Fan guns

[Sparky]

There was a lot of talk this season about all the new fan guns at Mount Snow. I’m not aware of any other mountain investing so heavily in fan guns. Why did mount snow go this route? Has there been a break through in this technology, do they use less water/power? Just how do the fan guns work compared to the more customary system?

[wa-loaf]

Originally Posted by Sparky

There was a lot of talk this season about all the new fan guns at Mount Snow. I’m not aware of any other mountain investing so heavily in fan guns. Why did mount snow go this route? Has there been a break through in this technology, do they use less water/power? Just how do the fan guns work compared to the more customary system?

I don't know that much about them and I'm sure others will chime in. But they don't require the big central air compressors which means the resorts can ditch the big diesels motors and it's one less set of pipes running up along the trails. That and they seem to pump out a hell of a lot of snow and fast.

[jack97]

Promotion and installation of fan guns is probably the result of new ownership, Peak Resorts.

When they reopen Crotched, they installed near 100 % snow making capacity and promoted how fast the fan guns can blow man made. IIRC, adding about 4- 6 inches on all the trails during one shift is acheivable, thus they can recover from a rain or ice event in short time.

Peak Resort is prolly doing the same promotion at Mnt Snow, show the public that they have the goods to provide great surface condition even during times when the weather is not fully cooperating.

[SkiDork]

If nothing else, they're a lot quieter...

[TheBEast]

My home hill, Berkshire East installed a large amount of these a number of years back. They can produce a better quality snow in a wider range of temperatures (given the right operator at the controls monitoring the output!!). In addition they are more energy efficient and as stated don't require the central air compressors and lines as each gun has it's own air supply on board. In my opinion any resort expanding snowmaking in coming years will be hard pressed not to go this route.

From my understanding at Berkshire East they even got the power company to kick in some cash for the guns since they reduced energy usage significantly.

The wave of the future is upon us. I think we would all say that the quality of snow we saw at Mount Snow this year was marketable improved, probably in large part to their new fan guns.

Being a little greener can have benefits!!

[deadheadskier]

What suprises me is this is not new technology. It's probably improved, but not new. I remember growing up skiing Ward Hill 25 years ago and they had fan guns back then.

[Newpylong]

Brodie mountain solely used them for years as well. But they were only carriage mounted and they had nowhere near as many as modern hills do nowadays.

With 250 Mount Snow will have quite a few next year...

[ERJ-145CA]

Here is a link with info on how snow is made including fan guns:
http://travel.howstuffworks.com/snow-maker.htm

[marcski]

I remember the BEAST having carriage mounted fan guns going back 20-30 years.

I believe fan guns require a relatively high voltage power supply for each gun, which is a capital cost required when installing these types of guns.

[mondeo]

Here's part of it: the diesel compressors might run at an efficiency of around 30%. A cogen power plant can be 60%. A 2x difference in the efficiency of power production will go along way towards overcoming the losses you take across the power lines, the additional electrical to mechanical loss, and overcoming the capital cost of the equipment, and the coal will be cheaper than diesel to start with. The other thing that was mentioned by the rep that we talked to in mid-April was that Mount Snow rents all their diesel compressors; going to electricity eliminates that cost as well.