For release at will Winter 2005/2006
CRANMORE CONTINUES COMMITMENT TO ENVIRONMENT WITH PURCHASE OF ENERGY-EFFICIENT SNOWMAKING EQUIPMENT
NORTH CONWAY , N.H. – Cranmore Mountain Resort has purchased 25 new energy-efficient HKD tower guns to improve snowmaking capabilities for earlier trail coverage and variety of early-season terrain, while using less water and energy than traditional snowmaking equipment.
“This is just the next step for us,” says Cranmore Operations Director Jim Mersereau. “Cranmore has been recognized as a leader in the industry for its commitment to preserving natural resources and the environment. By increasing our snowmaking capabilities with energy-efficient equipment, we’ll make skiers and snowboarders happy while doing the right thing for the environment.”
Cranmore selected HKD Tower Snowguns for their maximum efficiency, ease of operation, low maintenance, and ability to cut costs while increasing snowmaking capacity. Most conventional snowguns operate at air-to-water ratios between 6:1 and 10:1. The HKD Tower system guns operate at an air-to-water ratio as low as 0.7:1 and can increase a mountain's snowmaking capacity six to ten times without an additional investment in compressed air. An added benefit of more snowmaking guns is the ability for Cranmore to open more routes from the summit with greater variety of terrain, earlier in the season. This year’s increase in snowmaking follows a purchase of 50 HKD tower guns in the last several years. Cranmore also uses 15 SMI Wizard portable airless snow fans that require very little energy to make snow.
Cranmore Mountain Resort’s commitment to preserving the environment dates back to the early 1940s, when Skimeister Hannes Schneider, the father of modern skiing in America , experimented with soil erosion prevention as he designed the area’s first trails from the summit.More recently, Cranmore launched a pilot project to use biodiesel fuel for daily grooming of the ski slopes. Cranmore was the first ski area in the East to power its fleet of grooming vehicles with biodiesel fuel, a domestic, renewable diesel fuel replacement derived from natural oils such as soybean or canola oil. It can even be manufactured from recycled restaurant grease. It is a nontoxic, biodegradable, cleaner-burning fuel that works in any diesel engine – trucks, construction equipment, buses, and cars – with few or no modifications. The environmental benefits of using biodiesel include reduced particulate emissions, toxic air contaminants, and greenhouse gas emissions. This pilot program, critical in demonstrating the cold-weather viability of biodiesel in heavy-duty vehicle applications for other New England fleets, was so successful, The New Hampshire Travel Council, in partnership with the NH Department ofEnvironmental Services, presented Cranmore Mountain Resort with its prestigious Sustainable Business Award in 2005.
The Sustainable Business Award also recognized Cranmore’s recycling program. In addition to recycling office paper, plastic bottles and aluminum cans, spent engine oil is reused in a special waste-oil furnace, providing heat to Cranmore’s maintenance garage. Also, the excess heat from snowmaking pumps and compressors is redirected to offices and workspaces within the maintenance garage.
For more information about Cranmore Mountain Resort, please call 1-800-SUN-N-SKI(786-6754) or visit www.cranmore.com.
