Snowmaking Plan?

[bearpaws]

Any thoughts (or intel) on what the snowmaking plans look like? Recent temperatures have been great and look to remain so over the next week. Can we expect base building, strategic stockpiling and 'special projects'? Yield on diesel has to be phenomenal!

I imagine there's a portfolio management school of thought to snowmaking budget which limits the 'opportunistic' spend relatively early in the season but it still seems like a big opportunity.

[iRock]

Dipper ever get love? Have not been up since the 15th or so.

Fiddle time!?!?!?!

[skiadikt]

as stated in another thread, think the dreammaker park is next. vertigo had been in the queue for a while so hopefully that still happens. in the canyon, dipper & downdraft. in a good year dreammaker headwall gets a dose and of course would luv to see base put down on the fiddle. heard rumors that maybe we get conclusion this year. despite the recent snow there's lots of trails that can use a re-surface. lower sky lark, lower skye burst & needles for starters and ultimately supe for another june close.

[Captain Hafski]

Guns have been on OL for a day and it opened yesterday afternoon.

Leave Conclusion alone; much better [IMHO] as a natural trail. It is skiing pretty good right now.

[daytripper]

I would love to see them blow a broadercross like they had on dreammker years ago.

[Mistergiff]

You'd think in these temps with these they would be trying to run at maximum capacity. Where's the love for the Canyon (Dipper & Downdraft)????

[madhatter]

You'd think in these temps with these they would be trying to run at maximum capacity. Where's the love for the Canyon (Dipper & Downdraft)????

it was mentioned elsewhere that once temps get down below about 10 degrees snow-making becomes more difficult for a number of reasons...

[skiadikt]

You'd think in these temps with these they would be trying to run at maximum capacity. Where's the love for the Canyon (Dipper & Downdraft)????

it was mentioned elsewhere that once temps get down below about 10 degrees snow-making becomes more difficult for a number of reasons...

also high winds make it unproductive.

[Mistergiff]

You'd think in these temps with these they would be trying to run at maximum capacity. Where's the love for the Canyon (Dipper & Downdraft)????

it was mentioned elsewhere that once temps get down below about 10 degrees snow-making becomes more difficult for a number of reasons...

Makes sense, also saw in another thread Bubba's comment about VELCO asking for voluntary power cuts from large customers. Plus ISO's VT price is 132.46 a MW. That probably puts a damper on activity too. So the arctic blast puts the lid on natural and man made snow! We've got too much of a good thing!!

[specialp]

After 2 consecutive years of having to blow a lot of snow with repeated melt downs perhaps this year they are looking to rely more on nature. I don't think they'd ever blow snow on the fiddle, and it seems in recent years Double Dipper has taken a backseat in snow making. I would enjoy Double Dipper and Downdraft though as it would give me more options on weekends when I am hiding out from the crowds.

[bearpaws]

You'd think in these temps with these they would be trying to run at maximum capacity. Where's the love for the Canyon (Dipper & Downdraft)????

it was mentioned elsewhere that once temps get down below about 10 degrees snow-making becomes more difficult for a number of reasons...

Apologies if this has been covered before -- but I'd love to understand more!

If one defines the macro level snowmaking efficiency as dollar cost per skiable acre-foot -- and decomposes into a few key components:

1. gross acre-feet produced per KW (nice and elegant given both electric and diesel powered pumps for both air and water can be rated as such):
1.a KW for water per acre-foot
1.b KW for air per acre-foot

2. loss rates, e.g.,
2.a. % of gross production not deposited anywhere (melted / evaporated before it touches the ground?? sorry, not a thermo guy -- haven't thought this through all the way)
2.b. % of deposited production not deposited on skiable terrain (for simplicity's sake, assume snow blown for trails like OL and Dipper that drifts into the adjacent woods is a not 'recovered'....by anyone other than Rusty)

3. cost per KW (messy I can imagine given spot vs. forward purchases and different pricing regimes):
3.a cost per electric KW
3.b cost per diesel KW

4. labor burden

Then which of the above have material 'wrong way' impact when it gets really cold?
-I can see 3.a for sure
-2.b seems to be more of a wind issue than a temperature issue
-I'm sure 4 moves but less clear to me is what % of overall snowmaking budget is composed of variable cost labor
-Is 1.a ever an issue? Does Water get 'heavier', i.e., a foot of head is more than a foot of head as the water or ambient temperature gets lower and therefore more work (KW) is required to get a given volume of water up the hill?
-Is 1.b. not strictly monotonically favorable?

I realize I left humidity and pressure out of all of the above - but aren't all -5 days pretty dry?

[tyrolean_skier]

I would love to see them blow a broadercross like they had on dreammker years ago.

Dreammaker was closed today probably because they plan on making snow on it. It was skiing well on natural snow.

[Humpty Dumpty]

I would love to see them blow a broadercross like they had on dreammker years ago.

Dreammaker was closed today probably because they plan on making snow on it. It was skiing well on natural snow.

And why would they do that most knowledgeable one? Enlighten us please.

[skixc2]

After 2 consecutive years of having to blow a lot of snow with repeated melt downs perhaps this year they are looking to rely more on nature. I don't think they'd ever blow snow on the fiddle, and it seems in recent years Double Dipper has taken a backseat in snow making. I would enjoy Double Dipper and Downdraft though as it would give me more options on weekends when I am hiding out from the crowds.

False, they made snow on it last year.

[Captain Hafski]

I am betting they do blow the Fiddle. They were shutting off the OL guns yesterday afternoon and are also done in the stash. Seems to me Fiddle is next.