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Sunday River 22-23

Newpylong

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When was that? Dreammaker really got delayed in the snowmaking lineup, very late for such a step up trail from South Ridge in progression. There were several twilight weekends where only Escape and South Ridge were open at night in December and even January.
This was actually last year (when it was open during the day and closed at night when I was there). I got alarmed this year though when they posted a twilight picture with it not lit again.
 

thebigo

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Good article on boyne operations, focus on SR.

Ryan estimated that just a few years ago, it took nearly 1,600 hours of snowmaking to get Sunday River’s terrain open. This winter, despite all the rain, it will take fewer than 1,225 hours. The goal, he said, is 750 hours.

 

Newpylong

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Good article on boyne operations, focus on SR.



Brendan is a smart guy, but he's a math guy too. He should know that goal can't realistically be met. That 1225 hours quoted this year also skipped 5 trails.
 

machski

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Brendan is a smart guy, but he's a math guy too. He should know that goal can't realistically be met. That 1225 hours quoted this year also skipped 5 trails.
Well, it might be able to be met if they run the auto SMI SuperPoleCats over most of the primary terrain. I get they are $50K/piece before running the power, but given the rate and amount of lifts Boyne is pumping into its resorts, could happen.
 

Newpylong

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That still isn't going to get them there, and a fully automated Klik system is a much better investment given they already have an expansive air plant and could reuse the guns. Running 3 phase everywhere would be crazy.

The only way that much acreage gets done in 750 hours a season is to increase pumping capacity an order of magnitude.
 
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machski

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That still isn't going to get them there, and a fully automated Klik system is a much better investment given they already have an expansive air plant and could reuse the guns. Running 3 phase everywhere would be crazy.

The only way that much acreage gets done in 750 hours a season is to increase pumping capacity an order of magnitude.
True, and they didn't really ever max their states pumping capacity this year very often. Would not surprise me to find out the river intake got clogged/damaged from the Grinch flooding. I believe they still have a vacant river pump pad or 2 and the feed pipe still has flow capacity it can accept?
 

Newpylong

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Yes sir, their feed line (the ductile iron) from the River maxes out at about 12,000 GPM so they have a little room to squeeze some more out of it. They also have two more slots in the skid on North Peak to boost more water capacity out of Barker for anything heading in that direction.
 

ColdRain&Snow

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I was there last month, at the top of one of the lifts, you can see a pipe junction with what looks like a 2 foot diameter pipe up the hill. Pretty impressive.
 

Newpylong

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Yep - 20" from River to Barker, then 20" from Barker to North Peak booster station, then 20" all the way from there to the top of Jordan. So in essence 10K GPM to the top of Jordan if they installed all the pumps in North Peak, it's 6000 GPM right now.
 

machski

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Just finished the latest storm skiing podcast with Brian Heon. Interesting to hear the resort and Boyne have come to the realization that the only access portal without detachable service is White Cap. This came up when Stuart directly asked about a Lift 9 (Tempest) replacement and whether adding a carpet load was still the plan. So while BH was noncommital with what the replacement would be, he did take the convo towards portal access and detaches. Hmmm......
 

machski

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Gondola to top of White Heat.
Funny. But I have looked, they could run a detach from the base of WC to the top of the Heat with a midstation for both load/unload at the current Heat base terminal with a slight bend in said midstation. Would cut down lifts need to operate most days and still provide good access options to the summit hotel (either off the top or off the midunload which would be considered green terrain I'm sure). The one problem to this is no Green Terrain out of WC off just that lift (though I'm not certain many of us consider Bear Paw a Green except in the best of the best snow conditions on that trail). Doubt it would eve happen, but if they are pivoting to a detach on Tempest, they should really examine the options to trim up the lift fleet over there if they can.
 

Newpylong

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White Cap is a tough nut to crack due to the way Les put those lifts in. I also agree that consolidation should be the goal but I'm just not sure how to do it.

I also looked at one point (and just looked again). You could remove the White Cap quad and replace with a T2B lift without changing the alignment at all. I also wouldn't put in a mid-station, that would be a sure way to inflate the install and maintenance cost. Folks can deal with the short run out to get a detachable.

You would need to do some trail work like widening Salvation, Heat's Off, widening and snowmaking on Lower Bim's, etc to handle the additional traffic.

In lieue of absolute massive trail work to get a novice grade off the top there is also the option of leaving Tempest as is and simply running it on weekends and busy days. That would handle the lower skier levels.
 

xlr8r

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I think Les Otten Intentionally Designed some of the lift alignments at Sunday River so that lifts could be extended or replaced with longer lifts in the future. The White Heat lift alignment extended down perfectly lines up to start at the Whitecap base. The Oz Quad if extended down lines up to start at the Jordan base. The Tempest quad if extended up lines up with the top of Barker.
 
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