Late Spring on Plunge Take 2

So if you are going to blow NF, you're really only adding snow to the amount you were planning. Ethan had some insight about when rates are really cheap and stuff, like if you start before 5. I wonder how much additional snow they would have to blow. Plattekill is one of the only mountains that you can have a legit party at with a supreme deck vibe.

I'd like to see an open fire pit on the new deck they are building, and maybe a tiki bar. That would really solidify the deck scene similar to that at Greek Peak. I don't have a lot of leverage when it comes to spending money, but I have mentioned these things to Laz. I know the deck is getting some improvements this summer. Right now it's all torn up.

I notice you have Plunge in the title, and you're talkin' NF in the actual post. What is your opinion on which slope to blow?Mine is NF.

That is true that if you start up during the night, your price is locked in at a much lower rate. I'm sure laz knows that. After all, He is where I got the information from.  

I'd like to get Ski Ray's opinion on this too, if you are there Ray.

He drives with his crew from NYC to big K every weekend until May that's hell of a day trip. Would you be more likely to do it at Plattekill if they were open for the month of April?

I spoke with some one who I think knows these numbers. My question was how much does it cost to blow snow at Gore per day. When it is optimal weather he said 12-13k per day all in. 8-9 when the weather is warm.  I will have to ask him how many guns are fired up when they are going full bore. Should be able to get a rough estimate from there.
How many guns does that trail your talking about have?
If he does it then hunter will get in the game and bury him.

Platty needs this!

http://crystalmountainresort.com/dining/schuss-hut/

Not the Bistro.....the kick ass elevated fire pit.

North face has 25 guns, you would have to also run one extra at the top and bottom. Call it 27 guns. Each gun uses 15 CFM of air. Very efficient. That's a total CFM of 405. So, lets say you need 500 CFM. This can be produced with one 800 CFM construction air compressor which Plattekill owns two of in addition to their two electric compressors.  500 CFM is how much air it takes it run one of those damn Ratnicks. Talk about wasteful. I seriously want to ban those things. They should be banned. Ron Ratnick is a idiot for even inventing those things. You can not get any stupider. It beats me that so many ski areas have adopted that technology. Look around Gore. The air pipes are twice the size of the water pipes. It is quite the opposite at Plattkill.

Anyway, I don't need to ruin this thread by getting off on a rant, but I am simply saying that Plattekill is probably the most efficient and environmentally responsible ski area around. I think that gives them a huge advantage. There is a lot that can be done to make other ski areas more responsible.

Back to my numbers. It takes 650 PSI to have enough pressure to run guns at the top of Northface.  Each gun can run 50 GPM in cold conditions. So lets say you need a total of 1350 GPM. Each pump at Plattekill runs 1000 GPM, and they have two. So, round that down to 1000 GPM Running a second pump would mean you are dumping the excess water back into the pond, and that would be wasteful. I am unsure of the horsepower, but we can figure that you with the equation GPM X PSI Over 1460. that gives us about 450 HP. That is 340 KW. I am unsure about the compressor, but I would just assume double it. Lets say it takes 680 KW to run the system. I am unsure of the Price per KWH, but I am going to aim high and say it's 12 cents. if it takes 10 days to make 10 feet on NF, than that is 240 hours. the total electricity in this situation will come out to be $19, 584. That is Damn close to the 20,000 that Laz quoted me on Sunday.

So how many more weekends would you expect to get out of this and how many day tickets and beers would Platekill have to sell to make money off of this idea?

I would think that if you lost 2 feet a week after first week in April that you could get 4 additional weekends.

if you charged 40 dollars per ticket, and could sell 100 per weekend that would be $16,000 hopefully you could sell more than that, and break even. The rest of the money would be made on the deck or in the bar. The bad thing would be if they had one weekend that was a washout. Now they are down to 12,000.

Ethan Snow wrote

The bad thing would be if they had one weekend that was a washout. Now they are down to 12,000.

Definitely agree. Two bad weekends in a row and you sell maybe 40 tickets instead of 400+. The whole industry is a gamble for sure except for the face that crowds wont come to ski in the rain in April. Not even passholders.

And I'm on board for NF, I just kept the naming convention the same for the thread. Yeah, it's sweet to watch people ski but that trail is too narrow for the masses.

Say that the extra weekends are all weather permitting and close for the day if there's a gully washer.  North Face should get glaciered instead of Plunge.  Because Plunge is directly under the lift, the snowmaking required would often cause headaches for the lift ops team as the chairs would get caked in ice.  If you put too much snow on Plunge, it might be dangerous to ski under the lift as it would be too low. Having late season skiing on North Face is definitely the better option.

NF for sure, BBQ on the deck, camping in the parking lot and live music Saturday night and a massive social media blitz the day that Hunter closes. What about the idea of a big race some time in April, hopefully before Plunge is closed, The North Face Mogul Challege maybe

Brownski wrote

The North Face Mogul Challege maybe

Love it!

Ethan Snow wrote

I'd like to see an open fire pit on the new deck they are building, and maybe a tiki bar. That would really solidify the deck scene similar to that at Greek Peak. I don't have a lot of leverage when it comes to spending money, but I have mentioned these things to Laz. I know the deck is getting some improvements this summer. Right now it's all torn up.
 

You're spot on Ethan. People who would ski that late into the year are part of the ski culture and not just skiers. The party scene is what would bring them in imo. If Greek were to do this (they certainly could if it made sense to them) I think they would be surprised at the amount of people showing up. I'm not a spring skier but I certainly would show up for a few beers with some of my buds who are.

Yeah, Illiad would be a good place to make a glacier too. But it's still power elevation. Also, it has a 6 inch pipe which really limits snowmaking capacity. North Face has a 10 inch pipe.

I wasn't suggesting that Greek do this. IMO I don't think it would be worth the investment. My point was I feel any ski area that chooses to "go for it" should place a big emphasis on the deck scene.....that's the only way I think they would stand a chance at making a profit.