Snow making is coming to Ben Lomond Alpine Resort
We’re expecting this year to be our best season yet for skiing and snowboarding at Ben Lomond. Why? We’re delighted to announce that we’ve installed snow making machines to the ski slopes of Ben Lomond for the 2023 ski season!
After five years collecting data on weather and water requirements, and consultation with experts in the field, we’re ready to bring snow making to slopes across Ben Lomond Alpine Resort.
Extending the ski season in Tasmania
The infrastructure project, which started in February this year, will prevent the stop / start nature of the winter season for skiing and snowboarding at Ben Lomond, and will guarantee a ski season from June until September.
The initial phase of the project will cover the Summit and Bass ski lift areas, and will provide a consistent cover of snow. Natural snowfalls will in turn add to the snow base created.
In the 2022 winter season there were ~700 hours of temperatures below -1.5 (wet bulb) at Ben Lomond from 1 June to 30 September. This is significantly more than is required to form and maintain a significant snow pack for skiing across the mountain.
We’ve purchased four of the latest new TechnoAlpin snow making snow guns from Italy which allows for snow to be made in large quantities, at more marginal temperatures than ever before, and optimises the efficiency and structure of how that snow is made. It is also 100% natural water with no chemicals used in the process.
Our Managing Director, Ben Mock, explains “This project will bring skiing in Ben Lomond up to the standard of other ski areas in Australia, with guaranteed snow and for a full winter season length.
“Snow gun technology has come a long way in the last 10 years and what we are bringing to Ben Lomond is state of the art technology from the most well regarded snow making company globally.
“Snow made from a snow gun is 100% water only, however the shape and structure of the ice crystal is such that it repels water far better than natural snow and therefore melts 40% slower. This along with the natural snow falls that Ben Lomond receives is a game changer for skiing and snowboarding at Ben Lomond.
“We also have our snow grooming machine at Ben Lomond which will be able to push around the man made and natural snow which helps to compress the snow pack and make it last longer as well.”
Recycling water resources
Snow making is essentially the recycling of water resources as it picks up winter snow and rain flows from the Ben Lomond ski slopes that would normally run downstream and into the Tamar River and stores that water on the ski slopes for the springtime runoff when people downstream need it for farming or household use. It is like a dam on the hill that releases all of the water progressively over the springtime rather than in one hit in winter.
Our guns are fully automated for ultimate efficiency and quality of snow production, however we’ve also employed two specialist snow making staff that have more than 15 years of experience each making snow around the world and in the mainland resorts.
Grab your early bird season pass now
You can support our infrastructure spend by buying season and daily passes on our website: shop.benlomondalpineresort.com.au. Buy today and you can save up to 33% on your season passes with our early bird prices!