Snowmaking

The amount of money Alterra and Vail Resorts are spending on improving snowmaking is substantial. The shift in thinking about snowmaking in the west is noticeable. Presumably the goal is to make sure enough terrain is open in December for early season as well as for the holiday season.

September 6, 2024
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Mammoth is also among several resorts receiving snowmaking upgrades, including Big Bear, Sugarbush, Stratton, and Palisades Tahoe, Calif. Mammoth will also open the new 6,000-square-foot Woolly’s Day Lodge this winter, which will house various guest services such as food and beverage, retail, and ticketing.

Alterra’s largest snowmaking project is underway in Colorado at Winter Park, where the company is wrapping up a multi-year, $37 million project to rebuild the resort’s snowmaking infrastructure. The investment “will improve system capacity and efficiency to help ensure more early-season terrain openings,” according to a press release.

Alterra isn’t the only one investing in improved snowmaking at its western resorts. As part of its $189 million to $194 million capital investment for the upcoming season, Vail Resorts had planned snowmaking upgrades at Park City in Utah with the same aim to “increase early season terrain consistency,” according to the company’s Q2 report. Hunter Mountain, N.Y., was also slated for snowmaking improvements.
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Some snowmaking stoke from Jackson. Video footage probably from last fall since it shows work in Sep-Nov. JHMR apparently has 150 snowguns, which is a lot when many are portable and/or not automated. Austin Irby, the Snow Maintenance Director for JHMR, has been snowmaking there since 1999. When he started there were only 18 snowguns.

September 24, 2024
 
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