Schweitzer's system includes 9 guns. TechnoAlpin photo.
The snowmaking system Schweitzer Mountain Resort began last year is nearly complete. Phase two, which started this summer, is a lined reservoir pond at the top of Stiles Saddle, left of the Great Escape Quad.
The new reservoir holds enough water to create 18 inches of snow from the top of the Basin Express Quad to the bottom on the Midway run in a 300-foot wide swath. In 2008, 6,000 feet of snowmaking line was installed, along with 16 retractable hydrants and two permanent towers, a well and a pump house.
The state of the art gear is manufactured by TechnoAlpin of North America, a company based in Park City, Utah. Schweitzer’s installation includes nine mobile fan guns, which will circulate among 16 gravity-fed, retractable hydrants. Sensors activate the guns automatically when temperature and humidity conditions are right.
The water and air mix can be adjusted to get just the right density for either building a base or topping off the surface. TechnoAlpin claims Schweitzer’s system is about 40 percent quieter than other systems on the market.
If Schweitzer has its way, the rich thicket of brush on this area of the mountain will be buried under a blanket of white by Thanksgiving, whether or not it snows. It’s not a lot of terrain. But most skiers and boarders aren’t going to complain if they can hit the slopes in November.
For making snow, the colder the air is, the better. But something called “wet bulb” temperature is more important. Wet bulb factors the temperature of the air (dry bulb) with relative humidity—the amount of water vapor in the air.
Water cools more slowly when the humidity is high, and more quickly when the humidity is low. If the temperature is about 28 degrees and the relative humidity is 20 percent, the wet bulb temperature is about 20 degrees--the threshold for viable snowmaking conditions. As temperature and humidity drops, the amount of snow the system can make per hour rises.
If the temperature is less than 20 degrees, snowmaking is possible even if the humidity is 100 percent. Temperatures in the teens are ideal.
Schweitzer has been able to open by the first weekend in December about 50 percent of the time. Historically, a Thanksgiving weekend opening has about 25 percent probability.
Comments
I hope this plan works for Schweitzer's sake. They have invested millions of money in this new system and I hope they get a return on there investment within 20 years. If they get to open on the average two weeks ealrier each year it will take a lot of time to recover this cost of this system.
I can see them making a bunch of great snow in earl to mid November..and then the heavy rains come ( as they do 90% of the time) and washing all this expensive snow away.
Let it SNOW
Wow joel way to be a pessimist, All I know is if it means they can open a few weeks earlier with man made snow or not I'm gonna be there :D, Schweitzer is the best man they invest in their mountain, unlike brokelift mountain aka silver.
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