Wachusett Mountain
The architect hired by David and Jeff Crowley to design the base lodge expansion at Wachusett Mountain Ski Area, Mass., says he’s never laughed so much during project meetings. Whether that was due to his clients’ vision for the building or their acknowledged good humor is uncertain: The task was to build a 10,000-square-foot lodge expansion over an existing snowmaking pond without touching water. Simple. The Crowleys were issued building permits on the condition that they would actually improve the site by removing some old wood pilings and reversing some impacts created when the existing 28,000-square-foot main lodge was built in 1982.
Architect John Bryer of Cambridge, Mass., designed the $2 million addition, which mirrors the style of the existing building, to be built on top of a platform suspended by 18- by 36-inch pre-cast concrete beams. Seven beams were used, ranging in length from 40 feet to 68 feet. Three of them support a sun deck that wraps around the addition. They are all supported by solid concrete-spread footings that rest on solid ground beyond the edges of the pond. The manmade pond was drained during critical portions of the construction—begun late last summer—and once the supporting beams were in place, a concrete slab floor was installed with in-floor radiant heating. A full 65 percent of the new extension is suspended over water.
The two stories of the addition are supplementally heated with forced hot air that is partially supplied by recirculated heat generated by the resort’s snowmaking compressors. It’s an extension of a system that pumps more than 50,000 BTU/hour into the main lodge. Low-E windows—Bryers says he added more glass than the existing design actually called for to light the center of the structure—are another energy-saving feature. All exterior painting and finishing was done off-site before being nailed in place to protect the water.
The Crowleys then decided to top their unique building with seven deluxe, catered suites on the second floor à la luxury boxes typically found at hockey arenas. Six of them range between 400 and 450 square feet to hold between 10 and 15 people comfortably while one large suite will accommodate 50 guests. Each has a private bathroom as well as kitchenette.
Finally, the addition is connected to the main lodge with an expansion joint to allow the two to shift independently of one other as materials expand and contract. The project has also allowed Wachusett to expand its cafeteria seating by about 300 seats and add bathroom facilities, something that has been in the planning for seven years. The resort will expand its food service next year with a deli, pizza service and other menu items.
The ski area also erected a 1,500-square-foot temporary structure for its snowboard rentals and to make room for more ski rentals in the existing shop. Managers then added 320 new Rossignol snowboards to Wachusett’s fleet and plan to replace 1,500 pairs of rental skis this coming summer.
On the hill, workers installed 4,000 feet of new 12-inch water main to the summit, replacing a 10-inch pipe, and increased the resort’s snowmaking pumping capacity by a third by replacing two 250 hp pumps with two new Ingersoll-Rand 500 hp vertical turbine pumps. Total capacity is now 4,500 gpm. New energy-efficient lights were also added to improve lighting and visibility for night skiing.
Granite Peak
In addition to changing Rib Mountain’s name to Granite Peak at Rib Mountain State Park, the new operators of the Wisconsin ski area went to work last fall upgrading the state-owned area’s snowmaking system by installing 8,000 feet of pipe, including a 6,500-foot section running from the Rib River to a new pump station to feed snowmaking ponds. The pump station uses two 400 hp Ingersoll-Rand vertical turbines to boost capacity to a current 2,400 gpm; while at the river, a 100 hp Flowtronex submersible pump draws water from the Rib. The $1 million investment, which includes eight new Areco fan guns, has resulted in putting 40 percent more snow on the existing slopes. The project is part of a planned $8 million in improvements expected to be spent over the next three years. Aside from snowmaking, last fall’s improvements included construction of a new 1,833-square-foot ticketing/office building, the purchase of a Pisten Bully 330 and Bächler Pipe Shredder and the installation of two Multi-Skilift handletows.
Mount Sunapee
Construction crews at Mount Sunapee, N.H., spent most of last summer working on a revamp of the resort’s separate novice area. They replaced an old double with a quad, added a surface lift, cut a new trail and widened a few others as part of a total $1.5 million in improvements for the 2000-2001 season. A new Poma Alpha fixed-grip quad was installed after removal of a 1968 Heron/Hopkins double. Dubbed the “Clipper Ship,” the quad climbs 370 vertical feet with a line length of 1,847 feet. The design capacity is 2,200 pph, but was run this past season at 1,600 pph with 59 chairs for a VTFH of 592. It uses a recycled haul rope and existing Poma grips from a lift at sister resort Okemo Mountain, Vt. Sunapee also added a SunKid Wonder Carpet called the “Beach Blanket” for novices. The surface lift is a belt-type drive carpet and stretches about 50-feet. It uses a 3 hp motor and was provided by Star Lifts. To add a little variety at the beginner area, trail work included a new intermediate trail cut directly beneath the new quad. Snowmaking was also enhanced with an additional 35 HKD tower guns for a total of more than 150.
Whitetail
Snow Time, Inc, spent $1.5 million upgrading the snowmaking system at Whitetail Resort, Pa., this past summer, adding 600 feet of new pipe and installing 30 tower-mounted SMI Super Wizzards, 26 Omichron tower guns and 24 tower-mounted Ratnik guns. The resort supplemented its ground-based air-water ordnance with 50 ground-based Omichrons and 50 Ratnik Baby X-2s and can now push 5,400 gpm at maximum flow. Managers also added three 750 KVA transformers, 6,000 feet of high-voltage underground cable and 8,000 feet of secondary cable. To groom the snow the resort blows, Whitetail purchased a Bombardier BR400 MP to add to its grooming fleet. At the base, contractors were at work expanding the rental shop by about 4,000 square feet for more space and to change the customer flow for a more efficient setup. Workers then built their own rolling rack system to store a new fleet of 2,800 pairs of Rossignol skis. The ski area added Salomon boots, Leki and Rossignol poles and 300 Rossignol snowboards to its rentals. A new phone system and Sirius POS inventory control system were also part of the summer upgrades.
Grand Targhee
A federal highway administration project in the Targhee National Forest will eventually widen and improve the 12 1/2 miles of road that leads from Driggs, Idaho, to the Teton Canyon trailhead. That road passes Grand Targhee Ski & Summer Resort, Wyo., and has been a hazardous drive in both winter and summer for years. This past summer, crews started widening the last six miles of the road that leads to the resort and expect to finish in July. By that time, a total $4.6 million will have been spent to improve drainage, regrade and make the road last the test of time. Builders of the existing road used felled trees and bushes as part of the sub-bed, which has deteriorated over time, creating large breaks and sinkholes in the asphalt. The old road was completely removed and reengineered. In all, construction workers installed 68 pipe crossings, 68 catch basins, stabilized a steep hill, straightened an S-curve at the end of the road where it approaches the main lodge and moved a total 44,000 cubic meters of rock and dirt. Crews laid 33,950 metric tons of aggregate as a base and will cover it with 19,650 metric tons of asphalt. The road crosses numerous culverts and includes two miles of curb. All disturbed areas are being reseeded and workers expect to lay a total of 47,575 square meters of erosion-control blankets.
