Well for the last few weeks we've been running around here taking advantage of the warm weather when we can...
John.K has finished paneling the inside of the Hornet's Lift Shack, Electrical has been roughed in and our electrician will be back to install a new 12.5 KVA transformer... Pfister and his team will spend the next few weeks pulling and installing the 1.2miles of communications cable and terminating it to each of the towers - which controls all the safety and warning systems for the entire lift system.
We expect to have this lift fully certified and ready to go for this summer / next ski season.
It was unfortunate Mother Nature didn't cooperate this year but next year we will have all our snow making gear up and running - and have a great 2016/2017 season.
Well taking advantage of the beautiful weather. We finally finished the last of the outdoor LED replacements and finished painting a few of the rusty inserts.
Also Rick has been working on reconditioning all the benches and tables in a nice Pecan Satin Finish.
Always moving forward, making improvements and taking great pride in our work.
For safety reasons and to provide uninterrupted service, the Electric Coop has done an unbelievably awesome job clearing all the potential issues such as large trees and such along Melvin and TENNEY Mountain Road. It also look great.
Team TENNEY will now get in there and clear some of the left over debris and trim back the opposite side of the road. Dredging out of the coverts is necessary to stop the water erosion along the already poor conditions road bed.
A much needed task and it simply just looks so much neater and pleasing to the eye now.
Well Hank has taken over the excavator and is dredging an old culvert out to handle all the accumulated water under the Hornet's loading area.
Last season while building the lift shack - this water / flooding wasn't an issue... Now that Spring is here - it became a major one but is now taken care of and a new second relief is added on the back side of the lift shack.
Well after a long summer on multiple projects we got the Tubing Park terrain graded,,, the Platter Pull updated, running, certified & insured,,, snow making equipment operational,,, electrical & fan guns configured & tuned,,, snow pond & water management system optimized,,, 75 tubes delivered,,, staff trained,,, the whole park built out & ready to go! We tested a few nights and days and open for a brief 4 hours for immediate TENNEY residents. But Mother Nature didn't give us the weather we needed to maintain all the man made snow.
So for for safety reasons, we are dismantling the park and gathering the equipment and shutting down the tubing park for this season!
But we might have a huge surprise at the Tubing Park for all at the end of this summer...
You can't say we didn't make a 100% effort, that's for sure!
Thank you TEAM TENNEY, contractors and all the volunteers with a special thanks to Mr. Hank Binney and Jeff Q.
Again, years of neglect and zero maintenance has lead to erosion under some of the back deck supports. So John and Alic have dug out, raised and levelled the deck and poured new cement footings twice as deep and larger than original...
Fix it once and right and move on!
This summer we'll give this deck a good power washing and retreat it both top side and bottom.
Honestly, that has nothing to do with 4 or so years closed or lack of maintenance funds. That's major incompetence on the part of the old ownership. No footings and graded downhill towards the lodge. Jeesh, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, Evan has installed all the new 110VAC service including a much needed 25kva transformer. The former 10kva transformer was grossly underrated. Also, all services are installed way above previous flood zone data mitigating any future issues.
Nice quality workmanship gives a nice sense of security and safety.
I had a professor friend who said, "This school would be a great place to work if it weren't for the students."
I hope these guys are successful and have deep enough pockets to continue what they are doing without a revenue stream, but I found myself paraphrasing my friend, "This place would be a great place to ski, if only they would open for skiing."
I had a professor friend who said, "This school would be a great place to work if it weren't for the students."
I hope these guys are successful and have deep enough pockets to continue what they are doing without a revenue stream, but I found myself paraphrasing my friend, "This place would be a great place to ski, if only they would open for skiing."
So best case, they open with both the summit double and the triple next year. Given the business they had with the previous ownership I would guess even that wouldn't allow them to come anywherewhere near financial viability. The lift is too slow, there is too little snow, and the terrain is too flat to support an MRG/Magic style bare-bones area for hardcore skiers. So they NEED a HSQ, which still doesn't put them ahead of any of the competition (Ragged, Waterville, Gunstock, Loon, Cannon). I don't see any of that happening with them fooling around with a sledding hill (that looks extremely dangerous) and mini rails course and failing to have a single day of operations in an entire season.
I had a professor friend who said, "This school would be a great place to work if it weren't for the students."
I hope these guys are successful and have deep enough pockets to continue what they are doing without a revenue stream, but I found myself paraphrasing my friend, "This place would be a great place to ski, if only they would open for skiing."
So best case, they open with both the summit double and the triple next year. Given the business they had with the previous ownership I would guess even that wouldn't allow them to come anywherewhere near financial viability. The lift is too slow, there is too little snow, and the terrain is too flat to support an MRG/Magic style bare-bones area for hardcore skiers. So they NEED a HSQ, which still doesn't put them ahead of any of the competition (Ragged, Waterville, Gunstock, Loon, Cannon). I don't see any of that happening with them fooling around with a sledding hill (that looks extremely dangerous) and mini rails course and failing to have a single day of operations in an entire season.
Working to get the tubing hill open this year was the best they could do with what they had & they did open for a few hours. The point was that this year was just a trial year and they didn't expect to get anything out of it except knowledge of how things worked. They plan to install a full snowmaking system next year and the operation will be similar to the one found at Black Mountain, NH. If it's done correctly I can see it working.
I had a professor friend who said, "This school would be a great place to work if it weren't for the students."
I hope these guys are successful and have deep enough pockets to continue what they are doing without a revenue stream, but I found myself paraphrasing my friend, "This place would be a great place to ski, if only they would open for skiing."
... So they NEED a HSQ, which still doesn't put them ahead of any of the competition (Ragged, Waterville, Gunstock, Loon, Cannon). I ...
Crotched Mt. also has an HSQ and IMO would be a competitor of Tenney.
If the can cover a sizeable mix of terrain with the new snowmaking that will be a good startt. I think they will need a hs lift to survive in the future. But snow is first. I think that area is in one of the best locations it could be in for access to skiers. Its in a good town on 93 and a bit closer than the big boys up the street. It lacks the natural snow and challenge the other 93 places have but it could do fine on its own. Then with some good luck and aggressive marketing to the mid level skier they may see money coming in. The spot is nice for day trips or white mountain vacationers.
Magic, and to almost as great a degree, Burke, proved outstandingly this winter, that without a great snowmaking system, you aint' operating. Tenney knows this, and is why their plan is to install big snowmaking upgrades this year. I think the State unfairly nailed them with the DES permit issue, but it is what it is.
I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of surprised people next winter.
I really think the 100% HKD low-E system like they are building is the way to go. Loon has invested a lot in them and they are routinely fighting for 1st to open vs. Wildcat. Wachusett (besides some fan guns which are deployed on Ollie's, Monadnock, and Look Ma) is 100% HKD as well and they open pretty quickly and are neck-and-neck with Jiminy Peak for first-to-open and last-to-close bragging rights. Sunday River routinely lines T2 with the latest HDK model and they open that trail real quickly. Even Killington sometimes pulls out their older sled HKDs for early season North Ridge production.
The modern HKD guns seem to put a decent amount out at warm temperatures for how little air they use and they seem to be a great compromise. It seems that many of the ski areas that rely on the new HKDs for early season coverage have been adding hydrants in between existing ones to improve production. And things only get better if areas use HKD's semi-automatic self-draining hydrants like Loon and Wachusett has on some trails. Considering how many hydrant valves are supposedly missing across Tenney, I bet an investment in HKD's hydrants will be worth it.
So now Tenney has low-cost and quick snow production. That's a major positive, especially in their market as Cannon and Waterville Valley are both slow to open and heavily use traditional snowguns, and that the money in the modern skiing market is very early-season heavy (e.g. Christmas vacation week). Their snowmaking system will also have the benefit of being able to resurface after liquid snow or thaw-freeze events quicker and cheaper than their competition.
And with respect to a discount market, I think there is one. Published weekend window ticket rates for New England ski areas have increased at 1.967 times inflation over the past 10 seasons (all data from newenglandskihistory.com). That's a lot. Yes, more and more discounts are available online if you buy ahead, but a lot of comps and other deals have shriveled up. And every newspaper/blog article with headlines like "Ski Area YY Breaks $XXX a Ticket" turns newcomers away from the sport. IMHO the dynamic pricing the ski industry has taken up is actually going to hurt the growth that is desperately needed in an already flat-lining low-margin high-capital industry (the increase in energy costs and even installation costs of new ski lifts have far exceeded inflation).
They're just going with HDK guns, not hydrants at Tenney. They are very expensive and if you're not interested in Kwik automation (which I wouldn't be) not really worth it.
As long as he sorts out his pump house and the remainder of the infrastructure it will be worth it. Low-E guns are the way to go if you have the water and air pressure. If you don't they perform worse than traditional guns.
Are you referring to the full-on electric servo/actuator ones or one of these from Loon? I imagine the former is expensive because of proprietary software and moving components, but isn't the latter basically just a manifold of several valves controlled by one handle to enable the 4-step water flow?
Yes the full or semi auto ones. There are other manufacturers of self draining manual valves for better value. HDK's value comes in the mixing/gun technology. Gold standard.
TEAM Pfister and TENNEY start removing and deploying comm cable for the Hornet this week.
It's a project just to move this spool to the top of the mountain alone...
In the video I mention we will be conducting load test in a week or so - the reality is we will be conducting that load test at end of month. Wiring this cable in is labor intensive and although all the electronics are installed, we still have a few last minute mechanical upgrades such as a secondary dog brake on the bull wheel and an upgrade to the APU which is much needed.
I'll keep all up to date on this exciting last phase of certification for the Hornet.
As usual, if there are question as we post, I'll do my best to get the correct answers to all...
Hornet Lift Shack / Drive Control Cabinet / Retrofit
Team Pfister is in the process of upgrading the old analog drive controls for the hornet... Over 53 years old and was a much needed and long overdue upgrade!
This also includes installing and rewiring the communications infrastructure all the way up the hill...
Weather is the only issue that is inconsistent and hindering our efforts these days... But there's plenty of projects that fill the outside down time...
Well it took Kimberlee 3 hours to unload and stack 1350 square feet of 6"x 6" tiles that TMDG purchased from the Resell Store. It was a great saving and awesome luck that we can across these tiles.
"It was like unloading 50cal munition cans and weighed as much" she said.
These tiles are for the kitchen and buffet area upstairs and look great.
Thanks Kimberlee, I'm sure that was quite a work out!
Yes, this task was 90% done however it wasn't perfect! I wanted to have multiple zone lighting and for whatever reason (a little red squirrel) decided to chew things up! Hank fixed that quickly with a good old fashion rodent trap!
Anyways, everything is fixed and should be completed by tomorrow evening.
I personally love indirect lighting everywhere, it really makes things look pretty...
This tree damage can quickly turn into an erosion nightmare... So tomorrow TEAM TENNEY lead by Mr. Hank will be chaining up and pulling this huge tree and debris out of here...
Nicely engineered by Ross Engineering and fabricated by SkyTrans Mfg., L.L.C. P.O. Box 216 Contoocook, NH 03229 Ph: 603-746-4446 Fax: 603-746-4447 suec@skytrans-mfg.com
Take notice in the outstanding craftsmanship specifically the welds...
19 units they fabricated in less than a week for us. Now that's great customer service!
These units were needed to prevent a possible entanglement between the main haul rope in windy conditions... Since 1963 there hasn't been a condition recorded but why wait.
TEAM TENNEY Philosophy has always been proactive safety engineering and a special thanks to Tim Pfister for bringing this potential hazard to our attention. Safety first here always, you can't put a price on safety...
Main Lodge / Benches & Tables and Benches & Tables and more Benches & Tables...
So many benches & tables - everyone's pitching in. Today's special guest, Julie Kinsvater,,, John Kinsvater's lovely wife. She's has been sneaking up here assisting us constantly - from sanding to polyurethaning. Very much appreciated.
We realize we are short about 18 tables and 36 benches - a mid summer build project for the wives! lol
Comments
Hornet Lift / Lift Shack & Comm Cable update
Well for the last few weeks we've been running around here taking advantage of the warm weather when we can...
John.K has finished paneling the inside of the Hornet's Lift Shack, Electrical has been roughed in and our electrician will be back to install a new 12.5 KVA transformer... Pfister and his team will spend the next few weeks pulling and installing the 1.2miles of communications cable and terminating it to each of the towers - which controls all the safety and warning systems for the entire lift system.
We expect to have this lift fully certified and ready to go for this summer / next ski season.
It was unfortunate Mother Nature didn't cooperate this year but next year we will have all our snow making gear up and running - and have a great 2016/2017 season.
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/458717114326739/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video
Lodge / Outdoor Lighting & Benches
Well taking advantage of the beautiful weather. We finally finished the last of the outdoor LED replacements and finished painting a few of the rusty inserts.
Also Rick has been working on reconditioning all the benches and tables in a nice Pecan Satin Finish.
Always moving forward, making improvements and taking great pride in our work.
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/posts/459555534242897
TENNEY - Progress Update
Power Lines / Tree Clearing
For safety reasons and to provide uninterrupted service, the Electric Coop has done an unbelievably awesome job clearing all the potential issues such as large trees and such along Melvin and TENNEY Mountain Road. It also look great.
Team TENNEY will now get in there and clear some of the left over debris and trim back the opposite side of the road. Dredging out of the coverts is necessary to stop the water erosion along the already poor conditions road bed.
A much needed task and it simply just looks so much neater and pleasing to the eye now.
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/461047674093683/?video_source=pages_finch_thumbnail_video
Hornet / Water Management
Well Hank has taken over the excavator and is dredging an old culvert out to handle all the accumulated water under the Hornet's loading area.
Last season while building the lift shack - this water / flooding wasn't an issue... Now that Spring is here - it became a major one but is now taken care of and a new second relief is added on the back side of the lift shack.
Always something that needs attention here...
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/461105080754609/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video
Tubing Park / Dismantling
Well after a long summer on multiple projects we got the Tubing Park terrain graded,,, the Platter Pull updated, running, certified & insured,,, snow making equipment operational,,, electrical & fan guns configured & tuned,,, snow pond & water management system optimized,,, 75 tubes delivered,,, staff trained,,, the whole park built out & ready to go! We tested a few nights and days and open for a brief 4 hours for immediate TENNEY residents. But Mother Nature didn't give us the weather we needed to maintain all the man made snow.
So for for safety reasons, we are dismantling the park and gathering the equipment and shutting down the tubing park for this season!
But we might have a huge surprise at the Tubing Park for all at the end of this summer...
You can't say we didn't make a 100% effort, that's for sure!
Thank you TEAM TENNEY, contractors and all the volunteers with a special thanks to Mr. Hank Binney and Jeff Q.
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/461446300720487/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video
Lodge / Back Deck Supports
Well the video explains all.
Again, years of neglect and zero maintenance has lead to erosion under some of the back deck supports. So John and Alic have dug out, raised and levelled the deck and poured new cement footings twice as deep and larger than original...
Fix it once and right and move on!
This summer we'll give this deck a good power washing and retreat it both top side and bottom.
Safety first everywhere...
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/462388593959591/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video
TENNEY - Progress Update
Hornet / Lift Shack / Electric
Well, Evan has installed all the new 110VAC service including a much needed 25kva transformer. The former 10kva transformer was grossly underrated. Also, all services are installed way above previous flood zone data mitigating any future issues.
Nice quality workmanship gives a nice sense of security and safety.
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/464569700408147/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video
I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of surprised people next winter.
As long as he sorts out his pump house and the remainder of the infrastructure it will be worth it. Low-E guns are the way to go if you have the water and air pressure. If you don't they perform worse than traditional guns.
Hornet / Communication Cable
Here it is, 5400ft @ 2.8tons...
TEAM Pfister and TENNEY start removing and deploying comm cable for the Hornet this week.
It's a project just to move this spool to the top of the mountain alone...
In the video I mention we will be conducting load test in a week or so - the reality is we will be conducting that load test at end of month. Wiring this cable in is labor intensive and although all the electronics are installed, we still have a few last minute mechanical upgrades such as a secondary dog brake on the bull wheel and an upgrade to the APU which is much needed.
I'll keep all up to date on this exciting last phase of certification for the Hornet.
As usual, if there are question as we post, I'll do my best to get the correct answers to all...
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/467210663477384/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video
Hornet Lift / Communications Cable / Deinstallation
Well this is a different change of scenery for the Hornet. The total removal of the center communications cable.
TEAM Pfister deinstalled and removed the entire cable of the Hornet in just under two days. Now the fun of installing the new cable begins...
Challenges are moving a few tons of cable up a muddy mountain. We'll bring you up dates of that piece of cake of a mission shortly!
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/467704173428033/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video
Hornet Lift Shack / Drive Control Cabinet / Retrofit
Team Pfister is in the process of upgrading the old analog drive controls for the hornet... Over 53 years old and was a much needed and long overdue upgrade!
This also includes installing and rewiring the communications infrastructure all the way up the hill...
Weather is the only issue that is inconsistent and hindering our efforts these days... But there's plenty of projects that fill the outside down time...
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/470007026531081/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video
Main Lodge / Kitchen / Tiles
Well it took Kimberlee 3 hours to unload and stack 1350 square feet of 6"x 6" tiles that TMDG purchased from the Resell Store. It was a great saving and awesome luck that we can across these tiles.
"It was like unloading 50cal munition cans and weighed as much" she said.
These tiles are for the kitchen and buffet area upstairs and look great.
Thanks Kimberlee, I'm sure that was quite a work out!
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/posts/471351126396671
Main Lodge / Back Deck / LED Lighting upgrades
Yes, this task was 90% done however it wasn't perfect! I wanted to have multiple zone lighting and for whatever reason (a little red squirrel) decided to chew things up! Hank fixed that quickly with a good old fashion rodent trap!
Anyways, everything is fixed and should be completed by tomorrow evening.
I personally love indirect lighting everywhere, it really makes things look pretty...
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/473551639509953/?video_source=pages_finch_thumbnail_video
Main Lodge / Benches and Chairs
Kim and TEAM have been at this for the past few weeks... Sanding and polyurethaning everything that can be!
It's an Atomic bore of a task but we all take turns in this never ending dusty effort!
I must say the finished units look quite nice...
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/473555589509558/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video
TENNEY - Progress Update
Preventive Maintenance
Snow pond stream adjacent to trail 1 bottom.
This tree damage can quickly turn into an erosion nightmare... So tomorrow TEAM TENNEY lead by Mr. Hank will be chaining up and pulling this huge tree and debris out of here...
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/473883519476765/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video
Main Lodge / Back Bar Deck / Outside Bottom Window Sills
Nothing much to explain here except we are lucky to have a master carpenter on staff that pays attention to detail...
Outstanding workmanship and very much needed.
Thanks John
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/474515586080225/
TENNEY - Progress Update
Hornet Tower System / Top Comm Extension Bracket
Nicely engineered by Ross Engineering and fabricated by
SkyTrans Mfg., L.L.C.
P.O. Box 216
Contoocook, NH 03229
Ph: 603-746-4446
Fax: 603-746-4447
suec@skytrans-mfg.com
Take notice in the outstanding craftsmanship specifically the welds...
19 units they fabricated in less than a week for us. Now that's great customer service!
These units were needed to prevent a possible entanglement between the main haul rope in windy conditions... Since 1963 there hasn't been a condition recorded but why wait.
TEAM TENNEY Philosophy has always been proactive safety engineering and a special thanks to Tim Pfister for bringing this potential hazard to our attention. Safety first here always, you can't put a price on safety...
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/474516562746794/
TENNEY - Progress Update
Hornet / Tower Extensions / Comm Cable Retrofit / Continued
TEAM Pfister installing the first of 19 tower extensions...
Wow, what a job but like Hank always says, somebody qualified has to do it! Hence TEAM Pfister to the rescue...
We are under a tight time schedule, May 14th will be here before you know it... Thank goodness it only takes 1 hour per tower extension install...
Safety always first here at TENNEY.
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/474524696079314/
TENNEY - Progress Update
Main Lodge / Benches & Tables and Benches & Tables and more Benches & Tables...
So many benches & tables - everyone's pitching in. Today's special guest, Julie Kinsvater,,, John Kinsvater's lovely wife. She's has been sneaking up here assisting us constantly - from sanding to polyurethaning. Very much appreciated.
We realize we are short about 18 tables and 36 benches - a mid summer build project for the wives! lol
Thank you Julie K
https://www.facebook.com/skiTENNEY/videos/474539359411181/