News Search

Push to The Latest: No
SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 6, 2015—For those still waiting to see snow in the East, here's a message from earlier this week:

“Jiminy Peak in western Massachusetts plans to create a massive machine-made blizzard over the next 40 hours that snow-starved skiers and snowboarders will be able to see on NOAA weather radar if the skies are as clear as predicted.”

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 6, 2015—For those still waiting to see snow in the East, here's a message from earlier this week:

“Jiminy Peak in western Massachusetts plans to create a massive machine-made blizzard over the next 40 hours that snow-starved skiers and snowboarders will be able to see on NOAA weather radar if the skies are as clear as predicted.”

It's true. The next time a cold snap rolls through the East, check out the radar. Jiminy's snowmaking system can cover an area the size of 34 football fields with two feet of snow in just 40 hours.

Jiminy Peak wasn't the only resort to produce blizzard-like conditions in the past week or two, of course. Temps dipped into the single digits in many places recently, so snow guns were able to produce snow at a remarkable rate. While major resorts focused on terrain expansion, dozens of other resorts in the Midwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and New England took advantage of the cold to reopen, or open for the first time.

Jay Peak, which had the highest snow total for any resort in America last season, has relied some on its snowmaking system this year, but did get help from Mother Nature as well. "When you've got five degrees, zero wind and air as dry as a popcorn fart, you can make a ton of snow,” said spokesperson JJ Tolland. “Throw in the three feet of natural we picked up in the last week and we've more than tripled our trail count since Christmas, and it will continue to rise through the week.”

At Mount Snow, each of the resort's 250 fan guns can turn as much as 107 gallons of water per minute into snow. This firepower has helped the resort more than double its open terrain since New Year's Eve.

Mountain Creek, N.J., turned on the snow guns New Year's Day and made enough snow to open on Wednesday, Jan. 6, with two trails and two lifts.

In the Southeast, a region known for its snowmaking horsepower, Cataloochee Ski Area, N.C., flipped the switch on Jan. 1 at 4:30 p.m. and opened for the season the next morning. On Tuesday, general manager Chris Bates said, “We were able to open four trails from bare ground to 8-14 inches of coverage in 14 hours, pumping 4000 gallons per minute using 45 snow guns. Since then, with another 40 hours of snowmaking, we have opened five more trails, and are working on two more with a base of 20-30 inches.”

In the Midwest, Cascade Mountain, Wis., had seven trails open for Christmas Day. The area then took advantage of every minute of snowmaking temps during the following week, with a barrage of as many as 176 snow guns running at once—allowing ropes to drop on eight more trails by New Year's Day.

Snow Trails, Ohio, was finally able to kick off its 55th winter season Jan. 3 after just 48 hours of snowmaking. The area was able to open 76 percent of its terrain with a 16-inch base. According to spokesperson Nate Wolleson, Snow Trails has pumped nearly 4 million gallons of water in the last 24 hours. Production is aided by one of the Midwest's only cooling towers, which chills the water prior to it reaching the snow guns. He said the resort hopes to be 100 percent open by early next week.