Top Five Fridays: August 11, 2023
Lead Image: Earlier this week, a tornado hit Snow Ridge, a gem of a resort in Northern New York, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. Learn more about the development, and how you can help, in highlight number 3 this week. Image: Snow Ridge Ski Resort on Facebook
#1: After Recovering from Foreclosure, New Hampshire’s Granite Gorge Has Just Opened a Brand New Mountain Bike Park:
Granite Gorge is officially a full season mountain resort, thanks to the debut of their brand new, 4,000’ long flow trail! Image: Granite Gorge on Facebook
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the August 11, 2023 edition! This week’s happenstance theme? Small East Coast ski areas. Getting things immediately underway, we’re starting out this week with a feel good story from Granite Gorge, New Hampshire. Now, the story of this local resort isn’t one we’ve covered very much here on Chairlift Chat, so allow us to quickly bring you up to speed in regards to their recent history. After initially operating from 1959-1977, Granite Gorge re-opened in 2003 and was successful for approximately a decade before signs of trouble began bubbling up again around 2013. After a tumultuous seven years, the ski area finally succumbed to financial pressures, with Covid ultimately being the final blow. In 2020, the resort went into foreclosure. Then, after nearly two years, a group of local investors purchased the land in June of 2022 at an auction for $430,000. Immediately upon purchasing the land, local investors, as well as experienced industry leader, Keith Kreischer, got to work revitalizing the mountain. Finally, after several months of refurbishing equipment, performing maintenance on lifts, and clearing all of the safety and legal challenges that face any new ski resort, the mountain was finally able to open again this past January. That in and of itself was a success story, and one that we certainly could have covered, had we had room for it in our weekly recaps.
Fortunately, more news is coming out of the ski area which gives us the perfect chance to discuss its revitalization. Back on the weekend of July 29-30th, the ski resort officially became a “mountain” resort as it offered lift-accessed mountain biking for the first time. At present, the offering is modest, yet impressive, with a singular 4,000’ long flow trail offering multiple line choices to please all skill levels. Due to the limited number of trails, the resort is currently capping sales at just 60 tickets a day for the time being, until they’re able to better understand how much capacity the resort currently has. Of course the plan for the mountain doesn’t stop there. Already underway are two more trails which are expected to open in September and should spread out riders, enabling the resort to offer higher capacity. From there, the ski area plans to further build out its summer offerings into next year, with the ultimate goal of becoming a year round resort. It’s a strategy that’s being embraced by a widening swath of the ski industry as ski areas are realizing that their true offering is a mountain experience, not exclusively skiing or snowboarding. As we’ll see in our next highlight this week, it’s a realization that’s not only beneficial to outdoor recreationists, but likely necessary for the survival of many ski areas facing uncertain winter weather. We’ll delve into that topic in just a minute here, but before we do, we recommend giving The Keene Sentinal’s coverage of this story a full read.
#2: In Effort to Overcome Effects of Climate Change, Connecticut Ski Resort Investing $1.5 Million in an All Temperature “Snow Factory”:
A look at the KTI snowPRO, a snowfactory much like the one being purchased by Powder Ridge Mountain Park. Image: KTI snowPRO Website.
In other New England ski resort news, we caught a report from NBC Connecticut that shared some discouraging news regarding the environmental challenges facing ski areas in the coastal region of New England. Recently, Salem State University professor Stephen Young published a study in which he examined global snow coverage from 2000 - 2023 using satellite imagery. In his research, he discovered a startling fact: coastal regions spanning from New York City to Boston are in the top 5% of global snow decline. Alongside that fact, he also discovered a 50% decrease in the average number of days with snow coverage in Connecticut, going from 62 days in 2000, to just 31 days. The result for small ski areas in the region is obvious.
As a result of this shift in weather, ski resorts in the area are being forced to find other paths to financial viability. Case in point: Powder Ridge Mountain Park, in Middlefield, CT. There, much like Granite Gorge, the ski resort has turned its attention to becoming a year round mountain destination, offering a slew of summer attractions, including mountain biking, zip lining, disc golf, paintball, and more. Still, in order to be able to accomplish the goal of being a year round destination, they need to remain operational throughout the winter despite the warmer weather. As such, they’ve recently announced plans to invest in a $1.5 million snowmaking factory. If that term leaves you scratching your head, the simplest way to imagine it is as an indoor, temperature controlled space where snow can be created before being blasted outside by a more traditional snow gun. It’s a technology that’s been popping up more and more as ski resorts look for ways to find more consistent snowpacks. With this new machine, resort CEO Sean Hayes hopes to be able to create about 6” of snow covering about the surface area of a football field, every day, regardless of the temperature outside.
This ultimately brings us to a question that we simply can’t answer: is it worth it? While we recognize that Hayes has a business to run, and that this ski area is undoubtedly an important part of the Middlefield community, it’s hard to reconcile the idea that the solution to a warmer, dryer winter climate is to use a machine that’s resource heavy in order to combat the effects of climate change. While we don’t know the details behind its operation, we have to imagine that running a snow factory would require significant energy and water, while the snow being produced would likely be subject to continuous melting. Now, to be clear, this isn’t at all meant to be a comment on Powder Ridge or Sean Hayes. Moreso, it’s meant to be an open ended question: as skiers in a changing climate, what can we do? What should we do? Again, this isn’t a question that we know a definitive answer to, but definitely one in which we’d love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to share them in the comments below! In the meantime, to learn more about this particular story, check in with NBC Connecticut.
#3: Tornado Strikes New York’s Snow Ridge Ski Area, Severely Damaging Every Lift:
Twisted metal, severed tree trunks, a cabin tossed aside. Evidence of the power of the tornado that hit Snow Ridge is unfortunately obvious across the entire mountain. Image: Snow Ridge Ski Resort on Facebook
For our third “small East Coast ski area” highlight this week, we have some unfortunate news to share coming out of Snow Ridge ski area in Turin, New York. If you haven’t heard of this resort, we can’t blame you- it certainly falls into the small ski resort category and is tucked away in the northwest corner of New York, where not much else is going on. But, Snow Ridge is special for one interesting fact: they get incredible snow. Due to its location near Lake Ontario, the small ski area is known for receiving huge storms, with snow totals regularly being measured in feet rather than inches. To further drive this point home, consider these two facts: Ski the East traveled there back in 2016 to film an episode for their web series, “Spectral,” and the resort is also included on the Indy Pass. In other words, it’s not just another small ski area; Snow Ridge is a gem. This story also has a personal connection for me, as the resort’s General Manager, Nick Mir, is a friend of mine who I grew up skiing and building terrain parks alongside, back at Toggenburg Mountain. When I saw this news, it hit different.
On Monday night, Snow Ridge was hit by an EF-3 tornado, a classification that means there were sustained gusts of wind of between 136-165 MPH. At Snow Ridge, the top wind speed was recorded as 140 MPH. The resulting damage, unfortunately, was severe. When Nick and the rest of his team arrived on Tuesday to observe the damage, they were simply blown away by what they saw. The tornado had ripped diagonally, across the entire resort, resulting in as much damage as you can imagine. All three of the resort’s chairlifts, as well as the T-Bar, were knocked off their wheels. A tree fell on a groomer, crushing the cabin and ultimately totalling it. Countless trees fell onto lift cables, to the extent that the 30,000 pound tension weight became suspended in the air. Small buildings across the mountain, such as storage sheds and warming huts, were simply lifted up and tossed elsewhere. The resort’s yurt was also thrown from its foundation. Ultimately, it’s a scale of destruction that’s rarely seen at a ski resort.
Now, with the damage done, Nick and crew are turning their sights towards cleaning things up and doing their best to get ready for the winter ahead. While next week typically marks the start of their pre-season maintenance efforts, this week’s storm has added a significant amount of work to the normal load, making the ability to open on time an uncertainty. In Nick’s own words, “We’re feeling good about having operations this winter. What capacity that’s going to be in is yet to be seen”. Knowing Nick, while there’s an unfathomable amount of work ahead, I’m sure he’ll find a way to get it done, and to reopen a ski area, in some capacity, that’s crucial to his local community. If you’re interested in contributing to the resort’s rebuild, you can donate to a GoFundMe that’s set up, or if you’re an Indy Pass holder, be sure to pay them a visit this winter. To learn more about this story, check out the reports from Powder Magazine and InformNY.com.
#4: The World’s First “On Demand Gondola” is Set to Debut in Switzerland This Year:
As you can see, the route for the new FlemXpress looks more like the map at a train station than anything we’re used to seeing here in the states. Its potentially revolutionary “on demand” concept will be put to the test this winter. Image courtesy of Bartholet Maschinenbau AG, sourced via SkiMag.com
Finally, in non-New England news, we’re rounding things out this week with the story of a crazy new gondola concept set to debut in Switzerland this winter. To fully grasp what makes this new concept so different, let’s first clarify how all current gondolas and chairlifts work: a cable with chairs or cars attached to it runs in a continuous loop, anchored by bullwheels on either side. This is basic stuff, skiing 101. When the new FlemXpress gondola debuts at Flims Laax Falera ski area in Switzerland this winter though, ski professors may have to make some adjustments to their course materials.
Imagine, instead of loading a gondola one group at a time as the cabins come around, you instead walk up to a screen and “order” a ride. When you do, a previously parked gondola will scoot on up to you, open its doors, wait patiently while you load, and then whisk you away to your selected destination. That, more or less, is the experience being promised by the FlemXpress at Films Laax Falera. Now, as Americans, there’s one detail here that requires a little further explanation as the concept of a “multiple destination” ski lift isn’t something that exists here. At Films Laax Felera though, the plan for this new lift is to have a route that consists of six total stops. In some ways, it’s more similar to a metro station than a traditional ski lift in that riders can choose where they get off. One of the big offers being made by this new lift is that guests can select their destination and be brought there directly rather than having to stop at every station they pass through along the way. In addition to these logistical conveniences, the cabins are also packed with features to make the ride enjoyable: two phone charging stations, ventilation to prevent fogging, multiple seat and rack setups to comfortably accommodate riders, exterior lights- the list goes on.
Beyond the futuristic feeling scope of the gondola though, there’s also a second story being touted: its environmentally friendliness. With traditional gondolas and chairlifts, the cables are full of cabins and chairs, regardless of whether or not they’re occupied. With the new FlemXpress, cabins and chairs are only loaded onto the cable if someone requested one, meaning the overall weight of the load being carried is significantly less. Additionally, the mechanics for the lift itself operate differently. Rather than being driven by a motor attached to the bullwheel, this new lift will utilize kinetic energy created when cabins accelerate and decelerate from a station. As such, Bartholet Maschinenbau AG, the developers behind the project and the new “Ropetaxi Technology” are suggesting that the lift could use up to 50% less energy as compared to a traditional lift. Plus, as if that wasn’t enough, the system itself is entirely self running as the software that guests use to book a trip also has an awareness of where each cabin is, and is able to assign them trips as needed. All told, this new gondola represents a wild new concept in skiing, and if it truly is as energy efficient as its developers claim, then it's one that we could see making waves in the industry well into the future. For now, you can learn more about this in the recent article from SkiMag.com.