2011-12-01
As soon as the temperatures allow, Green Mountain Valley School and Club athletes will be training on freshly made snow at their home base, the Kelly Brush Race Arena (KBRA) at Sugarbush, thanks to cooperation between Sugarbush Resort and GMVS.
Pre-season training is essential to ski racers who begin their race season in December and GMVS has been searching for a way to open its race arena as early as possible. Sugarbush has the capability to make snow as soon as temperatures allow but does not have snowmaking equipment to allocate specifically to the race arena.
GMVS purchased 20 energy-efficient portable snowguns from Snow Logic Inc., with a portion of the money raised in a recently launched $2 million capital campaign marking the school’s 40th anniversary. Sugarbush agreed to use the GMVS-owned snowguns to cover the race arena first, before using them elsewhere on the mountain.
"Sugarbush is pleased to support the world class alpine program at Green Mountain Valley School. GMVS has been a great partner of ours over the years, and with the purchase of new snowmaking equipment, Sugarbush is excited to offer the students at GMVS the opportunity to train as early as temperatures permit,” said Win Smith, president, Sugarbush Resort.
Sugarbush is the home mountain for the ski academy/prep school and GMVS ski club with over 300 ski racers training on the race arena.
The purchase of the snowguns by GMVS was part of a larger purchase with Sugarbush Resort. According to Win Smith, Sugarbush will double snowmaking production during warmer early-season temperatures, running more snowguns simultaneously at both Lincoln Peak and Mt. Ellen. "Because these snowguns use significantly less electricity per gallon of water, they will help us reduce our energy consumption without compromising either the quality or quantity of snow,” Win Smith said.
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