Stevens Pass Mountain Resort has purchased a snow maker for use in the base area.
The chairlifts at the ski area are built for mid-season snow depths, not early season conditions. This has always been an issue*, said Alysa Hetze, communications and social media manager for Stevens Pass.
The ski area had been dealing with that problem by harvesting snow from the parking lot and moving it to the loading area for the chair lifts. That method, however, collected rocks and pebbles, which made for poor snow quality in the base area.
The snow gun will allow the resort to open with less natural snow and it will mean better snow in the base area. The snow gun will not be used anywhere else on the mountain.
The machine only requires water and electricity to work. Water is sent through a pump and pressurized. The pressurized water is then forced through a jet and, combined with the air from a fan, turns to snow — assuming the weather conditions are right, of course.
Stevens tested out the snow gun recently. Check out a video of it on their Facebook page. Snow gun action starts at 1:50. (Note: the video is from earlier, U.S. 2 is now open.)
* Correction, Nov. 24, 2015: This story originally misstated the challenges of managing snow in the base area.
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