Back in December, we reported on the Veteran’s Memorial Recreation Area installing snowmaking. For nearly its entire history, the New Hampshire ski area has had to rely on natural snowfall. There are some theories that the ski area may temporarily have had snowmaking in the past, but this new permanent snowmaking system marks a shift towards extending their season.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t help them out that much this winter. While the New Hampshire ski area was able to be open during much of January and February, it didn’t get a lot of natural snowfall. Multiple rainstorms over the past week have erased New Hampshire’s snowpack.
However, snowmaking did help them out. In February, they did a trial run for their two TechnoAlpine M18 snowmaking guns. The result was that they opened the rope tow for the weekend of February 24th and 25th.
With these rain storms and warmer temperatures, it seems likely that the Veteran’s Memorial Recreation Area is done for the season. However, this snowmaking addition is a huge step forward for the ski area, and they hope to continue to grow the system in the coming years.
Last weekend, WMUR reported on their snowmaking efforts, as they interviewed Timothy Morrill of the Franklin Outing Club, who runs the ski area. In the video below, he discusses how this winter went, and what they aim to do in the future.
Click here to donate to the Franklin Outing Club.
Image/Video Credits: Franklin Outing Club/Veteran’s Memorial Recreation Area, WMUR
