Anyone who’s spent time at a snow resort knows there are often certain places that don’t smell great.
Rebecca Sampson, general manager of Mount Peter Ski Area in Warwick, N.Y., can attest to that. Primary culprits include heavily used ski and snowboard boots and “wet, stinky feet” in equipment rental shops, as well as restrooms and all the wet carpeting frequently found in lodges and other public areas.
For Mount Peter, the answer was Sterile-Bright – an innovative lighting technology that uses a combination of ultraviolet (UV) light and ozone to sanitize and deodorize smelly places.
“Sterile-Bright is the way to go. It’s made a huge difference,” said Sampson. “I love it, and I think everybody should have it.”
Mount Peter Ski Area first started using Sterile-Bright technology during the pandemic, installing several fixtures in 2020 as a sanitization measure to mitigate against COVID-19 infections in public meeting areas and on the ski hill’s chairlifts. It turned out to be a very popular move with the COVID-leery public.
“We advertised that we used it, and people loved it,” said Sampson. “Our guests during the pandemic were very happy.”
Mount Peter continues to rely on the technology today and has expanded its use to include its equipment rental shop, numerous lodges and restrooms throughout the snow resort. Sampson says a big reason for this is just how effective Sterile-Bright is in eliminating offensive odors.
“We don’t advertise it that much anymore – it’s just part of our daily cleaning regimen,” she said. “People appreciate it and our employees like it, too, because there’s no smell.”
Mount Peter currently has six permanent Sterile-Bright fixtures installed in various buildings. It also has two portable units, which can sanitize a 400-square-foot area within five minutes. These units sanitize and deodorize restrooms and smaller areas like the bar at Mount Peter.
Sampson notes Sterile-Bright lights are activated only when rooms aren’t in use for safety reasons.
“We created a much more robust approach to disease prevention and deodorization.”
– Philip Gotthelf, Ultra-Tech Lighting
“We use them every night in all our lodges and the rental shop,” said Sampson, adding the lights are turned on when the last person leaves in the evening and then turned off by the first person to arrive in the morning.
Sterile-Bright units are manufactured by Ultra-Tech Lighting, also located in the Hudson Valley community of Warwick, not far from Mount Peter. Ultra-Tech supplied the Snow-Bright lighting system that illuminates the ski hill’s slopes at night.
First applications
The first applications for Sterile-Bright technology had nothing to do with snow resorts as it was initially developed to effectively sanitize and deodorize animal pens and processing facilities at cattle, pig and poultry farms.
“Animal facilities have straw on the floor. You need to penetrate that to get rid of the infectious pathogens, so this was invented for that purpose,” said Philip Gotthelf, managing director of Ultra-Tech Lighting.
“By so doing, we created a much more robust approach to disease prevention and deodorization,” he said, adding that when COVID-19 came along, the model designs were changed to make them more human-compatible.
Now, there is a broad range of Sterile-Bright products used for different applications in places like hospitals and businesses in the food service and hospitality sectors.
Gotthelf notes since Mount Peter signed on as Sterile-Bright’s first winter resort customer, there’s been a growing interest in this sector, as well. “We’re gaining a lot of popularity in the ski area for this technology,” he said.
Primary culprits include heavily used ski and snowboard boots and “wet, stinky feet” in equipment rental shops, as well as restrooms and all the wet carpeting frequently found in lodges and other public areas.
According to Gotthelf, providing an efficient method for cleaning and deodorizing areas isn’t the only benefit for snow resort operators. He says Sterile-Bright can reduce the time staff members have to spend on sanitizing areas and it can also reduce their exposure to caustic chemicals found in foggers and certain cleaning supplies.
Gotthelf notes Sterile-Bright units are simple to operate, with no extensive training required. He adds they also feature a long lifespan, exceeding 100,000 hours. Gotthelf says he’s pleased to hear how effective the Sterile-Bright system has been in getting rid of unpleasant odors in Mount Peter’s equipment rental shop.
“In the evening, before they lock the door and everybody leaves, the timer is turned on for whatever length of time they feel is appropriate and blowers are turned on to circulate the ozone into the boots,” he said. “They shut the door and by the time they come back in the morning, everything is fresh as a daisy.”
The way the technology works is through the dual action of UV light and ozone. Sterile-Bright units emit certain UV wavelengths that form a type of ozone capable of destroying viruses, bacteria and fungi.
According to Ultra-Tech, short exposure to most UV light is relatively safe, but to avoid prolonged exposures, Sterile-Bright units should only be switched on when rooms are unoccupied.
Sterile-Bright also relies on ozone – an unstable form of oxygen that has three molecules rather than two – which Ultra-Tech says has been used for decades for sterilization purposes. Ozone generated by Sterile-Bright units acts as a germicidal and fungicidal gas that dissipates quickly after sanitizing and deodorizing areas.
Gotthelf says Sterile-Bright’s sterilizing action can be immediately verified by dosimeter cards that are provided with Sterile-Bright units. The cards have sensitive ink that changes colors in relation to UV exposure.
