By Dan Balkin
Skiers and riders at HoliMont have friends in high places. Not societies usual high places, but one of life’s most beautiful high places – the summit of our ski hill. As anyone at a ski resort knows, during ideal snowmaking conditions the snow guns are often operating 24 hours a day. That means that as we are enjoying après ski in the early evening, and later snoozing and perhaps snoring in the dead of night, these dedicated snowmakers are roaming our ski mountain, from base to summit, to create the magic of artificial snow. When is “lunchtime” for the snowmakers working the third shift that begins at midnight? It’s 4:30 am.
That half hour break is a brief pause in a long stint of outdoor work in frigid temps, darkness, blustery winds, falling branches – and sometimes even blizzards of natural snow creating whiteout conditions as the snow guns roar. The ground underneath them, unlike our floors at home or at the office, is inclined and very slippery. If that sounds challenging – it is – but these men, spanning all three shifts, take pride in what they do and enjoy making our durable white carpet of artificial snow.
was created over the summer to help with Area
Control / Winter Terrain Park & Summer Bike Park /
Snowmaking.
When the night shift arrives, they get on their snowmobiles and head up the mountain. Aware they are travelling on ski slopes, they strive to minimize the tracks their machines leave on the snow. Depending on a variety of conditions, they either work up or down the hill. They maintain the guns throughout the night, sometimes adjusting the direction of the guns and making sure each gun is operating smoothly. This is not only a large piece of real estate to cover, but there are also numerous snow guns. If the guns are being fired up, water hoses and electric cords for each gun are carefully checked, ice is banged off the screens on the back of the snow guns, and the nozzles on the front of the guns are deiced. A power lever is then switched on to turn on both the water and the compressed air that intermingles within the snow gun to create artificial snow crystals. The snowmakers position the guns to maximize hang time in the air. As expert snowmaker Dan Phillips explained “The more airtime the better for the quality of the snow.” The guns on fixed towers are placed on the west side of each slope to take advantage of the prevailing local winds so that the snow lands where it is needed – on the slopes! In a remarkable innovation, HoliMont is capable of moving some of its snow guns on fixed towers. A grooming machine equipped with a crane can move the guns to various sections of the hill to create a uniform, deep base of snow across all ski slopes.
HoliMont has two large ponds at the top of the Sunset area for snowmaking water. Pump houses near the base of the Cascade chairlift and the top of the Saddle pond are where snowmaking magic occurs. In these pump houses an organic substance called Snomax is added to the water. Snomax increases the amount of artificial snow crystals that are created, therefore significantly boosting the amount of snow each gun can spew out.
What are the ideal snowmaking conditions? Bone chilling temps with low humidity produce the maximum amount of snow. That’s nature’s end of the bargain. But HoliMont has its own bargain – a bargain with its dedicated employees. HoliMont’s culture stresses that we are all part of a team, and that each team member deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. The nights are long, cold, and dark for our third shift snowmakers, but they shine in their high places.