Cranmore Adds 80 Tower Guns for the 2009-10 Ski Season
| 13 October 2009
North Conway, NH - Officials at Cranmore Mountain ski resort today announced that the New Hampshire ski and snowboard resort would be making significant investments in its snowmaking equipment with the addition of 80 new energy-efficient tower snow guns this winter.
The new equipment represents an almost 80% increase in the resort's inventory of snow tower guns. Not only will the new guns produce more snow more quickly, they'll also require far less electricity to operate.
"Snowmaking represents the majority of our energy use," stated Cranmore General Manager Ben Wilcox. "These new guns will allow us to make up to three times more snow than traditional snow guns. The guns also use less air which means lower energy consumption and therefore we will be reducing our carbon footprint as well."
Another benefit of the new equipment is its ability to make snow at higher temperatures. "We can make snow at temperatures four degrees higher than older model tower guns," continued Wilcox. "It's easy to see how this will allow us to make more snow in those critical early season periods and open more terrain more quickly."
The new tower guns will be set up on its popular Easy Street beginner trail off the summit, extending to the Gibson Trail, down to Beginner's Luck. Guns will also be positioned on high traffic trails including Upper Hurricane to Middle, allowing the mountain to provide improved snow conditions on the busiest days.
New tower guns will also be added to the blue cruiser favorite Skimeister, lining the trail from top to bottom. This, in addition to the installation of tower guns on Artist Falls trail two years ago, will give Cranmore improved snow making on virtually every major route down the mountain.
Cranmore has invested close to half a million dollars for this coming winter including the snowmaking improvements and facility upgrades and repairs, the largest investment in several years at the 73 year old ski resort.
