For the 2024-25 season, Vail Resorts is planning two major snowmaking investments. As part of their first quarter of fiscal 2024 announcement last week, Vail Resorts detailed its 2024 capital plan. Included in these plans are snowmaking upgrades at New York’s Hunter Mountain and Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort.
At Hunter Mountain, these improvements are coming to three trails: Belt Parkway, Clair’s Way, and Way Out. Seventy snowmaking guns on the Belt Parkway will become automated, Clair’s Way will get 36 high-energy snowguns replaced with new low-energy snowmaking equipment, and 32 new automated snow guns will be added to Way Out.
For the 2024-25 season, Hunter Mountain will also be adding a six-pack chairlift, which will replace the Broadway chairlift. The Broadway chairlift will be moved over to Hunter West, replacing the E lift.
For Park City Mountain Resort, the reality of this season has been that they wouldn’t have been able to open in November without snowmaking. It was a dry November in Utah, meaning that ski resorts had to rely on snowmaking to get open.
With situations like this arising more frequently, Park City is investing in major snowmaking improvements. According to TownLift, they will be adding an automated snowmaking system to the Another World trail and automated snowguns to Chicane. These will be energy-efficient snowguns will help Park City open more terrain before the holiday season. Park City’s trail counts have lagged behind other nearby ski resorts due to its less ample snowfall totals, so the continued investment in snowmaking is a wise move.
Park City also aims to replace the Sunrise chairlift with a new gondola in 2025.
Image/Video Credits: Hunter Mountain Resort, Park City Mountain Resort
