Snowmaking
The most dependable snow in New England™. How can we say that?
At Sunday River, snow is what we do best. We have the largest and most technically advanced snowmaking system in the East, and a veteran team of snowmakers who are passionate about what they do. For you, it means snow conditions you can count on. Top to bottom each run, each time you come, throughout the season.
Snowmaking, in principle, is relatively simple: water is pulled from a water source, pumped onto the mountain and forced through a nozzle by pressurized air. From there, the minute water droplets freeze into snow crystals and settle to the ground. So what separates Sunday River from everyone else? We've been able to maximize each step of the process.
Water
It sounds impressive when a ski area can claim to cover 80 or more percent of its terrain with snowmaking. But far more relevant to skiers is the amount of snow a ski area can make at one time; this is the only true measure of how fast an area can open new terrain, or refresh surfaces during the course of the season. Since water is the raw material from which snow is made, water supply is the most critical determinant in how much snow a ski area can make. Most ski areas are located at or near the top of a watershed and must depend on comparatively small water sources. Sunday River, on the other hand, is blessed to be located near the bottom of a very large watershed, nearly 43 square miles of drainage. Many resorts boasting 80+ percent coverage are limited by a rather minimal water supply.
Water capacity by the numbers
Source pumping capacity: 9,000 gallons
(how much that can be pumped at the water source)- Hill pumping capacity: 9,000 gallons
(how much that can be delivered to the trails) - Source restrictions: 9,000 gallons
(water available to take during a normal February) - Permitted capacity 50,000 gallons
(how much the resort would be allowed to pump)
Air
In addition to water, the other factor which determines overall system capacity is air. Air is measured in volume and pressure. Sunday River operates the world's largest high-pressure snowmaking system, and can compress about 65,000 cubic feet of air each minute. The high volume and pressure of the system not only allows Sunday River to make more snow than any other resort in New England, it lets us control the process and ensure consistent snow texture from the top to the bottom of each trail.
Air capacity by the numbers
- Compressor capacity: 90,000 cubic feet per minute
(how much air the resort can compress to 80 ? 100 psi) - Production capacity 220 guns
(how many guns the resort can operate at once)
On-Mountain Infrastructure
Obviously, air and water capacity are the two biggest factors in snowmaking. There are two others: the number of guns in the snowmaker's arsenal, and the spacing of the hydrants on the mountain. Some ski areas inventory only enough guns to match their maximum water and air capacity. Upon completing the make on one trail, crews must "strip" the trail and move all of the guns and hoses to the next trail - a rather long process. Sunday River's arsenal includes over 1,900 state-of-the-art guns - enough to leave every trail set up all winter long. These are spread out along 72 miles of snowmaking pipes which cover 92% of our terrain. Hydrant spacing is also a factor. Many resorts space hydrants up to 200 feet apart - meaning that each gun must cover a much larger area of the trail. Sunday River utilizes an average hydrant spacing of 85 feet - and on trails intended for early season skiing, hydrants are placed as little as 30 feet apart. Wide spacing also tends to produce large "whales" of snow that must then be pushed around by groomers. This packs the new snow down and doesn't allow water a chance to seep out - resulting in hard, even icy snow. By spreading snow evenly as it's made, Sunday River can generally avoid grooming new snow for at least 24 hours, allowing the snow to "cure" or dry.
On-mountain system by the numbers
- Snowguns 1,900
- Miles of pipe 72
- Miles of hose 30
- Hydrant stations 2,200
- Avg. hydrant spacing 85 feet
Snowguns
Sunday River has been on the leading edge of snowgun technology for over a decade. We have developed a small, lightweight and efficient gun that produces consistently-sized water particles which are necessary to create consistent, powdery snow. Sunday River also utilizes "tower guns" on many key trails which produce snow from a nozzle nearly 30 feet in the air. This gives the water droplets more time in the air to form into large snow crystals.
High Tech: Computers and Snowmaking
Sunday River was the first to utilize computers to actually control snow quality. Some ski areas rely on snowmaking crews to literally hold their coat sleeves in a plume of snow to judge its quality. This is a subjective and rather crude measurement. At Sunday River a snowmaker calls in to the pump house by radio and gives his location. The crew chief then enters this into the computer, which calculates the optimum setting for the guns at that location based on the air and water pressure and weather data relayed by five remove weather stations at different elevation bands on the mountain. On each run, the crews check the settings and move the guns to ensure that coverage and snow quality is consistent.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
