Snowmaking Question

[Face4Me]

On Bridget's podcast yesterday afternoon, she mentioned that they're hoping to move to the Wilmington Trail to get it open in time for Christmas ... here's the question(s). First, how many days of uninterrupted snow-making is required to completely cover that trail and get it opened? Second, given the length of that trail, and the number of guns that are needed to get it covered, is there capacity in the pumps to be making snow on other parts of the mountain while they're making snow on Lookout Mountain?

[Denison]

Let's assume thattrail is average 100 ft wide, then it's acreage is 2.2 miles * 5,280 ft/mile * 100ft wide making area to cover 1,161,600 sq. ft
Snow Density is ~35 lb / ft3, covering with 1 ft of snow will take 40,656,000 lb or 4,865,830 gallons of water
With Pump house #2 operating at 6000 gpm (http://www.orda.org/newsite/about/annual_reports/annreport09.pdf), it'll take 13 hours to fill trail with 1 ft of snow ....

doable

on the second thought, i'm not sure if a pipe can take all this water at once...

[highpeaksdrifter]

I heard their shooting for next weekend for the Wilie. I have mixed feelings on making snow there next. I like the trail alot, but I'd rather see the summit open. Then I think the next good storm we get maybe the SV glads will be able to open. The only way to get their is via the Wilie so if that ends up being the case I'll be happier than a bird with a french fry that it is open.

[Snowballs]

^^^hehehehe. I forgot about the new SV Glades. No doubt ya'll's itchin to pull that trigger.

[Harvey44]

Let's assume thattrail is average 100 ft wide, then it's acreage is 2.2 miles * 5,280 ft/mile * 100ft wide making area to cover 1,161,600 sq. ft
Snow Density is ~35 lb / ft3, covering with 1 ft of snow will take 40,656,000 lb or 4,865,830 gallons of water
With Pump house #2 operating at 6000 gpm (http://www.orda.org/newsite/about/annual_reports/annreport09.pdf), it'll take 13 hours to fill trail with 1 ft of snow ....

doable

on the second thought, i'm not sure if a pipe can take all this water at once...

Dude - WHERE have you been hiding? I'm clueless about what you said up there - except for the "dobable" part. But it looks good to me.

That's what I want... simple answers from a guy who can convince me he knows what he's talkin about!

[Denison]

That's what I want... simple answers from a guy who can convince me he knows what he's talkin about!

Well I know nothing about snowmaking, but I thought I could approximate by doing simple math..

[Danzilla]

That was some pretty impressive math. Not that I was a liberal arts guy or anything.

You probably have to factor in a fair amount of wastage - all that snow that ends up blowing into the air / trees.

[Face4Me]

I heard their shooting for next weekend for the Wilie. I have mixed feelings on making snow there next. I like the trail alot, but I'd rather see the summit open. Then I think the next good storm we get maybe the SV glads will be able to open. The only way to get their is via the Wilie so if that ends up being the case I'll be happier than a bird with a french fry that it is open.
I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing ... I'd prefer to see the summit get some love next, but then I got the same thought about the new glades!!! :lol:

I'll be up on Saturday ... I'll keep an eye out for you, assuming you're there!

[takeahike46er]

I'm excited to get in those glades. Plus, LOB will likely open up with the Wilie since it doesn't require a significant amount of snowmaking resources. I personally think it makes sense to open up Lookout next. It adds greater diversity to the mountain than the Summit. It also diverts the intermediate skiers away from the relatively crowded Excelsior corridor. The best trail on the summit, Cloudspin, hasn't gotten snowmaking in recent years anyways. I can wait for the base depths to increase.