Whakapapa snowmaking congratulations

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 391, 18 June 1991, Page 6

Whakapapa snowmaking congratulations

• Your article on the developments at Whakapapa will bring smiles to the faces of all skiers, particularly those who have realised that snow-making , long a condition of economic survival in America and Canada, can at last provide New Zealand resorts with the "weatherproofing" now being experienced abroad. Congratulations to Dave Mazey and his team of dedicated guys who have had the foresight to take the plunge, and to Ski Industries N.Z. for their tenacity in promoting the product. The Bulletin will "cop it" however, for

suggesting that S.M.I. installed a full blown system at Mt.Hutt! The system there is a state of the art high pressure compressed air/ water system designed by a Canadian design consultant, and does not employ the fan gun technology installed elsewhere in N.Z. by Also, "lets be careful out there", before we accept statements like, ' snow can be made....at 20% humidity and +3C.". You should add that humidities as low as this are pretty rare on Ruapehu, and the quality of snow produced under these hypothetical and extremely marginal

conditions would be unskiable! ! All that aside, it is going to be great for the industry to be able to offer snow guarantees, and to be able to utilise snow management techniques to entice and to pamper skiers in a way which will be totally new to most enthusiasts. Well done Whakapapa.

Barry

Hobman

SNO Engineering (NZ)LTD