Air is expensive. Compressed air that is, and the manager of snowmaking at Smugglers’ Notch Resort can show you the numbers to prove it. If you thought your fuel bill was high last winter, you should see his.
Smugglers’ Notch Resort has invested just over $1 million in its snowmaking system this off-season to improve the efficiency and efficacy of its man-made snow, a move that comes as no surprise after snowmaking salvaged an otherwise abysmal ski season last year.
“It saved us,” said Bill Stritzler, who has owned Smugglers’ Notch Resort since 1996. “I wouldn’t be here answering questions for you if it weren’t for snowmaking last year.”
The $1 million upgrade went towards an all-out attack on air consumption. “This investment will pay for itself in three years—in diesel fuel alone,” said Justin Thoelke, manager of snowmaking for the ski resort.
The cost of snowmaking has skyrocketed in recent years, forcing resorts to reassess tried and true techniques, most of which involved wasting massive amounts of air, water, and energy anytime temperatures promised to dip below 32 degrees. The days of dumping water on the hill, furiously puking acres of snow from cannon shaped, ground-based guns are, if not over, dwindling to a close. The high prices for diesel fuel and electricity are the two biggest factors in this industry-wide rethink, and these twin killers have relegated many beloved models of snowguns to ski resort boneyards.
Many smaller resorts, like Smuggs, have even opted to delay when they fire-up their snowmaking systems. “In years past we’ve fired-up November first and tried to open the day after Thanksgiving,” said Thoelke. “We covered Bread and Butter top to bottom the first week of November, [and] the second week of November, it’s gone. You’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars gone.”
If you’ve never heard of a trail called “Bread and Butter,” don’t worry– you’re not alone. It’s the nickname employees use to refer to the most vital route down Sterling Mountain: Rumrunner, to Cross Trail, to Treasure, to Exhibition. They call it “Bread and Butter” to avoid confusion and because it’s the first trail to open and the last trail to close. In other words, it’s the trail that pays the bills.
But being selective about when to fire up is not enough, so Smuggs bought an in-house, electric air compressor a few years ago to replace some of the diesel air compressors which they rent every year, and they immediately saw a return on their money. The electrics aren’t just less expensive, they’re more environmentally friendly as well.
Part of this year’s investment was another electric compressor, and together the pair of electric compressors will be able to push 8,000 cubic feet of air per minute up the hill cheaper, and more cleanly. So, they can now compress air for less money; that was step one. Step two is to use less air. For Smuggs that meant new guns.
About $700,000 was spent purchasing 150 tower guns, most of them a new model from HKD, a venerable, Massachusetts-based snowmaking company. These guns, introduced to the industry last year, were tried at other resorts and the reviews were excellent.
HKD was a pioneer in efficient, tower gun technology, but their guns had a drawback. Though highly efficient at 20 degrees, they usually made rain at 26 degrees, which inspired the industry-wide nickname, “the H-K-Drizzle.” Not understanding the gun’s limitations, many a resort sent snowmakers on wet, sloshy gun-runs under these towers, an exercise in futility snowmakers call a “car wash.”
Nevertheless, resorts loved the HKD because its numbers couldn’t be beat. Simply put, HKDs sip air where other guns swill it. HKD’s new offering performs far better in marginal snowmaking temps which will reduce the frequency of “car washes.” Additionally, the new HKDs can be adjusted very easily and quickly even while they are running to accommodate varying temperatures and humidity.
Bread and Butter is now lined with over sixty tower guns. Perhaps the best part of this upgrade for the average skier or rider is that tower guns don’t lie across trails like land frames do—no more dodging steel frames and hoses scattered along the trail edge.
Additionally, these towers will require far less time to be fired up. An expert snowmaker will be able to fire up the entire trail in about 15 minutes, about as fast as it takes to sprint from the top to the bottom of the hill. This speed of operation is critical because the scarcest resource at a ski hill these days is cold, snowmaking weather. By being able to quickly begin making snow top to bottom, Smuggs has increased its ability to exploit its most precious resource.
Smuggs also picked up a new fan gun, and refitted some of their older ones. Fan guns are the gigantic behemoths used to cover the base area. If you think you see a jet engine tethered to the ground with snow shooting hundreds of feet from its mouth, you’re looking at a fan gun. These guns use on-board electric compressors, again reducing the amount of diesel the resort will consume.
So Smuggs is arming itself for another year’s fight against climate change, but the real question on most skiers and riders’ minds is what kind of natural snow will we get this year. “A lot of natural snow will make this one of the better skiing seasons we’ve had in the past few years,” predicted Thoelke, who has been making snow for 20 years and has a vast arsenal of weather predicting technology at his disposal. But he doesn’t only rely on multi-million dollar meteorology. “That’s what the woolly bears are telling us right now,” said Thoelke. “Or the bees nests being way up high in the trees…we’ve been seeing all of that. No one knows what the winter’s going to hold, but my prediction is—nice winter.”
