Snow Journal - Serious About Snowsports!

Home

Forums : NELSAP Discussion : NELSAP Discussion
Moderated by: Chris, nelsap, Betsy, the_hop

Anonymous posts are not allowed in this forum

Snowmaking Capacity

Page: 1 2 3

Author

Post

K2Trav
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Jan 29, 2002
Posts: 96

Location:Sugarloaf/USA

Posted: Nov 19, 2006 - 10:48 PM GMT

How many guns can they run?

I know Sugarloaf can run 80 - 90 guns
Sunday River can run about 220

What about the other mtns

__________
www.k2trav.com The Complete Guide to Sugarloaf/USA

newpylong
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Nov 05, 2003
Posts: 1466

Location:Billerica, MA Enfield, NH

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 12:10 AM GMT

The Big K says they have around 150 going now... probably can run more with better temps and wet bulb.

DrJeff
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Apr 29, 2002
Posts: 907

Location:

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 3:28 AM GMT

Edited: Nov 20, 2006 - 3:34 AM GMT

K folks have posted that at max effeciency they can run just over 240 at once.

Mt Snow at max effeciency can run roughly 180 guns - I included a few pics of some of Mt Snow's "arsenal" from when I was hiking around there Saturday AM
__________
Attachments:

Chris
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Apr 19, 2001
Posts: 2720

Location:New Hampshire

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 4:26 AM GMT

There's a little bit more to it than just a raw number of guns... what type of guns? Size? Coverage area? It's possible for a mountain to run a lot of guns and not make much snow at all.

__________
SnowJournal.com

K2Trav
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Jan 29, 2002
Posts: 96

Location:Sugarloaf/USA

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 3:00 PM GMT

Quote:

There's a little bit more to it than just a raw number of guns... what type of guns? Size? Coverage area? It's possible for a mountain to run a lot of guns and not make much snow at all.

Thats true

__________
www.k2trav.com The Complete Guide to Sugarloaf/USA

dirk109
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Nov 21, 2001
Posts: 1082

Location:Stratton, VT

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 4:00 PM GMT

Stratton must be up there. I know they have the LARGEST snowmaking pond in North America.

tedede
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Nov 15, 2004
Posts: 806

Location:Amherst, NH

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 5:23 PM GMT

Sunapee, Whiteface, WaWa (and others I'm sure) draw from nearby lakes.

Like they say, It's not the size of your pond...

hickoryskier
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Dec 21, 2005
Posts: 21

Location:Rotterdam, NY Anywhere in VT

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 5:31 PM GMT

K-Mart draws from nearby Woodward Reservoir. A 12" pipe.....braggers.

hunterskier
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Jan 30, 2006
Posts: 90

Location:

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 5:42 PM GMT

the snow making capitol of the world... 1,100 guns......

__________
I'm not here for a long time, just a good time

marcski
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Dec 14, 2003
Posts: 2066

Location:Westchester Co., N.Y.

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 6:55 PM GMT

i recall Jiminy saying last year that they had like 220 going one night.

kevinthomas
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Feb 18, 2006
Posts: 530

Location:Tioga County PA

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 8:47 PM GMT

Killington can pump 12,000 gallons per minute (GPM), pico can pump about 4,000 gpm. They often claim the 2 combined can pump 20,000 gpm, but I spoke with their chief smowmaker when I was a mountain Abassador there and got the real scoop. Most people that work in the industry rate a snow making system by how many GPM can be pumped, the air compressors normally always run at full tilt and the amount of water pumped is adjusted by air temp and humidity. I've also heard the term acre feet of snow, an acre foot is just what it says enough snow to cover an acre a foot deep. When I worked at Jericho hill we pumped 400 gpm, we could open one side of the hill with about 36 hours of smow making. A more interesting number would be gallons per minute divided by ski-able acres. Some small places like Nashoba Valley or Crotched can open the majority of their slopes in a few days, where as Killington needs many weeks. Steep trails need a deeper cover than beginner trails and half pipes and terrain parks use amazing amounts of snow to open. If anyone has a paint spayer it will work as a snow maker! I tried it eyars ago, a great science experiment for a kid in school.

NewSkier
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Mar 23, 2003
Posts: 314

Location:

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 9:27 PM GMT

I certainly don't know the snowmaking capacities at places, but on an acre-foot basis, Crotched has got to be right up there. They seem to cover a higher percentage of their terrain faster than anyplace in NE.

maplevalleymaster
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Aug 06, 2005
Posts: 1129

Location:Ludlow, VT

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 9:30 PM GMT

Quote:

K folks have posted that at max effeciency they can run just over 240 at once.

Mt Snow at max effeciency can run roughly 180 guns - I included a few pics of some of Mt Snow's "arsenal" from when I was hiking around there Saturday AM

I was hiking Mount SNow not too long ago and I was quite impressed by this new snowgun. I saw this in operation at Stratton and that thing can really blow out the snow.

Chris
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Apr 19, 2001
Posts: 2720

Location:New Hampshire

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 10:34 PM GMT

Quote:

I certainly don't know the snowmaking capacities at places, but on an acre-foot basis, Crotched has got to be right up there. They seem to cover a higher percentage of their terrain faster than anyplace in NE.

You nailed it... Crotched actually has the highest production capacity per skiable acre in New England.

__________
SnowJournal.com

Spence
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Sep 21, 2001
Posts: 257

Location:

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 11:05 PM GMT

yeah snowmaking capacity is a really dynamic item to discuss another factor is labor pool and if you have enough snow guns to cover that capacity. The varations in technolgy varies as well. In air water mixes your limit tends to be air capcity. that will limit your maximum of guns you can run at warm temps. But in fan snow guns where you have more control of water feed you can actually put more guns on line to spit out snow. For those kinda of scratching your heads now this is the example lets see you have a maximum output of 100 gpm(galons per minute) at your operating pressure lets say 120PSI pressure doesn't come into play much in this discussion, but like ohms law of electrictiy if you exceed the flow rate your pressure will start to drop air compressors are a good example where the CFM rating is based on a pressure if you use a lower pressure you get more CFM. well now back to the example. if for example you had a fan gun capable of putting out 20 GPM at start up this means you can max your capacity out at 5 to fully take advatage of your 100gpm capacity. but lets say you temprature drops form 27F to 15F you can now you can turn on a second set of nozzles on each snow gun lets say no the snow gun will be able to put out 30 gpm. this means that you would have to shute down guns and only have 3 running that give you a total of 90GPM. and lets say if it drops to 5F you can turn on another set of guns that lets the gun pull 40GPM you would have 2 and maybe the third running a dry mix to fully utilize the system. The trade off is efficance of your system but if you are trying to get open in a hurry it is an appeling aproach espeicaly if you are sitting in a temprature rut when temps arent forcated to drop below 15F. Generaly when you build a system you need to look at A how much water you have B how much do you whant to get out on the slopes C at what temp D and how meny guns you will need to hit that mark. Now generaly the ideal temp will be in the teens and single numbers. What this means is that your main snowmaking guns will be at max water flow output at that temp. But at start up it is possible to add more guns to the susytem that will need to be shute down later as the night gets colder or have to wait untill some other night to reach max you can instead add more guns to the system that would be shut down as temps get colder to maintain the correct snow quilty to the other guns. Generaly these would be older machines that only would be used for this occation at the beging of the season and run your main guns as temps drop down

__________
Founder of the Arrowhead Recreation Club

newpylong
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Nov 05, 2003
Posts: 1466

Location:Billerica, MA Enfield, NH

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 11:19 PM GMT

Quote:

the snow making capitol of the world... 1,100 guns......

Course not

dirk109
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Nov 21, 2001
Posts: 1082

Location:Stratton, VT

Posted: Nov 20, 2006 - 11:37 PM GMT

I thought Pat's Peak was the most powerful snowmaking system in NE.

Davev
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Oct 20, 2001
Posts: 1495

Location:

Posted: Nov 21, 2006 - 12:16 AM GMT

Quote:

I thought Pat's Peak was the most powerful snowmaking system in NE.

Are you tryin' to start trouble..?

dirk109
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Nov 21, 2001
Posts: 1082

Location:Stratton, VT

Posted: Nov 21, 2006 - 12:38 AM GMT

No, I am for reels. They can go from 100% closed to 100% open in 24 hours.

skiingsnow
Profile | Galleries

Rank:

Member Since:
Nov 03, 2006
Posts: 13

Location:Killington,VT

Posted: Nov 21, 2006 - 12:58 AM GMT

Killington has the worlds most extensive snowmaking system!!
57 miles of trails covered by snowmaking, and 1435 snowguns (including 600 tower guns.)

Who can argue with that?

Page: 1 2 3