Latest posts for the topic "Artificial snow"

Artificial snow

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:14:22 GMT

Interesting piece on snow cannons, it does seem there's beena lot of new ones, out and about in the summer you see a lot being installed.

Artificial snow "no panacea" for resorts

Re:Artificial snow

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:36:52 GMT

I read a piece on canons that work at temps above freezing too, some of which have also been installed across Europe this season.

Re:Artificial snow

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:46:19 GMT

Tony_H wrote:I read a piece on canons that work at temps above freezing too, some of which have also been installed across Europe this season.

Tony, this system has been installed in Zermatt at Trockener Steg.

http://www.skiinfo.com/News/Zermatt-ECHZERMA-104-en.jhtml?a=125666

I was skiing on the results last month.

Re:Artificial snow

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:47:57 GMT

bandit wrote:

Tony_H wrote:I read a piece on canons that work at temps above freezing too, some of which have also been installed across Europe this season.

Tony, this system has been installed in Zermatt at Trockener Steg.

http://www.skiinfo.com/News/Zermatt-ECHZERMA-104-en.jhtml?a=125666

I was skiing on the results last month.

Yes yes, enough already with all the name dropping.....more importantly, how was it to ski on?

Re:Artificial snow

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:57:54 GMT

Tony_H wrote:

Yes yes, enough already with all the name dropping.....more importantly, how was it to ski on?

It felt less sugary than the conventionally made artificial stuff. It also made a huge difference to the depth of the base on the return run to mid station, giving a good hard base. I have no idea what chemicals are being used, but there was a huge pallet of the stuff in the c/c station.

Re:Artificial snow

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:00:16 GMT

Aparently there are no chemicals involved, something to do with using a vacuum.
More details here: http://industryreport.mountainnews.com/2008/09/snowmaking_at_90_degrees_fahre.shtml

Re:Artificial snow

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:22:48 GMT

Just as soon as they scale it down a bit I'm having one in my back garden.

Re:Artificial snow

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:10:56 GMT

Seems to me that snowmaking is only a solution if the problem is lack of precipitation. I've been told that although snow can be made at temps just below freezing, it's not very economical to do so. Even if it were possible to make enough snow in mild temps, people would soon get fed up with permenent spring conditions.

Trencher

Re:Artificial snow

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 01:29:11 GMT

Don't be hating my artificial snow!! There is a reason that East coast US skiers are most able to deal with "poor" conditions. ;) We might get a little dusting of snow every now and about all we ever ski on is man-made. It's actually pretty good sometimes. As for climate change - we are open earlier than we have been in years.

Re:Artificial snow

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 04:51:15 GMT

Dshenberger wrote:Don't be hating my artificial snow!! There is a reason that East coast US skiers are most able to deal with "poor" conditions. ;) We might get a little dusting of snow every now and about all we ever ski on is man-made. It's actually pretty good sometimes. As for climate change - we are open earlier than we have been in years.

We have been having longer seasons as well, despite below average snow falls. As I said above, it's all about tempurature. If you have the low temps, modern snowmaking equipment is fantastic.

Trencher

Re:Artificial snow

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 05:21:30 GMT

Was just reading this about glaciers http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7770472.stm which suggest snowfall is not the problem in Europe , shorter seasons are. This seems so different to us where snowfall averages are way down, but low temps still allow great snow making conditions

Trencher

Re:Artificial snow

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 09:08:04 GMT

Neiltoo wrote:Aparently there are no chemicals involved, something to do with using a vacuum.
More details here: http://industryreport.mountainnews.com/2008/09/snowmaking_at_90_degrees_fahre.shtml

Then I have no idea what the large pallet of stuff was for. Each bag was clearly labelled with the IDE mfr's name and Trockener Steg. It did look like salt. Maybe they have a really, (really) large dishwasher?

:shock:

Re:Artificial snow

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:54:40 GMT

I know that here they used to use this stuff called SnowMax. It was added to the water to give something for the atomized particles of water to cling to. The idea was it would freeze easier that way. Don't know how much difference it really made. . .

Re:Artificial snow

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:14:08 GMT

The Arecco's that are used at my place pump out quality stuff. It's drier then the regular midwestern snow. It's no "Rocky Mtn." stuff. But it dose get the crowds coming. Our guns at 17-20F were letting out a sand like snow. between 20-28F the grains are a little bit larger.