With sudden thaws and rain, snowmaking at Vermont ski resorts can be a tricky business. Not only does the resort have to buy special additives to make snow efficiently, it has to contend with droughts and power cuts!

Snowmaking relies heavily upon electricity to pump thousands of gallons of compressed water to snow guns. It costs thousands of dollars to run those snow guns even for a couple of hours. When the Killington guns fire up, the amount of energy used is equivalent to that used by a town with about 10,000 inhabitants. Because of the huge energy requirements of ski areas, they place a strain on the system when Vermonters are trying to heat their homes during a cold snap. The solution is for the utility companies to cut power to the ski areas in order to avoid a state-wide brown out or complete black out.

In December 2004, Rutland's Times Argus newspaper reported that a cold snap just prior to Christmas resulted in the shut down of snowmaking at Killington, Pico, Stratton and Bromley. This apparently freed up an additional 5 megawatts that the utility company, Central Vermont Public Service, could hold in reserve. The utility company tries to notify the resorts ahead of time, but has the right under law to terminate power without warning.

The No Bull Ski Report reported the shut down of snowmaking. It is one of the facts that you get when you subscribe