Steamboat Ski Resort
Steamboats snowmaking crews fired up the snowmaking system early this morning to begin adding to the natural snow Mother Nature has delivered this month in anticipation of Opening Day, Wednesday, November 26, 2014.
Its always exciting when snow covers the mountain especially this early in the season and we crank up our snow guns for the first time, said Doug Allen, vice president of mountain operations for the Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation. With several snow storms already in October and a solid start to snowmaking today, the early season is looking very promising.
Cold temperatures and moisture in the air created the perfect weather combination for crews to begin building the resorts base as approximately 50 snowmaking guns, including 40 HKD tower guns, three TA MMS carriage fan guns and several Ratnik land guns, came to life around 12:30am this morning, Tuesday, October 28. Crews took advantage of the favorable conditions to run through the night and shut down at 8:30am after their initial foray at the top of Thunderhead, See Me, See Ya as well as down the entire intermediate trail, Heavenly Daze. Future snowmaking efforts will continue as conditions permit.
The early season snow product has been significantly improved due to ongoing snowmaking improvements, technological advancement and additional hardware, continued Allen. With this technology, crews take advantage of shorter cold weather windows; cover more of the trail; and treat guests to a drastically better early season skiing and riding product in the process.
Even with an average of 352 inches of Champagne Powder snow each year, Steamboats state-of-the-art snowmaking system is being upgraded this winter with over two miles of pipe, more than 11,000 feet, across See Me, Upper See Ya, Sitz, top of Vogue to Jess Cut-Off and Sitz to Boulevard. In addition, two new 12 ft. by 16 ft. blockhouses at Jess Cut-Off and the Christie Peak Mid-Station will provide new valve stations for intersecting pipe lines in those critical areas. The new lines will significantly accelerate the resorts ability to produce snow as tower guns can be spaced 75 feet apart to more efficiently cover the trails.
Over the past six seasons, the resort has installed nearly 18 miles/46.5km of water and air pipe for snowmaking. These improvements are all designed to further efforts to use less electrical energy and water in production while being more efficient when producing the early season snow base.
The resort is scheduled to open Wednesday, November 26, 2014 with Scholarship Day, the traditional opening day benefit, with proceeds from specially-priced tickets donated to the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Clubs Scholarship Fund. The fund provides financial support for deserving children participating in Club programs.
Getting to Steamboat has never been easier. Steamboats winter air program offers convenient nonstop access from eleven major airports including new flights from San Francisco and Washington DC-Dulles; expanded service from Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle; and, convenient connections from 300 cities around the globe. Contact Steamboat Central Reservations to explore air travel options and for winter vacation packages and programs at www.steamboat.com or 1-800-922-2722.
