 |
 |
 |
|
Snowmaking continues at Vail, Beaver Creek |
|
Friday, January 06, 2012 08:15 |
|
Photo by Dominique Taylor, Vail Daily
By LAUREN GLENDENNING, VAIL DAILY
Ski resorts across the West are facing dismal natural snow conditions and rumors about everything from resorts closing to workers getting laid off.
And the Vail Valley is no different — similar rumors have been circulating about Vail and Beaver Creek, many of which are untrue. While no one from either resort can deny that the natural snow conditions so far this winter have been beyond disappointing, resort officials say they're doing everything they can to make the skiing experience enjoyable.
Vail Mountain and Beaver Creek Resort are still making snow — the resorts have not run out of water and have not reached some kind of snowmaking deadline.
In fact, there is no deadline for snowmaking at either resort, said Don Dressler, U.S. Forest Service snow ranger with the Eagle/Holy Cross ranger district. The availability of water each resort can use is based on minimum stream flow requirements from the local rivers and streams, not on some magic number of gallons per year or any time limit.
When snowmaking causes a dip below stream flow minimums, Vail Resorts can pull water from its reservoirs for snowmaking. Dressler said he's never heard of a case when the reservoirs become depleted because of snowmaking.
Read full story
|
