Just like natural snow, water content in the air is a major factor in the quality of snow that can be made. In New England, water is the basic raw material of skiing and winter sports recreation. The snow making process simply converts water into snow and spreads it around the mountain. Durring a thaw or winter rain some snow may melt. The water from the melting snow runs back down the mountain into the water table and eventually our holding ponds, where it is held until it is reused to again make snow.
Water is pumped from one of two large holding ponds on our property.
Butternut's system can pump 1800 gallons of water per minute. Over the last two seasons we've added over 30 of the newest HKD tower mounted snowguns. These HKD guns are mounted on poles reaching high into the air and are designed to make snow using less compressed air. Less compressed air means these are more efficient and less expensive to operate. On the flip side, new snowguns are very expensive to purchase.