TechnoAlpin Installs First Snowfactory At A French Indoor Ski Center

The Snowfactory, the all-weather snowmaking system, developed by TechnoAlpin, is not only popular and useful for outdoor ski resort operators who would need an additional tool to make snow on their slopes, it is also suitable for indoor snow and ski centers. Indeed, this technology makes it possible to overcome environmental constraints, chiefly the air temperature, to produce snow, can be utilized also for indoor snowmaking.

Particularly, this is the case in France, at the SnowHall in Amnéville (North-East, next to the Luxemburg and Germany). The operator of the SnowHall, the Labellemontagne group, needed to find a solution to make snow during the retrofit operations of the existing refrigeration and snow production system of the indoor center. The Snow Experts from TechnoAlpin found the answer with a SF100 Snowfactory.

Hence, the Snowfactory brings a “plug & play” solution to the operator: while the retrofit work is in progress, the SnowHall will continue make snow and will be able to welcome guests on the only indoor ski slope in France. This indoor center offers 620m of slope, with a vertical drop of almost 100m, to winter sport lovers, professional ski racers and snow enthusiasts.

As the Labellemontagne group is also on of the major ski resort operators in France, with several ski resorts, the Snowfactory will serve another purpose later in the season. Indeed, once the job of the Snowfactory is done at the SnowHall, the unit will be move to La Bresse. This is a ski resort of Labellemontagne group located in the Vosges mountains, two hours north of Amnéville.

There, the Snowfactory will be able to ensure the production of stock piles of snow ahead of the season, when conventional snowmakers are potentially unable to make snow, when temperatures are not cold enough. This initial production allows operators to prepare the base layer on the slopes, to ensure snow coverage on the base area or snow recreational grounds! The Snowfactory therefore provides an additional guarantee of being able to open the slopes first, at the beginning of the season, to satisfy winter sports lovers.

For the first half of 2020, TechnoAlpin has already signed several contracts for SF100 and SF200 Snowfactory models, in France, Switzerland, Italy and the Czech Republic, for a total of 7 machines. This is a strong sign of the great interest of the ski industry in this technological solution.