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Bromley Pumphouse Fire = Snowmaking Done

sull1102

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Bromley sent this out a little while ago, things do not look good. They had a fire over at the pumphouse that at least for now has rendered their system dead unable to pump any water. Jiminy Peak is barely a 90 minute drive away so I wonder if they will be able to get any help from them or from the guys at Stratton...

Dear loyal guests, homeowners and local community,


You may have heard about a fire at Bromley Saturday night - this message will address the fire in our Primary Pump House that occurred during the night of December 16 and early morning December 17. It began with an electrical fault, and local fire departments responded. We are grateful no one was injured in the incident.

Snowmaking and terrain status as of today: Bromley enjoys 178 acres of skiable terrain total, with snowmaking coverage on 135. We’re currently skiing and riding on 99 acres, 74 of which have snowmaking capability. Prior to shutting down last night, Team Snowmageddon has pumped 50 million gallons up the mountain this season, leaving another 20 acres of additional terrain ready to be groomed and added to the trail count. Blue Ribbon and Yodeler will provide East Side access, and Plaza and Lord’s Prayer will provide slope side access for Bromley Village guests. By the end of the week we expect to be at 30 trails, spanning 118 open acres (66% open), with 93 of our snowmaking acres covered (almost 70%).

What this means for Bromley right now: snowmaking is currently on hold, as Primary Pump functioned to push water up the mountain. We are actively working to source parts to put a temporary fix in place, allowing us to resume snowmaking as soon as possible.

The long range plan now includes an opportunity for renovating a 20 year old system – it was state of the art when installed in the early 1990’s, but certainly has room for improvement today. We’ll release details on the long range plan once clean up is complete, salvageable parts identified, and a new shopping list finalized.

What does this mean for your holiday plans? Mother Nature has provided us with great natural snow so far this season (over 2 feet), plus enough cold hours in November and December to achieve the snowmaking coverage outlined above. Our Snowsports School, Kids Center and all other Mountain Operations will continue as usual. Updates on the snowmaking pump system rebuild will be delivered as available.

From all of us at Bromley, thank you for skiing and riding your Sun Mountain.


 

Glenn

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That's a tough break for them. Hopefully, they can get what they need and get the system back online. Hope it doesn't have a negative impact on their Christmas Break business. At least they were able to lay down some snow during the cold stretches a few weeks back.
 

slatham

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Your thread title is a bit sensational...though true in the short run. Efforts are underway to bring in portable pumps as a stop gap for the remainder of the winter. While the pump house is literally toast, the rest of the infrastructure is in place. No idea how long it takes to get portable pumps on site (hopefully its as easy as the portable compressors that most areas use but suspect its not) nor how much welding is needed to bypass the pump house area, not to mention the electrical situation. But its not going to take months, and they are not done with snowmaking for the season. It will be an interesting test to see how long it takes to turn a gun back on - would be a good new chapter to Patrick Toresell's book. Meanwhile, not much snow to be made today.

Luckily, they are way ahead of "normal" with snowmaking YTD and have snow down to open all lifts and trail areas (several trails just need to drain/dry and be groomed out). The biggest issue is if they need a resurfacing effort next week, so here's to the miracle Christmas snows to save the day!
 

Hawkshot99

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Your thread title is a bit sensational...though true in the short run. Efforts are underway to bring in portable pumps as a stop gap for the remainder of the winter. While the pump house is literally toast, the rest of the infrastructure is in place. No idea how long it takes to get portable pumps on site (hopefully its as easy as the portable compressors that most areas use but suspect its not) nor how much welding is needed to bypass the pump house area, not to mention the electrical situation. But its not going to take months, and they are not done with snowmaking for the season. It will be an interesting test to see how long it takes to turn a gun back on - would be a good new chapter to Patrick Toresell's book. Meanwhile, not much snow to be made today.

Luckily, they are way ahead of "normal" with snowmaking YTD and have snow down to open all lifts and trail areas (several trails just need to drain/dry and be groomed out). The biggest issue is if they need a resurfacing effort next week, so here's to the miracle Christmas snows to save the day!
The problem is that this is bromley. I love skiing there, but mtn management is lacking. It is run very poorly.

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On my list for the year as it's one of a few NE ski areas I've never skied. Bummed to hear of this event, but like bdfreetuna said, once they get some natural, I'll be there.
 

drjeff

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The reality is that the vast majority of the infrastructure of Bromley's snowmaking system is intact. The immediate pumphouse area is the problem. Temporary pumps can be brought in and plumbed into the system. If their air plant was effected, portable diesel compressors can be brought in and plumbed into the system as well. Portable, sizeable pumps and compressors are used at construction sites all over the world every day. While not cheap, the added costs would be likely small compared to the losses in lack of skier/rider visits that not having a functioning system, for atleast the next 6 weeks or so, would have on Bromley this season.

The biggest problem that they may potentially be facing, and I haven't heard it mentioned one way or the other, may be if when the fire happened and the pumps were suddenly shut down, were they able to drain their water lines before they may have frozen, as it was single digits on Saturday evening, and from what I have observed in many days at Bromley the last few seasons skiing and watching my kids race, is that the bulk of Bromley's piping is above ground.

Hopefully we'll be hearing from Bromley that they have a temporary fix in place in the coming days, and likely to hear about plans for a newly upgraded system coming this summer.....
 

slatham

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The reality is that the vast majority of the infrastructure of Bromley's snowmaking system is intact. The immediate pumphouse area is the problem. Temporary pumps can be brought in and plumbed into the system. If their air plant was effected, portable diesel compressors can be brought in and plumbed into the system as well. Portable, sizeable pumps and compressors are used at construction sites all over the world every day. While not cheap, the added costs would be likely small compared to the losses in lack of skier/rider visits that not having a functioning system, for atleast the next 6 weeks or so, would have on Bromley this season.

The biggest problem that they may potentially be facing, and I haven't heard it mentioned one way or the other, may be if when the fire happened and the pumps were suddenly shut down, were they able to drain their water lines before they may have frozen, as it was single digits on Saturday evening, and from what I have observed in many days at Bromley the last few seasons skiing and watching my kids race, is that the bulk of Bromley's piping is above ground.

Hopefully we'll be hearing from Bromley that they have a temporary fix in place in the coming days, and likely to hear about plans for a newly upgraded system coming this summer.....

Good point on draining the system Dr Jeff. However, at the end of the day Saturday they were only making snow on Blue Ribbon, and since they were making snow they had the snowmaking team on mountain. I happen to know Blue Ribbon has a drain right at the base by the BR Quad which is a 2 minute snowmobile ride from the mid-mountain snowmaking building. I would guess the bottom section has a single drain. Just not that big a system to begin with and they weren't blowing multiple loops, so I would expect they could drain the system quickly.

I hope you are right on the portable pumps and getting them on site and running quickly.

I have not heard of any issues with the compressors. Seems like its a good idea to have pumps and compressors in different buildings!
 

Do Work

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Setting up temporary water pumps is going to be a stretch. Nice idea in theory but unlikely in reality. Considering how much terrain they already have open, I'd lean towards "make a really good plan to replace it and do it once". Also hoping they got to drain their system, but haven't heard anything form that angle, just the fire damage. As they mentioned in their letter, it is in fact a great opportunity to upgrade their system. VT Efficiency credits and GMP grid-based conversion programs are very helpful (if you get in line first anyways) and I have no doubts they will come out way ahead. I wish them nothing but the best of luck and hope they can still have a great season despite these unfortunate events.
 

slatham

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http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=640

"An electrical fault was to blame for a major fire this weekend that destroyed Bromley's primary pump house, shutting down the area's snowmaking system. Ski operations were not affected.

The fire started on Saturday night, taking out Bromley's primary uphill pump, described as the heart of the snowmaking system. According to Bromley, the facility was constructed in the early 1990s.

Bromley officials have been meeting with insurance officials, vendors, and engineers, while demolition activities have already commenced. The resort plans to have a temporary system operating before Martin Luther King Day. In the meantime, an additional Pisten Bully snowcat has been procured to help with snow surfaces.

Thanks to good early snowmaking weather and natural snowfall, Bromley was able to open most of the main mountain prior to the fire, pumping about 50 million gallons of water. Phases 4 and 5 of its snowmaking campaign, covering the Snow Bowl, were not completed.

Located in southern Vermont, Bromley was founded by Fred Pabst Jr. of Pabst Blue Ribbon fame. Pabst installed what was billed as the largest snowmaking system in the world at Bromley in 1965. Despite a southern exposure, the ski area has had 6 consecutive November openings."

Not sure where he got the "Snow Bowl" area name - this is typically referred to as the East Side. I hope they can make the MLK time frame, but I REALLY hope these next couple of storms deliver. Given current natural base (some natural trails were open last weekend) a base consolidating storm tomorrow/Sat followed by a Christmas miracle dump would put them (everyone!) in pretty good shape. I am sure that's on Bromley's list to Santa.........
 

ShadyGrove

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Your comments are extremely wrong that it's laughable. However before I give my opinion on that I would love to hear what you feel Jiminy Peak is doing, or not doing to make Bromley struggle.

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Maybe you have greater insight than I do, however things like closing 1 week after selling Spring Loaded cards (before any other mountains in the area closed by at least 1 week, including Jiminy) and opening after Jiminy this year certainly suggests where ownership is putting their resources.
 

bdfreetuna

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Makes sense for Bromley to run a leaner operation. Bromley is a competitive market where it's hard to carve out a niche with Stratton and Magic for neighbors. Their business model seems to be aiming towards long term sustainability, this includes their summer offerings.

Jiminy Peak dominates it's market (folks who don't want to drive to VT and casual skiers in WMass / Hudson region) and based on how they fill up those parking lots I imagine it's a bit of a cash cow as well.
 

ShadyGrove

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Makes sense for Bromley to run a leaner operation. Bromley is a competitive market where it's hard to carve out a niche with Stratton and Magic for neighbors. Their business model seems to be aiming towards long term sustainability, this includes their summer offerings.

Jiminy Peak dominates it's market (folks who don't want to drive to VT and casual skiers in WMass / Hudson region) and based on how they fill up those parking lots I imagine it's a bit of a cash cow as well.

That's all well and good, but Bromley season passes are more expensive than Jiminy for fewer available days (besides no night skiing) and it that confirms that Bromley takes a back seat to Jiminy as I originally suggested.
 

slatham

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Maybe you have greater insight than I do, however things like closing 1 week after selling Spring Loaded cards (before any other mountains in the area closed by at least 1 week, including Jiminy) and opening after Jiminy this year certainly suggests where ownership is putting their resources.

I think this is more a misunderstanding. The Spring Loaded package goes on sale March 1st (that's when I got an email announcing it) and because its good until Christmas break they sell it until they close. Should they give a warning to buyers in late March that the season is wrapping up, yes they should. But I know a bunch a folks who bought these last spring, didn't use them, and then got some great skiing in this year (and you are probably one of those, though I can't place who you are).

Bromley opening and closing is not really a secret. They always target Thanksgiving weekend. If they missed Thanksgiving when everyone else opened I would be screaming the loudest (right into Bills ear).

Closing does vary more for obvious reasons, but they always go to weekends only in late March and I have not seen them go past the first weekend of April, even when they were 100% open. There's just not the skier visits.

I have not seen this policy change since Fairbanks came in, but I also have only 10 years history with the mountain so I may be missing something.

It will be interesting to see if the Fairbanks relationship will help them get snowmaking back quickly. And I also wonder if it played a role in getting the new groomer this week to help with resurfacing.

I do agree with your comment on season passes. I too find them to be a bit high when compared to other areas on cost, skiable acreage, season length etc etc.
 

drjeff

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I think this is more a misunderstanding. The Spring Loaded package goes on sale March 1st (that's when I got an email announcing it) and because its good until Christmas break they sell it until they close. Should they give a warning to buyers in late March that the season is wrapping up, yes they should. But I know a bunch a folks who bought these last spring, didn't use them, and then got some great skiing in this year (and you are probably one of those, though I can't place who you are).

Bromley opening and closing is not really a secret. They always target Thanksgiving weekend. If they missed Thanksgiving when everyone else opened I would be screaming the loudest (right into Bills ear).

Closing does vary more for obvious reasons, but they always go to weekends only in late March and I have not seen them go past the first weekend of April, even when they were 100% open. There's just not the skier visits.

I have not seen this policy change since Fairbanks came in, but I also have only 10 years history with the mountain so I may be missing something.

It will be interesting to see if the Fairbanks relationship will help them get snowmaking back quickly. And I also wonder if it played a role in getting the new groomer this week to help with resurfacing.

I do agree with your comment on season passes. I too find them to be a bit high when compared to other areas on cost, skiable acreage, season length etc etc.

Not sure if the longterm Fairbanks relationship with Pisten Bulley made any real difference or not. Pisten Bulley actually used the new green colored hybrid diesel cats they delivered to both Bromley and Cranmore last season in some of their industry trade advertising. Both Pisten Bulley and Prinoth do have multi "demo" cats available, that spend way more of their season grooming slopes than just sitting in their regional distribution yards.

For example, Mount Snow is taking delivery of 3 new Pisten Bully's this season (a park specific cat, a "regular" cat, and a winch cat) - they've had a demo winch cat from Pisten Bulley at the mountain and in use since opening day as they await arrival of their new winch cat.

With both of my kids scheduled to have races at Bromley on New Years Day, I'm very pleased to hear that they have extra grooming capacity until they get their snowmaking system up and running again (even if in only limited capacity).
 

slatham

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Well they're certainly not sitting around.....shout out to all the local areas offering help!

Update, December 21. The old pump house building has been torn down and cleaned up. Our mountain ops crew worked through Tuesday’s nasty weather, unbolting thousands of bolts to get it all out of the way so that the motors and pumps could be removed, via crane, and shipped to Associated Electro-Mechanics (AEM), where they’ve been inspected and tested. We’ve received word that the pumps are in decent condition, as they remained submerged under several feet of water during the fire. Happily, the rotors in two of our motors are salvageable as well, and AEM will completely rewind them over the next week. We’ve also sourced some backup replacement motors from other locations, and these are at AEM undergoing tests to determine compatibility with our system and needs, just in case we need the contingency on the contingency plan!

We’ve got a super warm and fuzzy feeling all over from the immediate, fast and helpful offers of assistance industry-wide. These include AEM and the BOC’s Brian Langille for sourcing starters. Killington, Peak Resorts, Stowe, Okemo, Cranmore, Jiminy Peak and hopefully not too many others we forgot to list have all been nothing short of spectacular, reaching out with offers to help, of equipment, and words of encouragement. Thank you also to Slavko Stancic, the original project engineer who worked with Bill Cairns to create the original pump house in 1993, who is back on the scene, delaying retirement to get us up and running again. Thanks to the Peru Fire Department and to Mountain Guard Insurance. Brian and Tyler Fairbank, we’re grateful to be able to count on your support! And especially to our own Bromley crews, Rick Goddard and Mountain Operations, and Chris Nevitt and his snowmakers.

Oscar-worthy acceptance speech credits aside, Tuesday’s activities also included an on-site meeting with all key project players, including our Mountain Ops team, Slavco, AEM, Royal Electric and our local Sparky Electric to outline the rebuild plan.

Building supplies have been delivered and construction has begun; we plan to have a weather tight pump house structure in place a week from Friday (12/29). Electrical work will follow, then two pumps reinstalled. The next step is to get the system talking to us – Slavco’ll step in with our IT guys and make that happen. When all that goes EXACTLY as planned, we will begin snowmaking, weather permitting, the week of January 8. It’s a super short timeline, but we wouldn’t even consider it if we didn’t have full confidence in the crews behind the plan.
 

jimmywilson69

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Well that's pretty awesome news. Its also awesome that the other mountains have chipped in. When it comes down to it, I get he feeling that there's a tight night family amongst the Vermont resorts on the back end.

Kudos Bromley!@
 
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