{"id":2450711,"date":"2019-11-04T11:26:49","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T18:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=315500"},"modified":"2019-11-04T11:26:49","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T18:26:49","slug":"snowmaking-at-sunlight-resort-underway-in-anticipation-of-possible-early-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/snowmaking-at-sunlight-resort-underway-in-anticipation-of-possible-early-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowmaking at Sunlight Resort underway in anticipation of possible early opening"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Fresh man-made snow shoots into the air as the sun begins to rise above Sunlight Mountain outside of Glenwood Springs last week.<\/strong>
Kyle Mills\/Glenwood Springs Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Ross Terry can remember starting snowmaking operations in October maybe only once in his long tenure with Sunlight Mountain Resort outside of Glenwood Springs. <\/p>\n

But nothing quite like last week, when the area received 6 inches of natural snow Tuesday, followed by frigid temperatures that allowed for a 36-hour stretch of continuous snowmaking Tuesday night through Wednesday.<\/p>\n

During a normal 24-hour period when temperatures are right, Sunlight can put close to 2 acre-feet of crystalized water on the ground, according to Terry, the assistant general manager and operations director for the resort. <\/p>\n

That translates to about 4 acre-feet of snow, or enough to cover 4 acres with a foot of snow depth, Terry explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is not the earliest, it ties the earliest,\u201d Terry said of the October start. \u201cThis is definitely the coldest I\u2019ve seen it get in October.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snowmaking operations continued at Sunlight during the colder nighttime and morning hours late in the week and through the weekend, and the ski area is on its way to a possible early opening \u2014 if the weather continues to cooperate.<\/p>\n

So, what does it entail to build that all-important early-season snow base at Sunlight?<\/p>\n

Sunlight has enough water rights on Four Mile Creek to pump about 450 gallons per minute of water into the snowmaking system, according to Mountain Manager and head snowmaker Mike Baumli.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

That system includes a series of three containment ponds, two in adjacent Babbish Gulch and another just off upper Four Mile Road.<\/p>\n

Water is regulated from those ponds and piped into Sunlight\u2019s pumping station.<\/p>\n

The pump house is loud, as water is pushed through and into the large hoses that feed the eight snow guns on the mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI come in here periodically to check the flow and make sure the pumps are running good, and that we\u2019re not taking more water than we\u2019re supposed to,\u201d Baumli said.<\/p>\n

Last week, operating off of just one of two available compressors, Baumli said they were able to pump 385 gallons of water per minute through the system.<\/p>\n

The more-efficient HKD snow guns in use now allow Sunlight to operate with less air and less water per gun.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Snow begins to pile up at the base of Sunlight Mountain on Friday as the ski area prepares for the upcoming season.<\/strong>
Glenwood Springs Post Independent<\/strong>
Screen-Shot-2019-11-04-at-11.23.59-AM<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cA big part of the ski business these days is sustainability, which means being efficient with power and water usage,\u201d Baumli said. \u201cWe can run three of these [guns] on the same air that used to run one gun, and flow a little less water per gun.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the technology gets better, it helps us to be more efficient \u2026 which is good not only for the environment but for us as a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunlight limits its snowmaking to the lower part of the mountain, on the Midway run and parts of lower Joslin where ski races take place during the winter.<\/p>\n

Even if the daytime temperatures rise back into the mid-40s at Sunlight\u2019s 8,300-foot base elevation, as they are expected to this week, the snow already on the ground in large piles should remain intact, Baumli said <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce it\u2019s on the ground, we leave it in piles and the snow tends to insulate itself,\u201d he said. \u201cWith the temperatures warming back up, we\u2019ll keep it in piles as long as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunlight has a scheduled opening day of Dec. 13, but if favorable conditions continue the area might open as early as the weekend after Thanksgiving, according to Sunlight Marketing and Sales Director Troy Hawks.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Sunlight is closed for all activities while snowmaking operations are underway. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe advise hikers, snowshoers and cross country skiers to utilize the Babbish Gulch backcountry trails until snowmaking is complete,\u201d Hawks said.<\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fresh man-made snow shoots into the air as the sun begins to rise above Sunlight Mountain outside of Glenwood Springs last week.Kyle Mills\/Glenwood Springs Post Independent Ross Terry can remember starting snowmaking operations in October maybe only once in his long tenure with Sunlight Mountain Resort outside of Glenwood Springs.  But nothing quite like last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 09:23:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}