Let it Snow

Ski resorts have snowmaking down to a science – now sometimes the real stuff gets in the way

  • By Carl Hoffman
  • Smithsonian magazine, December 1998, Subscribe
 

 

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    Snowmaking is an art and a science, and without it skiing as we know it would be dead. "That is unquestionable," says Preston Smith, the founder of Vermont's Killington ski resort and a pioneer in the world of snowmaking. "You can't spend $15 million on a new high-speed gondola and then just hope for snow." From North Carolina to northern Vermont, from the Colorado Rockies to California's High Sierra, from Japan to Argentina and even that paragon of Alpine wonder, Switzerland, ski resorts are relying more and more on making and grooming snow – farming it, in effect – to attract skiers. "Technology has guaranteed an expectation of good skiing and good snow," says one snowmaking engineer. "And if a ski area doesn't have it, skiers will go to one that does."

    Snow farming involves the use of snow guns; snow groomers; networks of pipes, pumps and compressors; millions of gallons of water and kilowatt-hours of electricity; meteorological know-how; and timing, judgment and strategy. It has changed everything about the ski industry, from the design and layout of trails, to the placement of lifts, to the timing and length of the season itself. It has riled environmentalists and birthed an infant high-tech industry of companies. Weirdest of all, it has reduced Mother Nature's contribution to a near nuisance. "I used to pray for snow," says Burt Mills, until recently the head of mountain operations for the American Skiing Company, which owns a total of nine ski areas in the East and West. "But now if it comes on a weekend, it's a curse. People can't get to the resorts."


    Snowmaking is an art and a science, and without it skiing as we know it would be dead. "That is unquestionable," says Preston Smith, the founder of Vermont's Killington ski resort and a pioneer in the world of snowmaking. "You can't spend $15 million on a new high-speed gondola and then just hope for snow." From North Carolina to northern Vermont, from the Colorado Rockies to California's High Sierra, from Japan to Argentina and even that paragon of Alpine wonder, Switzerland, ski resorts are relying more and more on making and grooming snow – farming it, in effect – to attract skiers. "Technology has guaranteed an expectation of good skiing and good snow," says one snowmaking engineer. "And if a ski area doesn't have it, skiers will go to one that does."

    Snow farming involves the use of snow guns; snow groomers; networks of pipes, pumps and compressors; millions of gallons of water and kilowatt-hours of electricity; meteorological know-how; and timing, judgment and strategy. It has changed everything about the ski industry, from the design and layout of trails, to the placement of lifts, to the timing and length of the season itself. It has riled environmentalists and birthed an infant high-tech industry of companies. Weirdest of all, it has reduced Mother Nature's contribution to a near nuisance. "I used to pray for snow," says Burt Mills, until recently the head of mountain operations for the American Skiing Company, which owns a total of nine ski areas in the East and West. "But now if it comes on a weekend, it's a curse. People can't get to the resorts."

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    Comments (2)

    Real snow gets in the way...

    What??? Any real skier/snowboarder waits for the real stuff, and huge dumpings of natures best is no nuisance for us.

    Posted by Ari on December 31,2009 | 12:43 PM

    I was hoping to see the artificial snow making picture that I believe was on the front cover of a Smithsonian Magaine years ago and the article that accompanied it. I am living at a small ski resort in Canada which is bringing in a new snow making system from Michigan. Could it be the same? Would love to know.
    Thanks.
    Liz Murphy,
    Calabogie Peaks Resort
    Ontario, Canada

    Posted by Liz Murphy on November 15,2009 | 10:32 PM

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