TechnoAlpin, manufacturer of the world’s most popular all-weather snow machines, the Snowfactory, has reported booming sales.
“We now have more than 20 machines in operation worldwide and the number is growing, almost by the day!” said TechnoAlpin’s Marketing Manager, Max Rougeaux.
All-weather snowmaking creates snow in a temperature-controlled environment within a large articulated unit, rather than in the outdoors, which means the snow can be made regardless of the outdoor temperature.
The technology is not new. Early snow machines were used in the 1990s, and Zermatt and Pitztal have operated similar machines from another manufacturer on their glaciers for nearly a decade. They are, however, getting more popular.
What they don’t make is huge volumes of snow compared to conventional snowmaking or Mother Nature;
Average production is 100 cubic metres of snow per 24 hours.
One of the latest resorts to take delivery of a machine is Sölden in Austria, and two of Scotland’s five ski centres, Glencoe and Cairngorm, have expressed a wish to acquire Snowfactory snow machines following one of the worst-ever seasons for snow cover last winter.
“The dream is to be able to guarantee a set opening and closing date each year and have an area of guaranteed snow throughout the whole season. We’d turn on the Snowfactory in early November and build massive snow piles which would then be pushed onto our new Coire Pollach ski run and sledging area for opening day on 1st December,” said Glencoe’s Manager, Andy Meldrum.
To find out more about Glencoe’s crowdfunding campaign to acquire a Technoalpin snow factory, click here. Or, to learn more about Technoalpin’s snowmaking technology, head to https://www.technoalpin.com/en.html
