CARRABASSETT VALLEY – With temperatures dipping down to 18 degrees Thursday night, Sugarloaf took the opportunity to conduct an early season test of its snowmaking system, lighting up 15 snowguns on Tote Road from 1 to 6 a.m.
While the early cold temperatures presented the resort with an opportunity to test the snowmaking system’s pumping equipment and some of the new pipe that the snowmaking crew installed over the summer, the bigger reason for the test was a crew of antsy snowmakers celebrating the end of summer and the start of colder weather.
“Is there a benefit to running our system in mid-September?” asked Dan Barker, director of snow surfaces. “Maybe a little. But we hate the heat and we’re sick of summer. If it’s cold, we want to be making snow. If you’re a skier, you understand.”
Click here for a video of this morning’s snowmaking.
Sugarloaf invested heavily in its snowmaking system again this summer, with more than 6,000 feet of new snowmaking pipe installed, along with 40 new HKD low-energy snowguns.
The resort will celebrate its annual “Homecoming Weekend” on Oct. 11-12, and is scheduled to open for the winter season in early to mid-November.
For more information on Sugarloaf, visit www.sugarloaf.com.
Love, love, love to see the snow fall on Sugarloaf, although some of my family in Kingfield aren’t too anxious to see the end of summer. Hope Sugarloaf has a great year.