1. The TWO most important factors are cold temperatures and good snowmakers. If it’s too warm, it’s not snow; and, if the snowmakers don’t know how to adjust the air/water mix precisely for the conditions, the quality is poor. By the way, snowmakers call it “manmade” snow, not “fake” snow…it’s made of water, just like Mother Nature does it!

2. Yes, it actually, CAN get too cold to make snow. At about -10 degrees F, it becomes very difficult to keep the water lines from freezing.

3. Kevin says that opinions on this differ among snowmakers; however, for him it’s around 10 degrees with a 5 mph wind. Cold enough to make lots of snow, and a little wind dries it out before it hits the ground giving higher quality; but not so cold that there’s equipment problems or so much wind that the snow doesn’t go where they want it.

Keep studying…maybe you’ll take over Kevin’s job someday!

I skied at Powder Ridge in the early 90′s and had a wonderful time. I was sad to see it go. What a lovely resource it was for the town and the kids who grew up around there.

I hadn’t heard of their experiment with Fan Guns. Thanks for sharing.

These guns made huge amounts of snow we could pump our pond dry and cover the mountain in a few cold nights.most were 10hp with a turbo type fan made of cast alumnium which was known to explode if it got hit wrong with a chunk of ice build-up . . . those were the days!

Thanks for reading the article, and for some great background information for our readers. You’re absolutely right…there were lots of areas using them before Peak converted Crotched. But, just as Henry Ford wasn’t the first to build a car but rather changed the game for all consumers, so have the recent investments in fan guns by “the big boys” changed skiing for virtually all skiers in the East. That major investment from a new player to New England (and, frankly, not a “big boy” at that point…all of their other resorts were small) woke up the sleeping giants. Put a different way, the total number of skier visits affected by fan guns in the 80s and 90s is probably less than will be affected this year alone. And, of course, the guns themselves have evolved, becoming more efficient and effective. Hey, if anyone wants me to do an article on the evolution of the fan guns, put in your comments…that might be fascinating!

Fan guns are not new to New England, they are just new to the big boys.

We installed fans in 1984 at The Berkshire Snow Basin in Cummington, MA. We had 4 Fan Jets & 3 SMI Highlands. In 1991 I used 2 Lenkos & 1 SMI Highland to cover 3km of cross country trails at Swift River Inn also in Cummington, MA.

You might also want to check out Berkshire East in Charlemont, MA. They have been using fan guns since the late 80s.

I know that some of the ski areas in CT are using fans & have been for sometime now. Matter of fact The Fan Jet guns we used at The Snow Basin were developed in CT.

I understand that now that the big boys are using them it’s now news but, they are not new to New England.

Allan