Demaclenko Brings Winter To South America
In recent years, snow has also increasingly been eagerly awaited in the ski resorts of the Andes in South America, one of the highest mountain chains in the world, particularly at the beginning of the winter sport season. That is why more and more investments are being made in setting up efficient snowmaking systems, relying on the sustainable and effective solutions offered by DEMACLENKO.
When in the northern hemisphere people are thrilled with the arrival of summer, the winter season is just off to a start in ski resorts south of the equator. But because there is not enough natural snow in many places, particularly to get the season off to a punctual start, technical snowmaking solutions are used to guarantee absolutely reliable snow for winter sports. This also applies to the Andes in South America, where DEMACLENKO’s fully developed and complete turnkey solutions are conquering the continent.
Snow for El Colorado
Last year, DEMACLENKO was able to implement a turnkey snowmaking system in El Colorado, one of South America’s biggest ski resorts. The ski resort in Chile is only 36 kilometres from the capital Santiago and its activities can be traced as far back as 1935. At the time, the goal was to set up a winter sport resort in the immediate vicinity of the big city. In search for a solution for the uncertain snowfall at the beginning of the season, a comprehensive investment was made in technical snow in 2018. The big order included the installation of a new pumping station (with a total capacity of 48 l/s), including field pipelines and 14 surface hydrants and was carried out by DEMACLENKO. Eight powerful TITAN fan guns spread fresh snow on the slopes using water from the 20,000 m3 reservoir. The total package was rounded off with completely automatic operation of the system using the operation software Snowvisual 4.0.
More efficient snowmaking in Las Leñas
DEMACLENKO’s cooperation with Las Leñas, which is another of the biggest winter sport resorts on the South American continent, goes back to 2015. Since then, the snowmaking system has been continuously optimised. The pumping station was extended and automated, raising the total capacity to 110 l/s. Moreover, new pits were built in, the infrastructure was renewed and new automatic snow guns (TITAN, EOS) were bought. Lucio Toledo, who is in charge of snowmaking operations in Las Leñas is delighted. “The snow fans and lances have proved their worth and we were able to increase snow production substantially. Renewing the pipes also had a positive effect on the amount of snow produced, because we are now able to raise pressure in our snowmaking system”, he said. He and his team start snow production as early as the month of May. “We can also plan snowmaking far more efficiently. The completely automatic operation of the system has played a decisive role”, Toledo adds, expressing enthusiasm for the many advantages of DEMACLENKO’s operation software, Snowvisual 4.0. “Using Snowvisual 4.0 is very simple, but it delivers very detailed and valuable statistics and analyses on the system’s operation. Another very interesting point is the recording of meteorological data, because it enables us to determine precisely how much temperatures in various places in the ski resort actually vary. This provides us with a basis for making well-founded plans for future seasons and new projects.”
