SNOWMAKING
second week of October 2019 and one week later we were
making snow.”
Marlatt says that the resort chose the Snowfactory over
other similar technologies because it was the first to bring
that technology together into one effective piece of snow-making
equipment that can make snow at almost any tem-perature;
it’s been around for the longest time and has proven
to be effective.
“More are being used in Europe because over there the
much larger ski resort areas make it more affordable at the
beginning. Currently there are only two units in the U.S.; we
have one, as well as Lake Placid in New York, which is used for
Olympians to train on at Mount van Hoevenberg’s Olympic
Nordic trail,” Marlatt said.
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“I look at this kind of snowmaking as a necessity for any
resort these days because with global warming, you just can’t
rely on Mother Nature anymore. At Ski Apache, we’ve orga-nized
our Snowfactory to produce a bigger chip of snow, a
bigger crystal than what is used in conventional snowmak-ing.
Basically, we make piles of this heavier snow to utilize
its insulating value, and then we ‘connect the dots’ with our
fleet of large snow groomers giving us a stronger, hardier base
able to handle the temperature swings we often get here in
southern New Mexico. We still have conventional snowmak-ing
with a lighter crystal that spreads over a greater area, but
it can’t hold up to the sudden warmer temperatures.”
At Ski Apache, the Snowfactory will be primarily used to
establish a snow base at the bottom of the mountain as this
area opens first and needs the thickest base to make the sea-son
last into April. Marlatt says that in covering the resort’s
lower run, Easy Street, the Snowfactory provided almost four
acres of coverage in only five weeks.
“The installation time depends on the version,” Will said.
“The mobile model of the Snowfactory arrives ready-for-operation
in a container. After establishing connections to
electricity and a water supply, snow can be generated imme-diately.
Our team is usually on-side for a couple of days to
do the installation and train the customer. For larger installa-
“I look at this kind of snowmaking
as a necessity for any resort
these days because with global
warming, you just can’t rely on
Mother Nature anymore.”
– Ken Marlatt, Ski Apache
PHOTO COURTESY OF TECHNOALPIN
16 January 2020 | snowopsmag.com
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