BC-Mark

Our normal plan of action is to open as many trails as possible, as soon as possible. We typically put down an extra 8" to 12" of snow on terrain park areas prior to moving off that trail. This allows us to create decent features until we are able to return and really pound the terrain parks. This year, we have had to shift that philosophy since the weather is giving us very limited windows for snowmaking followed by high tempertures and rain. As a result, we want to focus on a couple trails and put down as much snow as possible to weather the thaws that seem to follow. If we see a 10 day forecast without a potential thaw we will return to our normal snowmaking patterns. Since you are unable to access the trails off the new quad without snow on the front side of the mountain it is only logical to make those trails our focus. When we have extra capacity, we began moving across the mountain from left to right.

We haven't made snow on Timberline yet due to the short snowmaking windows we have had available. This time around we will open with just over 40 hours of snowmaking. It will provide just enough cover to allow us to open. To reach Timberline, you need snow on at least three other trails. We have the capacity to pump 4000gpm of water. If we were to make snow on all our trails at one time, or even the trails required to reach Timberline, we would have to supply each gun with far less water than they are capable of using. The result would be all trails being dusted with snow and not enough to open a single trail. To have a shot at opening, we are giving the guns on Cascade, Upper Black Bear, Kodiak and Cub Run as much water as they will take in an effort to make as much snow as we possibly can in a short amount of time.

We are really pushing to try and open on Friday or Saturday. We will know for sure by tomorrow morning.

The pumped storage facility is a very clever idea for solving peak demand issues. I will talk to our engineers and see what electric potetial there is for a mountain top pond. Method is right, those are portable compressors. A lot of mountains that use air/water systems bring in rental air to get through the opening push then use their owned compressors to maintain the slopes. Bear Creek is an airless sytem so we have no need for compressors. Rental generation is a possibility for adding additional pumping capacity for our opening push then running only 4 pumps to maintain the base. The big issue in the mid-atlantic is we are very prone to mid season thaws. To recover from the thaw we need all the capacity we can get so we would likely purchase a generator so we have it whenever needed. We have gotten decent production that last two night and are going to try and hold through the day today. Tonight should be great. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we can get something open for the weekend.

I am going to try and address as many comments as I can. I apologize in advance for jumping around. First, let me say how great it is to have an incorrect forecast in our favor! We were expecting a low of 30F last night and got 27F with 67% humidity and a wetbulb of 24.3F! The last time we saw a wetbulb that low was Dec. 8 and 9 when we made all the snow that got us open! Let's hope tonight and tomorrow at least hold true to the forecast! Currently we make snow on 61 acres with 93 guns. The guns we use are recommended to cover .75 to 1.5 acres each. We average .65 acres per gun. While this helps us lay down the snow when we get conditions it really puts the pressure on our snowmakers to be attentive. At that kind of density, particularly in areas where we have no wind-breaks, like the lower Kodiak/lower Black Bear/Half Pipe area, the guns tend to create their own microclimate and begin sucking the plumes into their fans. This creates a giant snow waffle on the fan covers that dramatically reduces air flow through the barrell. The snowmakers have to knock those off constantly to avoid decreasing productivity and have to reaim the guns for the constantly swirling winds created by so much air movement in a small area. 80 hours is definitely doable for opening 90% of the terrain with 28F wetbulb with the current system, we have proven that in previous years. The issue this year is we have only had a total of 70 hours of snowmaking (prior to last night) and only 25 to 30 of those hours were 28F wetbulb or below. The rest of the time was wishful thinking and anticipating temperature drops that never arrived or having unanticipated humidity spikes. Now we have a new "worst case scenario" that has caused us to rethink our goals and we now want to aim for 40 hours. As for prolonging the season, we typically push for the third weekend in March. Last year we made snow into March with the idea of keeping terrain park areas open into April. We knew that the longer days and warmer temps would be an issue so we stockpiled what we thought was adequate snow. We were wrong and the rainstorm that arrived prior to our last weekend did more damage that we would have thought possible. Given that this year is off to such a slow start, we are going to push to make the season as long as possible. Using a hyrdostatic pump is a possibility to feed a potential mountain top pond. It would be a good supplement if all our power was tied up in snowmaking. During non-snowmaking periods we would have more than enough electric to use an electric pump. I like the idea of having a switchable coupling that would allow multiple power/drive sources. If we needed to add generation for the new pump house, we would put the generator on the far side of the pumphouse that is to be located on the earth berm at the end of the large pond. Generators in that class come with a good degree of noise attenuation and the distance from any public areas would make the noise nearly imperceptable and the building would shield the generator from view.

I forgot to mention, we did do some research in the hydro-turbine in our downlines for the snowmaking system. We found that Aspen is doing it already and have had some success. It will be discussed on the 17th. We have also looked at putting in a 10,000,000 gallon reservoir running parallel to the top portion of Timberline starting a the mountain hut and running roughly 2/3 of the way to the top of B lift. We have designs and the additional head pressure would allow us to run at least 2 trails on the back side of the mountain and save electricity on pumping during peak operating times for snowmaking. It would drain less than 3 acres so we would definitely have to fill it manually. I will ask our electrician to see if a pump capable of refreshing it can operate on a solar system.

This is a great thread and I appreciate all the input. I began exploring the feasibility of installing a 300kW wind turbine about 2 months ago. We are still in the early stages and assuming I am able to show potential 3 to 5 year ROI it is several years off at best. The other isssue is instaneous peak demand that the wind turbine would not address without copious amounts of storage that becomes cost prohibitive. We are also talking about buying wind credits and should actually have a proposal on Monday. In the limited research I have done into solar it seems that you are looking at something like a 30 year ROI. This was based on a PV system for my house but I believe the costs for a residential vs. commercial system are pretty similar. Bio-diesel is an option for running the generators but you run into a couple issues. First, it is renewable to some degree but requires more than one kJ of petroleum energy to produce one kJ of biodiesel energy. Second is the lack of a readily available supply in our area. Waste oil is a good option and Tim Wright, our vehicle mechanic, has been a big proponent of using it as a fuel source. As for the York waterstick, it requires very high pressure water and the use of Snowmax. We have experimented with one and have found they are decent guns at wetbuld less than 22F but anything above that and they are not all they are cracked up to be. There is an option for our current guns to boost performance at 27F to 28F wetbulb. It involves changing out the 5hp compressors for 10hp compressors. To date we have always opted for the 5hp compressors given our electrical cap and they have served us well. A topic of discussion on the 17th will revolve around changing the compressors and sacrificing on the number of guns we are able to run at once in exchange for more production from the guns we are able to run. Thanks for the healthy debate.

If we get 25F wetbulb, production increases by 15 to 20%. Given the potential for lost revenue, the cost of diesel generation is relatively small. What we really have to consider is the timeline for procuring a generator of the size we will require and the EPA regulations for operating a generator. On initial inspection of the regulations it appears that we can run up to 1000 hours a year before we move to another class of regulation/permitting. If that is the case we will be fine given that we average between 400 and 600 hours of snowmaking per year. If we get the conditions we will make as much snow as possible and attempt to prolong the season. Let's hppe Accuweather is correct for the first time this year!

Method, thanks for the info. We looked into a cooling tower several years back and concluded that it was not necessary given that our average water temperature at the start of snowmaking season is typically 38 to 40 degrees. We did install fountains in the pond we draw from for snowmaking. They are thermostatically controlled to operate when the ambient temperature is lower than the water temperature. In the warmer than average winters we have encountered prior to this year they have done the job but this year we just haven't had many time periods where the air was cooler than the water. We have a meeting on the 17th with Ratnik and SMI to discuss options for greater production in marginal temperatures. We worked with Ratnik and SMI to design our current system that allows opening the entire mountain with the exception of tubing in 80 hours of snowmaking at a 28F wetbulb. We now have a new benchmark for the worst possible scenario so the new goal is opening the mountain in 40 hours of snowmaking at a 28F wetbulb. Items for discussion at the meeting are increasing pumping capacity and cooling water with a cooling tower. We currently have a design and permit for enlarging the pond you drive by on the way and installing a new pumphouse to accomodate up to 4 more pumps if necessary. We will have to overcome a lack of available power from Met-Ed. We currently consume all the power they can deliver so we are going to be investigating generation. Thanks again.

Thanks for all the continued support. We are definitely having a rough spell but we continue to remain optimistic about the remainder of the season...despite the gloomy 10-day forecast. I got pretty excited this morning when I woke up to a 26F reading, only to came up to the mountain to discover our lowest reading all night was 31.3 and our lowest wet-bulb temperature was 30.1, a full 2 degrees above the maximum for snowmaking! It seems our sacrifice of homemade wooden skis was not enough to appease the gods. We might have to step up the offerings. I am almost afraid to ask this crowd, but any thoughts on the next step?

Thanks for all the support. We are all definitely crying the blues. I think sexkitten has hit on a idea for a weather independent revenue stream! We are going to try an fire up tomorrow night and wednesday and get the slopes open again. Maybe everyone can bring up a tray of ice cubes to help the cause.

This weather is a killer. We actually had ski patrol out hauling snow in their sleds yesterday just to keep a path open from the top. We are looking at Tue/Wed night for our next opportunity to make snow. Hopefully Canada gives us a giant cold front for Xmas! Keep thinking cold thoughts for us!

The temperatures got down to 33F last night so the snow was able to firm up a bit and allow us to do a bit more pushing. We have decent coverage on open trails today and all the features are still in great shape thanks to the park crew. We are going to stay open as long as we possibly can given the forecast. It looks like we do have a possibility of some colder weather on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to patch things up and keep the trails open. Let's hope the forecast holds true!

I want to say thanks to Andy and all his guys for doing a great job setting up the park in such tough conditions. Thanks to all the riders that came out on opening day and supported your local hill, we really appreciate your loyalty. I also want to point out that Nick's post was great constructive criticism. If there is something that isn't right with the park, or anything at Bear Creek, please take the time to post and let us know where we can improve.

We are still opening tomorrow at 9AM. The groomers are pushing piles as I write this update and the conditions are looking better. The park crew worked most of the night last night and are out again tonight. They are shooting for 6 to 8 rails for opening. We have the interactive park maps updated showing the rails they hope to have in place tomorrow. http://www.skibearcreek.com/winter/winter_terrainpark.aspx# Keep hoping for colder temperatures and we hope to see you out over the next few days. Thanks for supporting BC!

Bear Creek's official opening day is going to be Thursday, December 14th. We will open at 9AM and operate normal hours. As it stands now, we will be opening with the Cascade Park, Black Bear Park, Upper Black Bear, Upper and Lower Kodiak. Tentative trails for opening are Sasquatch and Grizzly. I realize everyone was hoping for a Tuesday opening, but with rain in the forecast for Wednesday and well above temperatures in the 10 day forecast, we have decided to do some rough grooming starting tonight and tomorrow night and allow the snow to set-up to withstand the rain as best as possible. I just came in from touring the slopes and there is a lot of snow out there so we should have some decent features in the parks for opening day. We will keep you up to date as we get closer.

You can pick-up passes Saturday from 9am to 3pm. I would strongly encourage you to do so if you live close-by so you can avoid opening week lines. 27F and dropping...should be another good night!

Update for 12/8/06 We got really good production last night and have some pretty sizeable piles out there. The snowmakers have been doing a great job! We are going to be able to hold all day as it looks now and we should have another great night tonight. Tomorrow night is going to be a bit warmer but we anticipate getting some decent production. The plan is to let the piles we have made thus far cure a bit and start pushing them tomorrow night. We should be able to have Cascade, Black Bear and Kodiak groomed out for Monday or Tuesday. There is also the possiblity that Sasquatch and Grizzly may be ready as well. Another bright spot. Due to the construction of the hotel, we will only be able to utilize half of the tubing park. This will allow us to use the skiers left side of the tubing park as a terrain park/big hit area all season long. We have been making snow in this area as well and hope to have enough coverage to have it ready for Tuesday. We should know if that can happen by mid-day tomorrow.

It is great to see everyone psyched about opening. Here is the today's update: We fired up last night around 8:30PM with 27F and 68% hunidity. Cloud cover rolled in and kept the temperatures and humidity on the high side. Around 3AM the temperatures dropped and we got 3 hours of good production at 21F and 54% humidity. We shut down around 9AM when the temperatures started rocketing up toward today's high of 47F. Tonight looks warm and humid with rain/snow mix. Our guys are resting up for an all out blitz starting tomorrow night around 11PM if the forecast is correct. We should get good production until 11AM on Friday and marginal production until temperatures drop again Friday night. We plan to run straight through from Thursday night to Saturday morning. I don't think tonights weather will hurt us too much but it is not helping either. We should have a really good idea on opening by mid-afternoon Friday. Keep thinking cold!!!!

There is a shot at Sunday but I am definitely not making any promises. The picture will definitely become clearer by tomorrow morning and we should have a definitive answer by mid-afternoon on Friday.

Believe me, we want to get open as bad as you guys want us to open! We switched strategies tonight given the long range forecast doesn't look so hot. We are putting almost all of our firepower on Cascade, Black Bear and Kodiak and going full out. We plan on going as long as we can tomorrow morning, fire back up on Thursday as soon as temps allow and try to run straight through to Saturday morning if weather permits. We are going to try to get those 3 trails and at least one run off the new quad open between Sun. and Tue. We will keep you updated as we see what the weather throws our way and we evaluate our production.

The system is charging right now, we are waiting on a another degree, we are at 29 right now and want it to hit 28 before we fire up the guns due to the high water temperature.

I want 6 cold days to get open, no January thaw and a monkey!

I want to clarify a few things. Mary meant to say that Bear Creek has the highest snowmaking density per acre in PA. By that we mean that we can produce more snow per acre over a given period of time than any other resort in PA. Camelback uses a mix of air/water and fan guns. Both technologies are good but we choose to run all fan guns due to their relative efficiencies in marginal conditions. Comparing number of guns is misleading due to the flow and production each gun is capable of. An air/water gun produces far less snow per gun than a fan gun, necessitating a much larger fleet of guns to achieve the same snowmaking density. The temperature is currently 30F and we will begin making snow in the next 2 hours. Given that the temperature has been so warm and we have received a fair amount of warm rain over the past 2 weeks, our water temperature is still relatively high. Currently our water temperature sits at 48F which is on the high side for good production so we are waiting for the air to cool a bit to compensate for the high water temperature. Being a little patient allows us to make a higher quality snow, have better production and avoid blanketing the trails with a thick layer of slop that will only thaws your ground and comes back to haunt you in the end.

So, let's just clarify here. Bob is still around and he is our primary terrain park groomer. We would love to get a few more nights a week out of Bob but he has a job outside Bear Creek and can't commit tons of hours. Andy started to train last year and will spend time in the machine again this year. Gerald is the grooming supervisor and he is planning to come back this year as well. We had a groomer that came in from Utah last year that didn't really work out so he will not be back.