Snow switched on at Happy Valley

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 390, 11 June 1991, Page 1

Snow switched on at Happy Valley

Snow was successfully predicted for 2.30pm Saturday at Happy Valley despite blue skies on the day at Whakapapa. Conservation Minister Dennis Marshall turned the tap on Ruapehu Alpine Lift's $600,000 snowmaking system in an official ceremony, fulfilling the prediction. The five-gun snowmaking system is capable of covering the Happy Valley beginner slopes with 20cm of snow in four days, which is enough to open the facilities. The new system will mean RAL will be able to operate Happy Valley from early June each year, depending on suitable conditions, said RAL Chairman Roger Manthel. He said the opening marked the historic start to a new era in skiing on Whakapapa. "We envisage the continuing development of snowmaking on our skifield which will have huge benefits in levelling out the massive fluctuations in weather that we experience from time to time on Mt Ruapehu," he said. "We are proud of our staff who have met the challenge and who have done a superb job in completing Turnpage2

Happy Valley snow

From page 1 this installation on time and in a professional manner." Conservation co-operation Conservation Minister Dennis Marshall said the project showed the high level of co-opera-tion between RAL, the tourist operator, and his department. He said the project showed how DoC and tourism could work together. "Conservation could be said to be the maintenance department of tourism," said Mr Marshall. "It seems fitting that the first stage of snowmaking facilities are installed at the Happy Valley beginners facility. Many people have been introduced to skiing here and this could be the start of a new era in recreation on Ruapehu." Electrification The system, supplied by American firm Snow Making Industries and their New Zealand agents Ski Industries, has required the electrification and reticulation of the Valley flOor with high pressure water that is pumped from the field's dam 1.8 kilometres

down the Valley. The water and electricity is delivered to the five fan-gun snowmaking machines, worth about $40,000 each. Water is pumped through fine nozzles which create fine droplets of water, which are blown into the air by the fan to freeze and form snow crystals. Part of the gun is a small nucleator which sprays a small amount of water through a much higher pressure nozzle to create tiny ice crystals, which seed the snow by providing the nucleus on which the snow crystals form. SMI representative Des Peters said the fangun system is energy efficient compared to the high pressure systems used elsewhere. The fan-guns stand about two metres tall and sit on a transporter about the size of a domestic trailer, which makes them much bigger than the high pressure guns. Snow in May Mr Peters said he would expect RAL to be able to make snow from May through to August with the system. He said the variables are temperature and humid-

ity. The colder and drier the conditions the more snow can be made, he said. For example, snow could be made with 80 per cent humidity at -5° C, or at 20 per cent humidity at +3°C. He said the system is very easy to operate, but requires regular monitoring of weather conditions. Wind can cause problems, as the demonstration on Saturday showed when the snow being made was swept away down the valley. However there was the start of a base across the whole Happy Valley floor from snowmaking carried out on Thursday night. Snowmaking is growing fast in New Zealand to help extend the ski season, with Turoa using two fan-guns on their Alpine Meadow beginner's area and several South Island fields now using it. SMI has installed full blown systems at Mt Hutt and Coronet Peak and smaller systems at Treble Cone, Rainbow and Porter Heights. FOOTNOTE: It seems it wasn't the Whakapapa system that created yesterday's snowfalls - less snow fell there than in places like the Waimarino!