Who Technically Has The Most Powerful Snowmaking System?

[bobbutts]

Crotched has lots of guns per acre, but the entire hill is smaller than a single pod at Killington/SR/Hunter etc.. reminds me of Pat's Peak and that has/had? some crazy old contraption air compressor, there are pics with details in the base lodge there

Unclear on this page, maybe they got rid of it.. also notice their claim:
http://www.patspeak.com/winter/snow_air.html

Pats Peak use to operate the world's largest reciprocating air compressor used for snowmaking and we have the most compressed air in the state per acre.

 

[drjeff]

Crotched has lots of guns per acre, but the entire hill is smaller than a single pod at Killington/SR/Hunter etc.. reminds me of Pat's Peak and that has/had? some crazy old contraption air compressor, there are pics with details in the base lodge there

Unclear on this page, maybe they got rid of it.. also notice their claim:
http://www.patspeak.com/winter/snow_air.html

That would be some of the individual component marketing department info I was referring too!

Even then, whatever figure per acre you want to reference is subject to interpretation since it takes much less capacity per acre to cover a flatish slope with skiable depth surface than it takes to cover a steep slope with a skiable snow depth surface in the same amount of time.

Bottomline is that some areas can open more terrain faster than others. But until the industry as a whole agrees upon some standard of measurement (and is open with what "firepower" they're bringing to this gun fight) then this is just a GREAT theoretical debate, especially at this time of year when more than likely its just a few weeks until the snowmaking systems in question are unleashed and we get some awesome looking snowmaking porn!!

 

[AdironRider]

Crotched has lots of guns per acre, but the entire hill is smaller than a single pod at Killington/SR/Hunter etc.. reminds me of Pat's Peak and that has/had? some crazy old contraption air compressor, there are pics with details in the base lodge there

Unclear on this page, maybe they got rid of it.. also notice their claim:
http://www.patspeak.com/winter/snow_air.html

I already conceeded small size. But regardless to go from 0-100 is pretty damn awesome.

 

[DJAK]

"Power" is not a very useful word. Is that who can pump the most water? Who has the most guns? Who can run the most guns at once (which varies based on which guns)? Who has the largest snowmaking "balls"? How rents the most generators? Who can act the quickest? Who battles the crappiest climate? Who can open the most trails (but they are different size)? That said, being privy to snow plans at both K and SR (and not digging myself a hole), the most powerful goes to whomever markets that message the best and makes aggresive decisions. This varies year to year.

K has always accurately had the "extensive" claim. SR has claimed "power" and used gallons pumped or guns at once at the marker.

Personally, I am amazed at the teams in Carolina and Virgina for what they are able to accomplish every year.

Big picture...I have fun when I ski natural snow between trails.

 

[WoodCore]

I already conceeded small size. But regardless to go from 0-100 is pretty damn awesome.

Just to put the firepower at Crotched into perspective, snow comes from water and no matter how many guns you have, firepower is all about how much water you can get up the hill to your guns. Sunday River last I checked had a peak capacity of roughly 9000 gallons per minute it could pump up the hill. Now considering that Crotched is about 1/10th of the size of SR maybe less and they can pump an impressive 6000 gpm. That's some firepower!!

 

[powhunter]

If you're asking technically who has the most powerful system, than its measured by cumulative shaft power of the compressors and pumps. Maybe some fuzz on where you measure, but power is power.

K says they have the most powerfull snowmaking system in the world, and they dont lie

Steveo

 

[Harvey]

The standard measure of snowmaking capability is "acre feet per day."

"How many acres of terrain can you cover with one foot of snow in 24 hours?"

18 months ago, I learned from a very reliable source that Killington could produce 80 acre feet per day.

In our recent interview with Jess Pezak of Hunter she disclosed Hunter's capacity at 64 acre feet per day.

Total terrain is also a factor. Hunter's 64 acre feet is applied against 250 acres of terrain while KIllington's is covering around 750 acres.

It's quite possible that Killington is at the top of the capacity chart worldwide. But in a race to get 100% open Hunter is hard to beat. I've never seen anything like Hunter's performance last year - from zero to 8 lifts and 38 trails in one week. I think that was 85% of terrain.

I don't know about Sunday River, but I am sure they must be near the top.

 

[thetrailboss]

In terms of acreage covered in an hour, Killington and Sunday River would be the ones I would look to. In terms of capacity and power, smaller places like Pats Peak and Crotched will fool you as they have a lot of power for hills their size.

 

[catskills]

H'mm Selkirk Mountain

 

[Smellytele]

Probably not the answers BigK from Killington was looking for

This was a seeded question from the beginning. You all have bitten and the hook was set...

 

[Newpylong]

I think it should be a combination of the amount of water they can pump, air, and acreage covered. that said, i think Killington and Sunday River are the tops for the big boys.

 

[4aprice]

I don't know about power but my local hill can completely cover deeply all 34 trails in about 2 1/2 weeks of cold and thats good enough for me. Real or manmade its all good to me

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[Newpylong]

When I used to ski at Bousquet in the 90's they could open the mountain with 24 hrs good snowmaking weather. Of course that's only a dozen trails and 700 vert. They also do have a submarine compressor, haha.

 

[Harvey]

This was a seeded question from the beginning. You all have bitten and the hook was set...

Maybe true but hell that covers half the threads in any ski forum.

One thing about the "acre feet per day" measure - it's completely temperature dependent.

To be a fair comparison numbers would have to be measured at a consistent temp and humidity.

Acre feet per day at 28* F wetbulb.

The limiting factor is different by mountain. My home mountain has virtually unlimited water and 2x the water pumping capacity they can use.

For Gore it's the limit is air compression - which goes back to electricity and ultimately money.

Actually I heard Pico blows Killington away.