By Dan Balkin
One does not need to venture to the New England coast to go Whale Watching. We can do it right here in Ellicottville. Sure, our whales don’t swim very well, and they don’t survive on a diet of plankton, but to a skier or rider they are the most beautiful whales of all – snow whales! These are the giant mounds of snow created by our tireless snowmaking crews. In front of the snow whale in the photo, from left to right, stand three of our stalwart Snowsports instructors, Brian Smith, Ward Wilson, and Mary Claire Vivian. The little skier on top of the snow whale appeared, as if on cue, as we were taking the photo. Kids love the mini roller coaster ride of riding up and down the snow whales, and our little friend throws into sharper relief how this particular snow whale towers above the instructors.
As we are all aware, recently there was a polar vortex which blanketed the Northeast and caused the mercury to dip to a record setting minus 78 degrees Fahrenheit at the weather station atop New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington. Polar vortex = snowmaking nirvana. The snow whales soon popped up all over our slopes because the snowmaking crews poured out the snow over three rotating shifts each day. This leads to a question: How do we go from snow whales to groomed corduroy? Not knowing the answer, I asked two HoliMont snowmaking / grooming experts, Mark Burkhard and Dan Steinbar. Mark and Dan patiently explained the following: Machine made snow starts out like an eggshell; it is frozen on the outside but watery or slushy in the center. It takes 24-48 hours for the snow to “cure,” to go from a semi-liquid consistency to a frozen state. Machine made snow looks nothing like an elegant natural snowflake. It resembles a miniscule BB, with a rough outer texture. As small as a machine-made snow particle may be, HoliMont’s legendary fan guns produce relatively large particles for artificial snow. This has several distinct advantages: Our larger snow particles are more resistant to melting and they drain water better if it rains. Dan used the analogy of pouring water over slush vs. ice-cubes (our larger particles being more akin to ice cubes), to explain how larger artificial snow particles better resist warmer temps or rain. Mark explained that almost all our fixed, tower mounted snow guns are located on the skiers left, or on the west side of the slopes. Why? Because at HoliMont there is generally a prevailing wind from the west. This ensures that the snow falls where it matters – on the slopes!
Once the snow has “cured,” each skilled operator heads out in a groomer called a “Pisten Bully” to knock down the whales using the plow on the front of their machine. Seeing as most of the snow whales are on the west side of the slopes, the groomers push the snow mainly toward the east (in the direction of Greer Hill). The groomers call these first sweeps over the toppled whales “roughing it out.” There can be air pockets that need to be eliminated and low spots that need to be filled in – not surprising given that the groomers just knocked down a series of massive snow whales on each slope. To aid in this process, there is a computer system onboard designed by Pisten Bully called SNOWsat. This is where grooming, like most things in the modern world, enters the realm of high tech. A few years ago, HoliMont had a camera-equipped drone make sweeps across the breadth and length of the slopes to create a visual map our groomers use with the SNOWsat system. They can determine the precise depth of the snow at any point on the hill – where snow can be safely shaved off, and where snow needs to be added. Skilled grooming is an art. The groomers use a variety of techniques, including how many passes they make, what time at night they go out, and how deep they till the snow (from one to three inches) to create our “groovy,” groomed corduroy. Gentlemen – Well Done!