Best Snow making and why

[Sparky]

I did a search to see if this had alread been discussed and came up empty, so here goes.

Which mountain has the best snowmaking and why?

My little home mountain, Jiminy Peak seems to do a good job. I know the owner is very hands on when it comes to snow making. I fact I have seen him out dragging lines and setting guns several times. I have also been told that he shares patients on nozzle design. So it's obvious that they take their snow making very seriously.

 

[Greg]

Jiminy definitely does a good job. They usually open first in Southern NE and can be close to 100% by Christmas. Sundown does a good job for a little hill, but the snowmaking title probably has to go to Hunter. They live or die by it.

 

[AMAC2233]

I go to Blue Hills sometimes, which is 15 minutes from my house, and I think they do a pretty good job. In the few near-tropical days we had last season, they always managed to have at least 2 or 3 trails open, and I have never experienced a day that was really icy.

 

[thetrailboss]

I think that the first pioneer of snowmaking was Killington. They have the largest system in the world I believe....at least the largest in the USA. However, they were eclipsed in the 1990's by Sunday River, who built a reputation of having reliable snow. It makes sense when you go to SR and see where they are...they don't get too much natural snow. SR patented snowmaking techniques and equipment designs I think.

Nowadays there is not enough $$$ in ASC to continue the innovations, so other places are moving ahead. In my experiences during the past two seasons, Sunapee and Pats Peak have impressed me. Pats Peak makes lots of snow and even does so in their glades. They have HKD towers on almost every run and are working on a new snowmaking pond that will insure that they can open the entire hill in under two days or some absurd amount of time As for Sunapee, they blew the sh%^ out of the place last season...they were making snow in late March :beer: DEEP bases on all trails beginning in December meant a good season and great conditions. They are serious about making snow...they have unlimited water.

Burke has been good in the past as well, but the resorts I have named are the ones who had or have the reputation.

Sunday River's Snowmaking Page

Pats Peak's Snowmaking Page

 

[skibum1321]

My vote is for Mad River. I think the minimalist approach is great and I love skiing the natural snow trails. Sure, there are times when snowmaking is good, but I'll take natural snow trails any day of the week.

 

[JimG.]

I know some will disagree (alot of Crotched fans here), but Hunter does it best hands down. Most of the other hills who come close were trained by the Slutskys or those directors of snowmaking came from Hunter. The Slutsky's are known worldwide as the experts. When I went to Portillo, Chile I skied on snow made by a Hunter alum on alot of the inbounds lift served terrain. Same at many other places.

I've skied at many resorts worldwide, and I've never found manmade snow better than Hunter's.

 

[JimG.]

I think that the first pioneer of snowmaking was Killington. They have the largest system in the world I believe....at least the largest in the USA. However, they were eclipsed in the 1990's by Sunday River, who built a reputation of having reliable snow. It makes sense when you go to SR and see where they are...they don't get too much natural snow. SR patented snowmaking techniques and equipment designs I think.

Nowadays there is not enough $$$ in ASC to continue the innovations, so other places are moving ahead. In my experiences during the past two seasons, Sunapee and Pats Peak have impressed me. Pats Peak makes lots of snow and even does so in their glades. They have HKD towers on almost every run and are working on a new snowmaking pond that will insure that they can open the entire hill in under two days or some absurd amount of time As for Sunapee, they blew the sh%^ out of the place last season...they were making snow in late March :beer: DEEP bases on all trails beginning in December meant a good season and great conditions. They are serious about making snow...they have unlimited water.

Burke has been good in the past as well, but the resorts I have named are the ones who had or have the reputation.

Sunday River's Snowmaking Page

Pats Peak's Snowmaking Page

The "pioneers" at Killington and Sunday River were trained by or came from Hunter.

 

[TwinTips21]

I will gaurantee all of you that mountain creek does the best job of snowmaking period!

 

[JimG.]

I will gaurantee all of you that mountain creek does the best job of snowmaking period!

Laughing here...otherwise I'd think you were serious!

 

[deadheadskier]

I don't think you can have this conversation without mentioning Okemo. They do a heckuva job making snow there.

 

[snowmaker4191]

when looking at stats about snowmaking it's more about the gallons per acre, not total output. look at said above crothched, no they don't have the biggest system ever but compared to killington crotched packs enough power to re-surface the whole small area over night. as doe hunter. as you see crotched is to 100% open soon before killington. it's beacuse of they're large acre per hour output. yes killingtons system has more gallons per hour output. but they have to spread that over a huge area. IMO killington is not realy the best at snomking it's the little places that have it down. look at pats peak another example.

 

[ChileMass]

Having never skied Huntah, I will vote for Sunday River. I was up there a few years ago and the night we arrived it was 55*F with 2" of rain, but the next day the trails were PERFECT. It was hard to believe they were even open, much less with lots of new snow groomed out to perfection. Maybe Hunter did it first, and perhaps they taught the guys at SR how to do it, but they do a fine job up there.

 

[JimG.]

when looking at stats about snowmaking it's more about the gallons per acre, not total output. look at said above crothched, no they don't have the biggest system ever but compared to killington crotched packs enough power to re-surface the whole small area over night. as doe hunter. as you see crotched is to 100% open soon before killington. it's beacuse of they're large acre per hour output. yes killingtons system has more gallons per hour output. but they have to spread that over a huge area. IMO killington is not realy the best at snomking it's the little places that have it down. look at pats peak another example.

Excellent response! I will have to make some effort to get to Crotched this coming season...I hear alot of good things about it. Same for Pat's.

 

[JimG.]

I don't think you can have this conversation without mentioning Okemo. They do a heckuva job making snow there.

Also true...I think we should add Bretton Woods to the list too.

 

[Greg]

Having never skied Huntah, I will vote for Sunday River. I was up there a few years ago and the night we arrived it was 55*F with 2" of rain, but the next day the trails were PERFECT. It was hard to believe they were even open, much less with lots of new snow groomed out to perfection. Maybe Hunter did it first, and perhaps they taught the guys at SR how to do it, but they do a fine job up there.

And I thought you didn't like the Rivah!

 

[thetrailboss]

when looking at stats about snowmaking it's more about the gallons per acre, not total output. look at said above crothched, no they don't have the biggest system ever but compared to killington crotched packs enough power to re-surface the whole small area over night. as doe hunter. as you see crotched is to 100% open soon before killington. it's beacuse of they're large acre per hour output. yes killingtons system has more gallons per hour output. but they have to spread that over a huge area. IMO killington is not realy the best at snomking it's the little places that have it down. look at pats peak another example.

Honestly though places like Pats Peak and Crotched are MUCH smaller and this is an advantage when it comes to making improvements and snowmaking. $1 million in snowmaking upgrades buys you more stuff and work at Pats than at Killington. Also, it is probably IMPOSSIBLE for Killington to resurface everything overnight because of its shear size. I don't think that this is a fair comparison. That said, because Pats and Crotched are the size that they are and have the snowmaking capabilities that they do, only are benefits to skiing smaller places. Benefits that many people don't consider.

 

[JimG.]

Maybe Hunter did it first, and perhaps they taught the guys at SR how to do it, but they do a fine job up there.

Yes they do!

Chile, you need to make the trek to Hunter next season.

 

[thetrailboss]

Sounds like Hunter is an awesome place....

 

[Sparky]

While we are on the subject, sort of, has anybody heard anything about the type of system Tenney had? Is there anyplace that is concidering installing a system like that? And if why?

 

[Greg]

Sounds like Hunter is an awesome place....

Courtesy of dmc's site:



Now that's no joke! :-o