When the winter season ends, most people in the ski resort industry want to collapse into a lawn chair, preferably somewhere warm, with something cold and tasty in their hands. Fall is such a blissfully long, long way away, and then all of a sudden it's back. The weather cools and there are lifts to inspect, groomers to fire up and signs to be polished—among a million other things.

SAM reached out to resorts across the country to find out exactly what it is you do to get ready for winter, all those little tips and tricks to make the peak season run as smoothly as possible. We offered two iPod shuffles as an incentive. But clearly everyone was busy, leaving us a bit short on inspiration to share. (Elia Hamilton and Steve Crowley still get their shuffles, though.) So we went to some industry suppliers and experts to get their thoughts on the most important to-do items in the off-season. Their wisdom is revealed below. We got so much information, in fact, we couldn’t fit it all in this story, so be sure to check out saminfo.com for additional advice.


SNOWMAKING SYSTEMS

Fall is an ideal time to do a thorough inspection of your snowmaking system, says Yaroslav Stanchak of Mountain View Technologies. Specifically, this is a good time to look for something he calls "energy parasites" that could be robbing your operating budget of thousands of dollars every year. Energy parasites are those little bits of energy that are used constantly and unnecessarily, such as leaky valves or pipelines.

The move to more efficient snowmaking systems is well underway in the industry, but just because a more efficient system was purchased does not guarantee performance. In order to optimize your system’s efficiency, Stanchak says, it’s good snowmaking practice to inspect it in the pre-season for energy parasites that could be sucking all that efficiency right back out of your system.

“Inherent within a snowmaking system are a lot of hidden items that you have to keep an eye out for,” he advises. To find these, start with a pre-season pressure check on your system. Talk to your power company about getting a free day to start your pumps, and fully pressurize the system with both air and water. Then, see what kind of flows you have when nothing is running. The point here, says Stanchak, is not just to target problems right away, but also to create a passive baseline measurement for your system. Once you have the baseline established, charge the system periodically in the winter (on a non-busy day) and see how it's running in comparison to the baseline. This can have significant benefits, as deviations from the baseline help target problems that can end up costing a lot of money over the winter. Leaking air and water can be hugely expensive if not addressed and can negate any efficiencies gained by automation or more efficient guns.

Of course, doing a pre-season charge of the system also allows you to assess problems before the snow starts falling. Whether or not those problems can be eliminated, you now have a number on which you can model your budget and snowmaking strategies. “If you know how much you're going to lose, you can estimate what your true production is,” explains Stanchak, citing the example of end-of-the-line water overflow in an above-ground system. “That’s an energy parasite you’re aware of, and it can be factored into management decisions. That can be useful, because when you set up a snowmaking plan, you can use common sense and utilize the snowmaking plan to reduce the amount of parasitic flows out there.”

In response to our request for ideas, Steve Crowley, director of mountain operations with Holiday Valley in New York, wrote in and told us about some of his pre-season tune-ups, and made an interesting point about snowmaking line upgrades after a switch to low-e guns. Holiday Valley’s original system, Crowley says, was installed for high airflow guns. With the move to low-e guns, they’ve found that some of the water lines are too small to match the air capacity. “When you go from operating ratios of 8:1 air/water to 3:1, we get 40 percent more water in the air with the same air plant,” he explains. So the resort has upgraded its water lines, to keep pace.

Overall, the best way to get through winter is to have a year-in, year-out preventive maintenance program, says Jim Roberts, head of mountain operations at Beaver Creek, Colo. The maintenance crew at Beaver Creek is busy all year round (at press time, they were replacing pumps and motors in the snowmaking system), but the big crunch comes the week before opening. That’s when the resort, in coordination with its sister resort Vail, pressurizes the snowmaking system to check for performance and problems, and brings in subcontractors to check the electrical systems, suppliers or specialists to check equipment, and do any upgrades to the snowmaking system software—in general, making sure all systems are go.


LIFTS

It might seem like common sense, but make sure that your lifts are ready for their annual licensing inspection, says Tom Clink of Leitner-Poma. “Resorts need to get ready for their inspections a few weeks ahead of time by starting the lifts up and making sure that nothing has happened in the last month or two since they last started the lift,” he says. Lightning strikes or other mechanical failures can mean problems at start-up that you didn't anticipate.

Simply running through a normal, daily start-up routine a few times before the inspection can mean the difference between a smooth process and a bungled start. In fact, says Clink, running your lifts once a month during the off-season is a good idea anyway, as it helps lubricate the bearings and keep them moving smoothly.

Other key fall lift-maintenance tips from Clink include running your auxiliary engines and fueling them up—keeping in mind that, if you’re using diesel, getting a winter blend diesel is really, really important (and often forgotten). “If you put summer fuel in, it will gel when the temperature drops,” says Clink.

At Doppelmayr, Mike Beeley pooled the collected wisdom of the staff for us. “We came up with a few suggestions for often-overlooked items,” he says. “These sound obvious to most, but are overlooked or neglected by some, and have caused avoidable problems.”

• Run each lift for an entire day, at various speed and stops, to help make sure there are no surprises when first opened. Test all control circuits, too.

• Change oil in all gearboxes, or at least operate for a day and run a baseline oil sample. Then run an oil sample midseason to check against the fall baseline.

• Check sheave and grip coupling alignments in the detachable terminals. If overlooked, misalignment here could result in major grip cost if run through the winter. During the winter, check for metallic particles (wear products from misalignment problems) in the coupling areas. If you find any, resolve the problem immediately or call your supplier for help in evaluating the grip coupling adjustment.

• Run complete brake torque tests, and compare to base line values recorded during the load test.

• Check the condition and function of APUs and their batteries. It’s important to recheck APU operation when the lift is loaded during the first week or so of winter operation. Many times, problems in this area do not show up until there is at least a 75 percent load on the lift. During this test period, stop the lift with a heavy load and restart it (do normal stops and starts, in other words).


GROOMERS

When fall comes around, it’s important to give your grooming machines a little pre-season TLC, says John Glockhamer of PistenBully/Kässbohrer. Fuel and electrical systems are especially affected by extended storage, and should be examined closely before the start of the season.

Batteries, he says, should have ideally been removed, stored, and put on a trickle charger over the summer. If this was not done, the battery should be charged and load-tested before use. “A battery that falls below 70 percent should be considered for replacement,” he advises. “Be sure to conduct the load test on a nice cold morning in November. This way the load test will be more accurate.”

In regard to fuel, you want to make sure you are starting the season with a clean slate, he says. Water may have infiltrated the fuel tank during the previous winter, carrying with it the risk of shortened filter life, plugged filters or line-clogging microbial growth in the fuel tank. Remove the fuel tank drain plug and drain two to three gallons of fuel to draw off any water and sediment that have collected in the bottom of the tank. “And of course,” he says, “it is essential that a new fuel filter is installed prior to start-up for the new grooming season.”

An overall inspection of your groomers is important, says Bill Moss of Hans Hall. Make sure you take an inventory of things you need to replace, or might need to replace, during the winter season. Take a good look at the tracks and note cracked, broken, or weak parts. Check that your tire guide is torqued and re-tightened to manufacturers’ specifications. Don’t over-tighten the tracks, he says, as that is one of the primary causes for reduced track life. And it's a problem that can be easily avoided.


ON-SLOPE

As we dug a little deeper into this pre-season preparation frenzy, we heard a lot about on-slope maintenance. At Mount Snow, Hamilton says, snow storage on the mountain’s tubing runs and in the base area were a big priority this year. “In the past we’ve had no room for snow storage in the base area, so if we wanted to put a good base or more snow down, guests had to climb up onto the snow to go skiing. So we took two feet of dirt out, lowered some utilities, brought the dirt to the tubing park so we can make less snow over there, and improved drainage of all areas involved.”

Mount Snow’s crew also has been working hard on the new Carinthia all-mountain terrain park, taking advantage of the summer season to cut secret trails through the trees, accentuating mini cliff drops, installing some “hidden” wood features in the trees, and cutting brush to make room for better feature maintenance.

At Revelstoke Mountain Resort in British Columbia, mountain operations manager Steve Parsons is in a unique position to do things right from the start at the new resort. The vertical at Revelstoke is quite steep, so erosion control is a primary focus. The runs are seeded by hand every summer, a time-consuming but greatly beneficial process. Hand-seeding accomplishes two things, says Parsons. It gives work to employees they’d like to keep on year-round, and it does a much better job of getting the seed down in the right places than helicopter seeding, and helps it remain in place.

A similar story takes place at Deer Valley, Utah, where a two-person crew is in charge of erosion control throughout the summer. The crew re-seeds, works to maintain good soil quality, installs water bars, and installs and maintains the erosion blankets (in this case, Aspen mats). The resort also has above-ground irrigation that is hooked up to the snowmaking system that must be operated and maintained. Another two-person crew cuts and collects firewood for the resort's three main lodges. The wood is the byproduct of summertime housekeeping efforts, such as controlling growth and cutting new runs. This also has an environmental component: Less than 50 percent of the wood that’s cut is used for firewood; the rest is left to decompose on the ground.

On-slope at Vail, the trail crews keep busy in the summer mowing grass on the slopes, so the area can open with smaller amounts of snow in the early season. The crews use modified winch cats and cable-assisted mowing techniques for the tricky spots. They also ensure all the fuel dumps on the mountain are full and ready to go before opening, so that cats and snowmobiles can fill up on the go during the winter.


PRE-SEASON PAIN, PEAK SEASON GAIN

There are hundreds of tasks that have to be done before any mountain resort can open for the winter. We hope the suggestions and reminders above provide food for thought as the fall season gets into full swing. Sometimes a small tweak here or an extra inspection there can avoid a big problem when the season is at its peak.



PRE-SEASON GROOMER CHECKLIST

Greg Clowers, director of sales and after-sales support for Prinoth groomers' Western North America division, offers this handy checklist for pre-season groomer inspection.

• Check the battery charge. Batteries will lose their charge due to non-use during summer months.

• Adjust track tension to specifications.

• Grease wheel bearings, suspension, blade, and rear lift frame.

• Run the tiller and check the cutter bar speed. This will also check the condition of the motor seal due to expansion of the oil in hoses during summer storage.

• Check all oil levels in vehicle and tiller gear box.

• Visually check wiring and hoses for damage. Small animals may chew on these components.

• Check condition of glass. Expansion and contraction during the hot summer months can cause cracks.

• Check lights and radio functionality.

• Check drive system calibration for correct adjustment.

• Move vehicle and inspect area underneath for signs of leakage.




SAMMY GUEST EDITOR’S TAKE
This is definitely a case where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Several other things that come to mind:

• Review and evolve the emergency management plan with all key staff.

• Review risk management policies.

• Prepare your training materials (handbooks, PowerPoints, videos); staff will be here before we know it.

• Update your organizational chart and build your team mentality before it gets crazy.

• Double-check your inventories of consumable goods (pass stock, rental forms, waivers, debit cards, etc.)

• Update signage around the base area, and make it consistent. Remove signs of lesser importance that distract from your main messages.

• Analyze the rental usage and adjust inventory as needed (pre-set DINs if applicable).

• Rearrange the retail areas so that they are fresh and inviting for new and returning guests.

• Work with food service for any menu option changes (more healthy choices, anyone?).

And, since I'm an IT guy, I recommend attending to a variety of maintenance duties in our slower seasons:

• Decide if your network is adequate now, so that you aren't running cables later.

• Perform an audit of your battery backup systems to be sure your technology is protected.

• Do your data maintenance now, before business gets busy.

• Thoroughly review your website and stats from last season. Arrange it so that the info on the most visited pages is easy to browse.

• Fire up your point of sale systems, scanners, access points, etc., a month early, so there are no surprises come opening day.

—Jonathan Davis