Powerhouses of Snowmaking

[sledhaulingmedic]

Don't have anything other than experience to back this up, but Berkshire East doesn't seem to me to fall into the overly agressive snowmaking camp...

They may not have been using it, but I do believe they have it. I could be wrong, but between the pole cats and the pumphouse, I believe they can delivery.

I remember seeing the GPM for Crotched, which I thought was over 6,000 @ 600+ PSI (think: 12 typical Fire engines) That's a lot of water for a medium sized area.

 

[millerm277]

I'm curious as to what Hunter's true GPM and air capabilities are. Anyone have that data?

 

[MarkC]

I'm curious as to what Hunter's true GPM and air capabilities are. Anyone have that data?

From http://www.huntermtn.com/snowmaking.html
# Water capacity equals nearly 43 gallons per minute, per acre
# Air capacity equals about 90,000 cfm, including all fan guns with onboard compressors

Dont know how true it is but that is what they claim.

 

[Zand]

Wachusett is among the snowmaking powerhouses. They can blow 4,000 gallons per minute and use over 200 guns at once. They can open 13 trails in a period of 4 days. They blew the entire terrain park in 30 hours.

What they do best is deal with warm weather. They've only lost 3 skiing days since opening this year, all 3 as a result of the 70 degree temps in early January. On November 25, 2005, they were one of only 9 ski areas in all of New England open for business yet some areas further north with colder temps (as well as close to 2 feet of natural at the time) weren't open. They often tie Okemo in terms of closing day (2nd Sunday of April) which really shows how much they blow considering Okemo is one of the top snowmaking resorts in the east.

 

[kingslug]

Hunter and killington have some truly impressive capabilities. I work with machines this size and it takes a huge amount of power. Being able to blow 40 tons of snow a minute is amazing.

 

[thebigo]

Killington's capacity is 6800 gallons per minute and that does not include pico, but you cant simply weigh the GPM of water of CFM of air to evaluate snowmaking prowess. That would be like claiming a ford expedition covered more miles than a honda civic because it burned more gas.

The skill of the crew, efficiency of the guns, location of the guns and temperature of the water all have a major effect on snow output. Earlier this year a killington representative posted on Kzone that the new low-e guns were four times more efficient than the traditional guns.

 

[millerm277]

From http://www.huntermtn.com/snowmaking.html
# Water capacity equals nearly 43 gallons per minute, per acre
# Air capacity equals about 90,000 cfm, including all fan guns with onboard compressors

Dont know how true it is but that is what they claim.

Damn, that's around 10320 GPM. That makes for a lot of snow.

 

[snoseek]

not to sound like an ad for sunday river BUT... they are close to 100% of snowmaking terrain (quantum leap should open real soon) and have been resurfacing for many nights now. powerful snowmaking systems are only good if they are fully utilized, most areas must really be through the roof on their budget this year. at least the temps have been ideal for efficient blowing.

 

[Greg]

most areas must really be through the roof on their budjet this year.

Not sure I agree here. Sure, there were some restarts needed in December and early January, but there were also a lot of days they couldn't blow anyway. You're not burning budget if you're not blowing. I certainly don't know any specifics and I'm not really basing this on anything...just sayin'.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Killington's capacity is 6800 gallons per minute and that does not include pico, but you cant simply weigh the GPM of water of CFM of air to evaluate snowmaking prowess. That would be like claiming a ford expedition covered more miles than a honda civic because it burned more gas.

The skill of the crew, efficiency of the guns, location of the guns and temperature of the water all have a major effect on snow output. Earlier this year a killington representative posted on Kzone that the new low-e guns were four times more efficient than the traditional guns.

The new e-guns use less energy but require a much lower temp range to be able to use plus they plug up alot more.

 

[Greg]

They may not have been using it, but I do believe they have it. I could be wrong, but between the pole cats and the pumphouse, I believe they can delivery.

Capability means nothing if you're not using it. With that said, this is ironically part of what I love about Berkshire East. They have several expert runs that are just natural snow trails. Plus they don't groom the snot out of everything. After a dump, the Beast is the place to be in the Berks without question. Best natural snow terrain and glades in SNE, bar none.

 

[threecy]

Capability means nothing if you're not using it. With that said, this is ironically part of what I love about Berkshire East. They have several expert runs that are just natural snow trails. Plus they don't groom the snot out of everything. After a dump, the Beast is the place to be in the Berks without question. Best natural snow terrain and glades in SNE, bar none.

The challenge for Berkshire East up until a few weeks ago was temperature - for some reason, temps were warmer at the summit of the mountain than at the base - and 3-4 degrees warmer at the base than other nearby areas at the same elevation.

In just two weeks time, Berkshire East has gone from 6ish trails up to 20 and has packed them with snow big time (let's just say some Polecats were just barely visible on a trail - tower Polecats). There's a 2.5 mile beginner trail open from the summit, wall to wall with 2-4 feet of snow, two large slopes (Competition and Exhibition) that are wall to wall, and three steep expert trails (Flying Cloud, Upper Competition, and UMass) which have 1' (snowmaking still in progress) to, well, Polecat gun height, in snow.

In terms of mid sized New England ski areas, Berkshire East's snowmaking can compete with any of them. The arsenal is filled with dozens of new/few year old Arecos, Wizzards, Super Wizzards, and Polecats - the best snowguns money can buy.

 

[Greg]

Thanks for chiming in threecy. And please don't think I was ragging on Beast. I love the place. My past experience (haven't been without at least some natural in a few years) was that they're not as aggressive as Jiminy and Hunter, or Sundown for that matter (granted, there is much less terrain to cover there). Perhaps that has changed.

 

[threecy]

No prob, didn't take it that way...B-East is just as agressive with snowmaking, difference is that B-East puts its focus on its major trails and builds those bases whereas many other ski areas try and get as much as possible open often with minimal base depths.

 

[CorduroyKatie]

We have been skiing Berkshire East all winter long (20+) days. They do a great job at making snow. Its true they focus on certain trails first where they run races and train the race team. They concentrate on building a really great base on these runs before they expand to other trails. They were the first to run races this season when the other mountains had cancelled their races. When Berkshire East opens a trail you can be sure it is nicely covered and will remain open for the whole season.