ow, let it s

ow, let its

Grouse Mountain crew vers the work of Mother Nature to get ready for ski season

A lot of people like snow. L find it to

be an unnecessary freezing of

water, Carl Reiner.

By A.P. McCredie
News Reporter

OBVIOUSLY, MISTER Reiner is
not a skier.

For if he were, the glorious
freezing of water would be as nec-
essary to his life as the precious liq-
uid is to his body.

Fear not, skiers.

During the past two weeks, a
snow-loving crew of seven atop
Grouse Mountain have been doing
the work of Mother Nature, con-
verting mountain water into
mounds of the fluffy white stuff.

The only local rnountain to make
snow, Grouse added to its snow-
making operations this past summer
with the purchase of two new snow
guns and the laying of new lines.

This ski season, the North Shore
mountain has increased its snow-
making capacity by 25%, enabling
the crew to cover 75% of the ski
facility’s runs.

The two most important criteria
for a mountain to make snow is cost
and a water supply.

Grouse Mountain has the good
fortune of having a natural reservoir
close by - Kennedy Lake, just north
of the Peak - and the cost factor has
been justified by the facility's get-
ting the jump on the local competi-
tion with earlier opening days and
longer spring skiing.

‘What does this mean to you,

Milos
les ty compressot plane >

BLUE GROUSE
LAKE
Cap. 2 allion
gallons

REY — 6" Water LINE - TOTAL 10 MILES (16.1km)
= +++ BY AIR LINE
T° HYDRANTS - TOTAL 100

dear skier?

“Better skiing. longer,” is how
Grouse director of operations, Rob
Wallace, puts it.

The frigid front that moved
through here two weeks ago meant
slippery driving conditions and
breaking out the mittens to most of
us, but to snow-makers - who live
by the motto “Snowmakers blow
white all night” - it meant an early
jump on their winter task.

“With the cold temperatures that
hit us, we'll be able to develop a
terrific base,” said Wallace. “The
ground is frozen and our crews are
hard at work to lay down as much
snow as possible.”

When the ground is frozen, a

layer of man-made snow acts us a
better insulator than the real thing,
because it is denser than the natural
stuff. The layer then acts as a plate
over the ground, enabling the accu-
mulated natural snow to stand up
better to warmer temperatures and
skier traffic.

Snow-making on Grouse
Mountain began in the mid-1970s,
and at one point the mountain was
the largest snow-making operation
in North America.

This summer’s updates to the
system included the extension of

Upper Shynde

LANT

BLUEBERRY

Terminal OWL SIDE

3,7)

NEWS graphic Jacquotine Johnson

water and air lines onto the Expo
run, allowing the accumulated
mounds of snow to be pushed down
the runs by snow-grooming
machines.

Also, two state-of-the-art airless
snow guns have been added to the
extensive air and water guns previ-
ously used.

The North American-built guns
resemble, and sound like, small jet
engines.

One of the Highland Snuwmaukers,

See Grouse page 42

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to snow is a: long one fort
droplets, pulled: ‘from Kennedy, :

“The trip begin along. ‘two:

miles (3.2 kmi) of snaking pipe”

from the. alpine: Jake: to. Blue’

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