Working by moonlight.
Snow cannon has been on pretty much for 48hrs now and has been working great.
Made our first "Whale" last night. Just need another 15 or so for next year. Any lottery winners out there!
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I'm glad the machine is impressing you guys, ease of use has got to be an important factor after all you don't want to be wasting valuable operational time faffing around with machinery. It certainly seems a lot more straight forward and quicker to relocate it and get it working than the Sufag one but then, as you point out, you had a bit of bad luck with that one.
I'm not sure if you've noticed but The Lecht and Glenshee appear to have been using their (older) snowmaking equipment this week but from afar it strikes me your machine has much more successful in making volumes of snow - not sure if that's down to the newer technology, the way in which it's been deployed or the terrain it's been deployed in, maybe a combination ... or maybe I'm wrong in my observations there and they've had more success than I'm aware.
I guess though the 60 million dollar question has to be is it making enough of a difference (the buzz about improved conditions in the Gunbarrel and on the uptrack suggest it is in the short term but will it make a meaningful difference in the long term) and is the cost sustainable in terms of extra days of skiing and number of customers on the hill. Furthermore if the money was available would it be worthwhile actually investing in one or more of these machines given the high upfront costs coupled with the everyday running costs!
I guess only time (and you guys) can tell but at least you now know snowmaking is possible and even one cannon can make a difference to marginal areas.
Best of luck on the zig zags and here's to mother nature lending a hand over the next few days :D
Hi Colin looks like you are finally getting a chance to use the cannon this year. Shame there is not more snow falling in Scotland so far this season. Am thinking of heading over in mid February for a few days. What is the forcast looking like for the next few weeks, is there snow on the way?
Managed to get skiing on the few days of good weather we have had over the weekend and was impressed by the amount of work put in to keep the snow in good condition for skiing, heard a number of people saying that they had a good time. Keep up the good work and hope you get loads more snow soon.
Thanks Roger.
Must admit that during this cold snap I have been very impressed with this machine compared nto the one we had last year. I cant understand why only Glencoe and ourselves took up the free trial offer, if nothing else it would mean another cannon to use for the season. Anyway, ours has been running almost consatntly for the last 80 hrs or so, and i can see the potential for having a fleet of them on site. We are learning a lot on how to use the potential of our various water options from the top of the gunbarrel down, and various power supply areas that could feed more cannons. In our limited knowledge of snow making, we have found the Techno machine to be superb. In fairness the Sufag gun did not really get an in depth trial due to the last two great seasons, plus it blew asay one night and got a tad damaged, and all the operational pressures they entailed, pushing the team's resources in other directions.
Today we took avantage of the mild blip, to relocate the gun at the corner of the mid Zig, giving us a 3 way choice on where to point it, depending on wind direction. Looking good over the next wee while to continue "blawin snaw"
Cheers
Colin
Sadly not around at the moment to see the cannon in use but I hear there's an impressive amount that's been made in the Gunbarrel which has been transformed (at least the lower part) - sounds like it's really paying dividends at the moment :D
Well done to everyone involved for getting it working so well!