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Operations
For ski areas like The Lecht and Glencoe, being able to the Snowfactory system has been popular throughout Europe
put down even a small amount of snow can make the dif- and in New Zealand since the product launched three years
ference between having a successful season and going out of ago, and is in use on some indoor slopes around the world.
business altogether. The latter is a prospect Monroe doesn’t American clients are also starting to take notice of the
even want to consider: Glencoe (originally known as White Snowfactory’s capabilities, he says.
Corries) was the first commercial ski area in Scotland when it In late 2017 the Mt. Van Hoevenberg Cross Country
opened in 1956. It’s a year-round resort now, with downhill Ski Center at Whiteface in Lake Placid, NY, became the first
and cross-country mountain biking quickly becoming the North American location to have the SF100 machine. The
main attraction. Even so, Monroe and his skiing and snow- previous season, 2016–17, Mt. Van Hoevenberg was open for
boarding guests aren’t ready to let winter go. When it does just 37 days and snow conditions forced some changes to the
snow, Monroe says, the skiing at Glencoe can be first-rate. competition schedule, prompting New York State’s Olympic
Climate change has been making it harder to ski at Regional Development Authority (ORDA) to invest in leasing
these modest-sized areas, which struggle with fluctuations the Snowfactory with a lease-to-own option from TechnoAlpin.
in temperature and humidity. Glencoe has eight lifts and It was such a success that ORDA purchased the unit before
20 runs; until mid-January 2018, just one of those runs was the 2017–18 season began, according to Whiteface Mountain
open, and only because of the Snowfactory at that. spokesman Jon Lundine. The Snowfactory helped the ski center A PROVEN
“We were able to get the one run open—about 300 meters to a record season length of 157 days that year, he says, and the
[984 feet] long—to open the season, and it was enough to 2018–19 season got off to an even stronger start. PARTNER IN
basically keep people interested while they were waiting for the “This year we were able to lay snow down in October in
proper snow to arrive,” Monroe said. “We’re a very small area time to host the first training camp for the US Para-Nordic
here compared to American resorts, but the Snowfactory has team at the end of that month, and we were open to the public SKI RESORT
been good for putting some snow out when we’re not getting in early November,” said Lundine. “The Snowfactory is allow-
it from above, the way it’s supposed to be delivered.” ing us to open earlier and has really made our event calendar FINANCING
Steven Fellenzer, president of TechnoAlpin USA, says much easier to coordinate. It’s not going to be a primary source

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16 | NSAA JOURNAL | SPRING 2019