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<br />"THE MOBLEM 1S (�O1N(� TO BE HXV1N(�
<br />ENOU( >H WA.TCK TO MAKE SNOW,"
<br />WILLIAMS,
<br />INSTITUTE OF AKCTIC AND ALPINE RESEA.KCH
<br />powder on its slopes —an annual average
<br />of 400 inches —it offers a full refund on lift
<br />tickets if skiers aren't happy with the con-
<br />ditions and return their tickets by 10 a.m.
<br />"We can't remember the last time
<br />someone took us up on that," writes
<br />Kathryn Johnson, Loveland Ski Area
<br />marketing manager, in an e-mail inter-
<br />view. "Frankly, it's something we've kinds
<br />phased out just because the snow condi-
<br />tions are always quite adequate."
<br />But even Loveland needs a little help
<br />now and then from snowmaking technol-
<br />ogy to make sure it can uphold that guar-
<br />antee. It has the ability to make snow on
<br />160 acres and takes advantage of that
<br />most years, says Johnson.
<br />According to Colorado Ski Country
<br />USA, a state ski trade association, only
<br />three of its 25 member resorts in Colorado
<br />do not make snow today: Monarch, Ski
<br />Cooper and Silverton.
<br />"Snowmaking is used in Colorado to
<br />build a good early- season snow base and
<br />to help provide high - quality opening day
<br />and early season conditions in the event
<br />Mother Nature is a bit stingy," explains
<br />Molly Cuffe, Colorado Ski Country USA
<br />spokeswoman, in an e -mail interview.
<br />Yet, "only 16 percent of Colorado's ski-
<br />able terrain is covered by way of snow-
<br />making capability."
<br />To make snow, three things are nec-
<br />essary: A relative humidity of at least
<br />100 percent, air temperatures equal to
<br />or below freezing, and particles called
<br />ice nuclei.
<br />Snow cannons shoot water into
<br />the freezing air, aspirating it. Particles
<br />allow ice to form as the compressed
<br />air expands and cools through a pro-
<br />cess called adiabatic cooling, says Mark
<br />Williams, a fellow at the Institute of Arctic
<br />and Alpine Research and a University of
<br />Colorado geography professor.
<br />"It's just the opposite of when you're
<br />pumping up a bike tire, the pump gets
<br />hot because you're compressing the air.
<br />Here, it's expanding and it's cooling off,"
<br />says Williams.
<br />The result is a denser, wetter snow
<br />than Mother Nature's. While natural
<br />snow is fluffier, made of mostly air, artifi-
<br />cial snow is heavier and is mostly ice.
<br />For example, good, natural cham-
<br />pagne powder is about 95 percent air
<br />and 5 percent ice, says Williams. Artificial
<br />snow is only 30 to 40 percent air, which
<br />makes it useful for covering up rocks and
<br />tree branches.
<br />The pressure of warming climates,
<br />Mother Nature's unpredictability and cus-
<br />tomer demands have made snowmaking
<br />a near - necessity for most resorts.
<br />"There's a really high year -to -year
<br />variability in the magnitude of snow,"
<br />says Williams. 'And snowmaking reduces
<br />the uncertainty of the skiing business."
<br />Williams knows how to get excited
<br />about really good snow, after running
<br />a ski lodge in the Sierra Nevada moun-
<br />tains for seven years. He said the abil-
<br />ity to create a good base with artificial
<br />snow allows resorts to have a more
<br />certain schedule and assure skiers and
<br />snowboarders that the runs will open by
<br />Thanksgiving, the target opening date for
<br />most Colorado resorts.
<br />Snowmaking also has evened out the
<br />number of skiers across the ski season,
<br />meaning there's less of a push for the
<br />slopes immediately after a storm.
<br />In general, skier days at resorts are
<br />n correlated with good snow any -
<br />re," says Williams. "Places like Vail,
<br />their market is not based on day -use.
<br />Their market is from people coming from
<br />Florida, from Europe. People who are
<br />really their cash cows are booking their
<br />trips in advance."
<br />Statewide, 60 percent of the skiers
<br />and snowboarders on Colorado's slopes
<br />are from outside the state, according to
<br />Colorado Ski Country USA. Either way,
<br />snowmaking helps resorts get a jump
<br />start on building a good base at the begin-
<br />ning of the season so they can open.
<br />"The time period of skiing when ski
<br />areas make their money is not in sync
<br />with nature," says Williams.
<br />But for some smaller resorts like
<br />Powderhorn Resort on Grand Mesa, 45
<br />minutes away from Grand Junction,
<br />snowmaking serves a different function.
<br />About 75 percent of its business comes
<br />from within 60 miles, says Kathy Dirks,
<br />Powderhorn spokeswoman.
<br />"Snowmaking may get us open a
<br />little earlier, but primarily snowmaking
<br />allows us to put down a very dense base
<br />at the bottom of the mountain," writes
<br />Dirks in an e-mail interview. "When the
<br />weather warms in the spring, that dense
<br />base allows us to keep our access to the
<br />lifts and base area until we close."
<br />Powderhorn covers 35 acres with its
<br />snowmaking and uses it mainly to increase
<br />the snow base from mid - November
<br />through mid - January. The maximum
<br />amount of water it uses, with eight snow
<br />guns going at the same time, is 575 gal-
<br />lons per minute. After the season is over,
<br />the snow melts and eventually drains to
<br />1 6 COLORADO FOUNDATION FOR WATER EDUCATION
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