The future of Mountain Creek snowmaking begins this spring
Top-to-Bottom Snowmaking Automation to Come to Vernon Peak for Winter 2024/25
VERNON TOWNSHIP, NJ (Sussex County) – Mountain Creek has announced a substantial investment to improve their snowmaking firepower and bring automated snowmaking to the mountain for next winter.
While they already have one of the largest and most powerful snowmaking systems in the country, with this step they are poised to take our snow-producing abilities to the next level.
This investment will revolutionize the skiing and snowboarding experiences at Mountain Creek, allowing them to get open earlier, to expand terrain faster than ever before, and to offer the highest quality of machine-made snow possible.
The initial phase of the Vernon Automation Project will see a $5 million total investment to install an automated snowmaking system at Vernon Peak. This state-of-the-art system will service their primary peak from top-to-bottom, covering the following key trails; Upper and Lower Horizon, Cab Ride, Sugar Slope, and the Learning Area.
This comprehensive system upgrade will involve the replacement of the old snowmaking pipes, hydrants, and pump stations, alongside the implementation of automation controls and durable ductile iron pipes.
Additionally, they will be installing 40 new energy-efficient fan guns, allowing them to further enhance our overall snow production capabilities, while also allowing for the existing snowmaking machines on these trails to be moved to new strategic positions across the resort’s trail network.
This move to automated snowmaking will allow the resort to keep its snow making at the ready allowing these automated guns to turn on and off automatically taking advantage of anytime temperatures allow for snowmaking.
Additionally, the resort will be able to control the flow and output from these guns via an online app, maximizing the efficiency of snowmaking and quality of the snow produced by it. This will give them a significant advantage in the future especially in the early season, and times of marginal snowmaking weather conditions, allowing them to not only produce more snow in shorter weather windows, but also reduce their overall energy consumption associated with snowmaking operations.
“We plan to have Phase 1 of this new automated snowmaking system fully operational by November 2024, to coincide with the commencement of snowmaking for the winter season 2024/2025,” officials said.
Mountain Creek snowmaking fun facts:
- 100% of resort’s trails are covered with snowmaking
- Snowmaking is fed by seven mountaintop lakes which minimizes energy consumption and allows for the resort to use gravity to feed the system
- Over 1,000 snowmaking machines on property
- In ideal weather conditions, Mountain Creek can produce 3.5 million cubic feet of snow in 24 hours, enough to cover 80 acres of trail (or to fill 1,000 tractor trailer containers)
