Belleayre Mountain may have been a well-kept secret for years, but maybe not so much anymore. Substantial upgrades to its snowmaking systems have transformed this quiet little Catskill ski resort into one of the area’s most popular.
This medium-sized area has 64 trails and makes for a good day trip for skiers and riders in the New York region. In the last few years, Belleayre has gone from offering so-so conditions to amazing conditions thanks to a major multi-million dollar investment in its snowmaking system since 2020.
The focus is also on getting as many ski runs open at the start of the season as possible—including some new beginner terrain at the top as well as its signature runs.
“They make the snow early and keep it reliable throughout the winter to offer the best conditions out there,” Tait Wardlaw, VP of Marketing for the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which received a major cash infusion a few years ago from New York State targeted to ORDA’s venues such as Belleayre, told City and Slopes Magazine.
“Belleayre now has a snowmaking team touted to be the best in the East,” he added, with skier visits reflecting its newfound popularity.
In 2020, Belleayre’s major focus was to invest in the main snowmaking infrastructure by building a new pumphouse. The snowmaking team uses iSno software to control, monitor and automate certain aspects of their snowmaking system such as pumps and compressors. This software provides real-time visibility into Belleayre’s system and analytics for past performance so they can stay on top of it moving forward.
Why is it so effective?
The pumphouse upgrades included new high-pressure water pumps and air compressors for increased output, while the new pipe expanded water and air distribution throughout the trail network. In short, the investment ensures that Belleayre can efficiently operate hundreds of low-energy snowguns simultaneously, anywhere on the mountain, at peak performance. The combination of improvements gets more snow out on the trails faster than previous technology, with significantly less energy consumption.
“Belleayre has the ability to make a lot of snow quickly and efficiently, including when the temperatures are marginal in the early season thanks to its dynamic team and the advanced technology” says Mark Horton, Vice President for HKD Snowmakers, one of the leading brands of snowmaking products.
This major new infrastructure along with HKD Impulse R5 tower guns is capable of producing high-quality snow in a wide range of temperatures. In fact, the guns are installed every 80 feet from top to bottom on most of the mountain’s key terrain. The upgrade makes it easy to improve conditions, especially when it’s necessary to completely resurface the terrain after a rain event followed by a big dip in the temperature.
“We’re seeing less hours in a typical snowmaking window where temperatures remain below the ideal 28-degree wet bulb for an extended period of time,” says Horton. “Today, it’s important to operate effectively at marginal [snowmaking] conditions and be able to start and stop quickly to capitalize on every available hour of snowmaking,” he explains. The wet bulb is a measurement combining air temperature and the amount of humidity for ideal snowmaking conditions.
Snowmaking Delivers
“Our guests expect corduroy or soft powder,” says Bruce Transue, General Manager of Belleayre Mountain. He said they strive to improve the skier and rider experience no matter what the weather, sometimes having to rebound quickly because there’s typically only a 12-hour cold-weather window to make snow these days.
“Automation is the future,” Transue said, adding that Belleayre increases its automation technology every year, despite the high expense. This allows the team to get snow guns started in minutes at the push of a button, getting an entire trail covered quickly. Gone are the days when snowmakers had to drag heavy pipe around and move equipment to cover different areas of the trail.
New this winter, the popular Dot Nebel trail gets 20 SML Polecat automatic fan guns to cover this very wide run quickly, once the weather cooperates. In addition, Belleayre has replaced 30 thousand feet of snowmaking pipe adding to its upgrade of 130,000 feet of replacement pipe in the last few years. In all, about one thousand new low e-snow guns have also been added.
There’s also a new novice learning area at the summit, near the Catskill Thunder Gondola, offering new trails with a mellow, consistent grade and a covered uphill carpet, perfect for first timers. Snowmaking is a priority for this area as well as key trails across Belleayre’s 177 acres of terrain which achieves 96 percent snowmaking.
Snowmaking teams have their work cut out for them as they try to keep up with warm weather spells happening all too often in the middle of winter. “Climate change is a fact,” says Belleayre’s Transue, emphasizing extreme weather patterns happening more and more frequently. “Rarely do we get a week of cold weather,” he says, adding that the resort has to be ready to go full power when it can, especially for key times like holidays.
As ski resorts increase their reliance on snowmaking to stay viable in today’s current weather climate, the quality of manmade snow is beyond expectation. Go ahead, give it a try. Even when Mother Nature isn’t cooperating, Belleayre’s snow making team has it covered!
Iseult Devlin is a widely published outdoor travel writer who specializes in winter sports. A former staff editor with Skiing Magazine, she has contributed to several publications including The Boston Globe, Park City Magazine, New England Ski Journal and USA Today.
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