 Poster: A snowHead
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If you like reading about other people suffering - in a respectful sort of way - this article from the US magazine Skiing is perfect. It's set in the freezing cold nights of Sugarloaf, Maine, and tells the tales of $8 per hour snowmakers who grapple with defective pumps, punctured hoses, ice axes and other delights.
How about this paragraph:
"Sometimes you ride a snowmobile. But for all its chest-hair-thickening, manly rewards, snowmaking can be unrepentantly dangerous, even deadly. Take the snowmaker over at Jay Peak, Vermont, a few years back. He was wearing crampons when he stepped on, and punctured, a fully charged water line and got firehosed into a creek. Or Benjamin Borstein. Last November, the 28-year-old got stuck in a flooded sub- terranean vault that's part of Keystone's snowmaking system-and he never got out. Still, to a select few, mixing water and air under miserable circumstances is a fair enough trade for a free season pass and all the coffee you can drink."
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 6-07-04 15:05; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sounds like something Upton Sinclair might write about 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Great article David!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
| and about a million bucks a year in electricity |
Given that electricity prices in the States are very low in the US by comparison to here that's a lot of power, not to mention water diverted from a river. Really environmentally friendly. So we know who to blame when all our glaciers melt! Some of the artificial snow installations in the US and Canada are huge. Tremblant has almost all runs covered as do all the little bumps around Ottawa. In Europe there isn't nearly so much artificial snow used....
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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My son worked for the American Ski Co at Sunday River for a couple of seasons, they boasted that 92% of their runs were covered by snow cannons. Whether they were used or not depended on visitor numbers.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Actually, Chris, the snowmaking system up at Sugarloaf is a large, enviromentally friendly investment made by the mountain years ago. Much of Sugarloaf's snow guns are supplied with water from the Carrabasset waste recycling facility. Waste water from the nearby towns is pumped to that facility in the valley, and a portion of the recycled water is pumped up the mountain. Not only does this provide an enviromentally friendly solution, the snowmaking system helps drain the water storage, which is useful during the winter seasons, when the lagoons freeze over.
Granted, Atlantic US & Canada do have massive snowgun systems. Unfortunately, we do not have predictable, consistent snowfalls, like Pacific US & Canada do ( Snow has fluctuated very much in the last few years, in addition to an unusally dry season 03/04) . I'm not that aware of European snowfall patterns, but your statement that not nearly so much artificial snow is indicative of snowfall patterns, or perhaps just cultural acceptance of a fickle winter.
Regardless, that was an excellent article that made it through the Sugarloafer circles, and is an excellent account of not only the snowmakers, but the general feeling of the mountain. We 'Loafers love our Snowmakers, especially during these dry seasons like '03/'04
Here are some links concerning the Snowmaking System
http://www.wadetrim.com/resources/articles/blowing.htm
http://www.ultimateskiguide.com/sugarloafusa.htm
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Wed 7-07-04 0:17; edited 4 times in total
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welcome to snowHeads Sloaf1987! Good stuff 
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Did you know that the first Hot Air Balloon to cross the Atlantic took of from Sugar Loaf piloted by Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand. They landed (briefly) in a field about 10 miles from my house in Limavady, N. Ireland before taking off again and later ditching off Rathlin Island.
Lindstrand was picked up by a group of guys from portrush yacht club where he was brought before being air lifted out.
I think the Navy lifted Branson from the sea
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Fascinating. I do recall Branson's dunking. I worked for him about 25 years ago and he certainly loves water - especially throwing girls into swimming pools.
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