Mike Ivey brought up the subject of generating interest in snow making at Elver Park at last night's MadNorSki meeting...and as I cycled home from said meeting, I thought that we should try to keep some momentum going on this idea.
I talked a bit today to a co-worker who helps with the snow making activities at Blackhawk Ski Club. As one would expect, snow making like they do at the downhill places is complicated and expensive, with the major concerns being: * water source * high-pressure pump(s) * piping * snow guns However, if we try to keep it simple and small-scale, I think adding *some* snow making capability at Elver is possible. If MadNorSki has some money in the bank, and if there is support from Madison Parks, let's capitalize on these positives. We'd probably need MadNorSki volunteers to operate the snow making equipment, but I think there are enough of us (myself included) who would gladly do so if it meant skiing earlier, better, and longer at Elver. With our limited monetary resources, we might be restricted to low-tech devices like the "Backyard Blizzard" http://www.backyardblizzard.com At $2000 each, though, perhaps we could set up a network of 3 to 5 of these units to blow some snow around the flats at Elver. I doubt we could set something up to cover the wooded trail sections, but maybe we could also blow a snow pile to be used for filling in bare spots and whatnot in other sections of the Elver trail. Just having a narrow oval track of reliable snow would please a lot of folks in snow-lean times like these. Anyway, these are my fleeting thoughts so far on the Elver Snow Making Idea. Perhaps MadNorSki has already done feasibility studies in the past -- I'm relatively new to the Club, so I don't know. But if some sort of Ad Hoc "Snow Making Committee" is needed to look into this further, I'm willing to volunteer... -Scott -- Scott Bachmeier University of Wisconsin - Madison / SSEC / CIMSS mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~scottb _______________________________________________ http:www.MadNorSki.org XC mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/xc
