Great Snow. Guaranteed!

Every mountain says it has great snow. Stratton guarantees it!  Ski or ride for an hour. Any time, any day. Not happy? Return that ticket for another day.

 

Stratton's Great Snow Guarantee 

 

Snowmaking blankets 95 percent of the terrain with a system so powerful it can bury three football fields in a foot of snow in just one hour. And thanks to a 150-million gallon water storage pond (plus another 72 million gallons in reserve), Stratton has the raw material to cover every single trail on the mountain with two feet of snow; using HKD tower guns that would take 13.5 days, based on ideal snowmaking conditions.

 

When are the conditions "ideal" for snowmaking?

 

18 degrees Fahrenheit, 40 percent humidity, winds at 5-10 mph. You need a little wind to spread out your snow. Depending on the conditions, we're maxing out on either air or water (11,400 gallons a minute). In marginal temperatures, it's air. In colder weather, we max out the water, which is far more efficient.

 

What is in the arsenal?

 

40 New low energy tower Snowguns!

 

445 HKD tower-mounted snowguns

100 additional air/water guns

380 land guns

14 quiet fan guns

220 million gallons of water in reserve

 

Quick facts

 

  • How long would it take to build a road of snow from Grizzly's bar to home plate at Fenway? We'll make it one foot deep, 10 feet wide in just about 62 hours or 2.59 days.   
  • Making that same road from Stratton to Giants Stadium in Rutherford, N.J. would take 76.63 hours or 3.19 days   
  • Stratton snowmaking system consists of 420,262 feet of snowmaking pipe or 75 miles.  Laid end to end it would run from Stratton up past Middlebury Vermont.   
  • Snowmaking at Stratton began in 1965 with guns on North American, Upper Standard, Yodeler and Suntanner.  Today,  we blanket 443 acres in machine-made powder snow for 95 percent coverage.  
  • Last year alone, Stratton dedicated more than $3.4 million to snowmaking operations. That does not include any capital expenditures.

It's been said that Stratton lays down "snow so smooth you wish they could bottle it… "  

 

The science of snowmaking blends compressed air and pressurized water, factoring temperature, humidity and wind speed into the mix. Even with the most efficient system you'll find anywhere – Stratton has invested $16 million in snowmaking in the last decade alone  –  making great snow is still part art form. 

 

With more than a hundred years of collective experience, "Cape" and his team of pro snowmakers are the best in the business. 

 

"Experience definitely makes a difference," he says.  "We have our game plan, starting two or three days out and then finalizing it each afternoon at 1:30. That's our plan, but out there on the gun runs, we have to be ready to adapt to changing conditions. Sometimes it's wind speed or direction. Maybe it's rising humidity, falling temperatures.  We are constantly adjusting the blend, moving the guns." 

 

And then there is the commitment.  At Stratton, we are making snow at every opportunity continuing operations straight through the season. 

 

Is machine-made snow real snow?

 

It's better than real snow. Mother Nature gives you what she has to offer. Here we're in charge of quality, adjusting the mixture to create the snow we want. In the beginning of the season, we want heavier snow (more water) to build that base layer (1-2 feet for a beginner trail, 2-3 feet for intermediate, 3 feet+ for expert terrain). We use lighter snow (more air) for a quality surface, and on a bump trail that's about a foot of surface snow. Plus machine-made snow lasts longer!


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