Over $2.5 Million Snowmaking Upgrade

Attitash is home to the MOST POWERFUL SNOWMAKING SYSTEM in NH, blanketing flakes on 98% of our trails. For the winter of 2007-2008 Attitash invested $2.5 million in the latest technology Fan Guns. Snowmaking is a vital part of operating a ski resort, especially in the East. In some years where natural snow is not plentiful, snowmaking alone can open up nearly 100% of our terrain and keep fresh snow on trails throughout the season.

Impress your friends with your knowledge of snowmaking facts. Read on.
Thought we’d give you some interesting and little known facts about snowmaking, just in case you were wondering, or it happens to come up on your favorite game show.

Q. How cold does it have to be to make snow?
A. Under 32 degrees wet bulb. Temperature factored in with realtive humidity = Wet bulb

Q. OK, but what is wet bulb?
A. Wet bulb is the actual outside air temperature when you factor in humidity (the percent of moisture in the air). Low humidity allows us to produce more snow and at higher temperatures.

Back to question 1, we could make snow when it is over 32 degrees as long as there is relatively low humidity and the wet bulb is below 32 degrees.

Q. What are the ideal snowmaking conditions?
A. Temps in the teens and low humidity. Under these conditions, we can produce the highest quality snow and a lot of it!

When the wet bulb is in the high 20’s or low 30’s, we expend less water, but more compressed air and energy. The snow that is produced is also heavier with more water content.

Making snow in marginal temperatures is not ideal but sometimes necessary in the early season when we are trying to open.


Q. How do you turn water into snow?
A. There is a slightly different method to making snow with Fan Guns as opposed to traditional air/water snowmaking guns.

Traditional Air / Water Guns
For every snowmaking line leading to an air/water gun hydrant there are 2 pipes. One carries water, one carries compressed air generated from huge deisel compressors. Each line is under tremendous pressure. For every snowgun there are 2 valves. They regulate the amount of water and air that gets sent to each gun. Each gun has very small holes in the head that pulverize (atomize) the water into extremely small particles. When the water and air are mixed at the proper ratio, the force of the compressed air causes the water to cool rapidly and the outside air temp (wet bulb) causes the moving and cooling water vapor to freeze, making homemade snow.

As the new snow particles continue to fly through the air away from the gun, the water content in each particle is reduced with the amount of "hang time". So the snow that lands the farthest from the gun will be the driest (hint, hint). In general, it is a good idea to stay far away from any snowgun that is operating on an open trail, but this fact should be an extra incentive to ski the snow farther from the gun. (as long as it is safe to do so) 

It's up to our expert snowmaking crew to monitor temperature and humidity and adjust each gun as those factors change.

Making Snow with Fan Guns
Attitash's Fan Guns require only one line running to the gun for water. Each Fan Gun has an on-board compressor, a nucleator, and water nozzles that surround the fan. The nucleator is in the center, in front of the fan and acts similar to the head of an air/water gun. Air and water are combined and shot out of the nucleator - instantly creating frozen particles. Water is introduced from the surrounding water nozzles, clings to the particles from the nucleator, freezes and is manmade snow results. It is launched into the air by the power of the huge fan behind it all.

Benefit of Fan Guns   
Fan guns do not require diesel fuel. They also have the ability to produce more snow than a traditional gun because of the design and amount of water that can be introduced and made in to snow. Our large tower guns can convert approx 100 gallons of water per minute in to snow. In roughly 13 hours, that one gun could make 20,000 cubic feet of snow or enough to cover a 200 foot x 200 foot area with 6 inches of snow. 

There's power in that tower - The height of the tower guns off the ground coupled with a powerful fan, gives the homemade snow tremendous loft which covers more area. The amount of "hang time" the snow has also gives it more time to freeze thoroughly and dry out more, making for a better quality snow. The photo below illustrates this...

Q. I always see snowmakers rubbing snow on their jackets. Are they just testing Gore-Tex?
A. Nope. The quality of the snow that is coming out of each gun can be evaluated by using the coat sleeve as a place to inspect the falling crystals. If the snow appears to be too sticky, the snowmaker at the valve decreases the amount of water going to that gun. If the snow is too light and doesn't stick at all, more water is added to the mix. The perfect snow sticks just enough and then our crew moves on to the next gun. We're going for that perfect snowball snow!

Q. Why do you leave some snowmaking trails ungroomed? Why not make snow and then groom it right out so we have nice flat packed powder?
When we are trying to make enough snow to open a trail or add significant depth to a trail we make a tremendous amount of snow with the bulk landing in concentrated piles. Typically the snow used to open or rebuild a trail has more water content. (if we try to make pure dry powder, it does not stick together as well to provide a good foundation and powder tends to blow around or away!) Once the snow lands in a pile, any extra water content starts to drain with gravity. We try to let snowmaking trails sit and drain for a period of time ( if possible), to allow any excess water to drain, resulting in a drier and better final product. So, we want it to stick together initially, then dry out a bit...

That might be more than you wanted to know, but essentially, that's SNOWMAKING!