go skiing.

 

[marzNC]

Even the PacNW is making use of snowmaking in recent years. As for ski resorts in the Rockies, the main reason is to make sure that lower slopes are open by Thanksgiving. Even more important to have as much terrain open as possible by the Christmas holiday period.

Schweitzer got a headstart in 2008. They spent $1.4 million on automated snowmaking equipment. The relatively new CEO, Tom Chasse, had come from the northeast. Some people thought it was a waste of money and effort. But during the low snow situation in 2015-16, the payoff was that Schweitzer's season was only one week shorter than usual. The snowmaking pond can hold 4.5 million gallons. Snowmaking capability exists on 100 of 2900 acres.

Schweitzer adding snowmaking gear - Sep 2008

Snowmaking becoming a game-changer for area ski resorts - Dec 2015

 

[marzNC]

Found some numbers about snowmaking at Sun Valley. During a tour given to media in 2010, it was mentioned that Sun Valley had 540 snowmaking guns, and they could run up to 85 of them at the same time. Could mean as much as 4 million gallons of water a day during early season. By 2014, there were 555 snowguns, 110 weather monitors for the automated systems, and five buildings dedicated to snowmaking.

 

[marzNC]

Boreal in CA is going to use a different snowmaking approach for their summer camp program in 2016. The machinery is pretty expensive, around $250,000. The Snow Factory is made by an Italian company, TechnoAlpine. Essentially the idea is to make ice crystals in a large cold container, which is then sprayed outdoors. Of course, if the air temperature is high then the "snow" won't last long. According to a Outside Online article, it has been used in a few locations in Europe for special events or national cross country training.

 

[Fluffy Kitty]

Essentially the idea is to make ice crystals in a large cold container, which is then sprayed outdoors.

Interesting technique. I'd love to find out how well it works out.

 

[marzNC]

Interesting technique. I'd love to find out how well it works out.

Found a video in German from Nov 2014 that gives a sense of what can be done to create a WROD during early season. Shows the conveyor belt bringing out the "snow" made inside the container. The container is the size of a shipping container that fits on the back of a tractor-trailer or on a shipping vessel. TechnoAlpine has been making snowmaking equipment for indoor and outdoor use for quite a while, so the Snow Factory is an extension of their expertise. No chemicals are used, only refrigeration and water.

 

[marzNC]

Another article about the Snow Factory at Boreal includes a clip of snowmaking in action.

 

[santacruz skier]

Another article about the Snow Factory at Boreal includes a clip of snowmaking in action.

Think I heard about this...interesting!!!!!