SNOWMAKING
Ski Season’s Annual
Opening Day
Gamble
The Snowfactory narrows the odds
By Deb Draper
Mother Nature has always been unpredictable
when it comes to delivering snow to ski re-sorts,
and global warming has made it next to
impossible to set season opening dates with
any degree of accuracy. However, there is a solution that
has been used in Europe for several years and is beginning
to make its mark on North America as ski resorts broaden
their search for ways to survive the later and decreasing
winter snowfalls.
The Snowfactory, developed by TechnoAlpin SpA in
Bolzano, Italy, with U.S. headquarters in Denver, Colo., is
growing in use around the world as it proves its ability to de-liver
huge quantities of excellent, longer-lasting snow wher-ever
and whenever it’s needed to get ski areas open on time.
Housed in an insulated 40-foot shipping container mount-ed
on a flatbed trailer, the Snowfactory’s efficient heat ex-changer
cools water to the freezing point. Charged with a
refrigerant that stays in a closed and separate circuit, the
unit makes large, clean ice chips without any chemical ad-ditives.
A blower sends the resulting “snow” through a six-inch
plastic rigid or segmented hose to create snow piles
that will melt about two-thirds slower than natural snow un-der
warm conditions.
The real beauty of this system is that the Snowfactory can
produce snow at temperatures up to 86°F (30°C) and with
even greater efficiency if the mercury falls below 59°F (15°C).
Converting 11 gallons of water into snow every minute, the
Snowfactory can make two tons of snow in just one hour. This
snowmaking capability allows ski resorts to open at predict-able
and earlier dates than ever before.
Garrett Will, Western US sales manager for TechnoAlpin
said, “The Snowfactory increases the planning security for
resorts all over the world and will complement selected as-pects
of the systems. It is ideal for relatively small sections
at ski resorts, especially for the most neuralgic points such
as slopes that are supposed to open earlier or slopes that are
especially important for the resort.
“Besides providing snow for slope sections, it is particu-larly
suitable for events of all kinds, indoor and outdoor alike,
such as snowboarding events, ski races in big cities, and Nor-
dic centers, which are often located at lower altitudes. Also,
we are noticing an increased interest for a variety of fun and
entertainment applications. We have different types and
models available and are able to offer a suitable solution for
every field of application. We are proud to be a partner of the
Biathlon World Championships 2020, where our Snowfactory
will provide the requested snow guarantee,” said Will.
The Snowfactory, Underwriters Laboratories- and “Con-formite
Europeenne”-certified, can be installed more or less
anywhere in the world, and is currently in use all over Europe,
Asia, Australia, and now in the United States.
Battling decreasing snowfalls that are arriving at ever-later
dates, Ski Apache, a ski resort in south central New Mexico,
on the slopes of the Sierra Blanca Mountains and is owned
and operated by the Mescalero Apache Tribe, is using the
Snowfactory for the first time this 2019-20 season.
Ken Marlatt is the director of operations at Ski Apache
and he’s excited about the opportunities the Snowfactory is
bringing to the resort. “We’re the most southern major ski re-sort
in the U.S., so we’ve had to learn to make snow under
extremely difficult conditions. We got our Snowfactory in the
PHOTO COURTESY OF SKI APACHE
The Easy Street run at Ski
Apache that Snowfactory
covered in five weeks
snowopsmag.com | SnowOps 15
/snowopsmag.com
