EcoTecSnow Providing Cost Effective Snow Depth Technology For Resorts In The Western US For The 2017/2018 Ski Season
At a time of year when having enough snow is critical for ski areas to operate for the holiday season, SnowGage is an important new technology that resorts are now using to monitor and manage their most valuable resource: Snow.
By knowing the depth and location of the snow, resort operators can now save considerable money and diesel fuel expense by being more efficient at where they make and move their snow, which is crucial in the early season and/or lean snow years.
This season EcoTecSnow has teamed up with Juniper Systems of Logan, Utah to provide an affordable snow depth monitoring and management system (for under $20,000), which has been proven to be effective at several major resorts in Colorado and Utah over the past two seasons.
A 10%-15% reduction in operating costs can be achieved with the SnowGage technology.
The SnowGage system utilizes a proprietary wide band radar unit mounted under each snow groomer to ping through the snow surface to get an accurate snow depth to within just 2 inches. Designed to withstand the rigors of the alpine environment, a Juniper Systems Mesa2 tablet is installed inside the cab and paired with the SnowGage sensors and a GPS receiver to provide real-time data accessible to resort operations staff through a secure cloud based app. The data includes accurate snow depth, illustrated visually (in color) on a high resolution Google Maps base layer. The system can also display snow groomer fleet locations and performance data. Using that information, resort operators can develop and implement better coverage strategies, manage resource allocation and improve overall snowmaking and slope grooming efficiency.
Major resorts that are currently utilizing the SnowGage system include: Deer Valley, Alta, Telluride, Steamboat, Snowmass, Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin and many more.
Under the terms of the agreement, Juniper Systems will continue to manufacture and install SnowGage systems and EcoTecSnow will provide the sales force and marketing support for the nationwide roll out going forward.
This season Steamboat and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado have already begun utilizing the technology to open up more ski runs earlier than before. Many more installations are scheduled this year at several resorts in the West. Although the initial focus is to provide the technology for resorts in Colorado and Utah, the push for this season will be to the rest of the Western ski areas. Next year the rollout will expand to the Eastern half of the U.S. and Canada. The systems are currently available on a first-come-first-served basis as inventory permits.
