The Winter Park Resort now says that if the weather in Colorado is good, they might be in the running to be the first to open next year.
This comes after big improvements were made to its ability to make snow, not always with new hardware but with more water.
“We are increasing the speed of our pumps from 2,500 gallons per minute to over 6,000 gallons per minute,” said Bob Holme, Director of Mountain Maintenance for Winter Park. “It is 2.5 times the volume of water moving this year.”
That is now possible thanks to a new pond that can hold all the water that the snow guns are moving. Also, the retention pond can be used as a dipping pond for airplanes if they need water to put out fires in the summer.
There is plenty of water to go around. The streams all meet in one place and flow into a large pond that can hold a lot of water.
Holme smiled and said, “It holds more than 13 million gallons.” He thinks this is the most important improvement the resort has had in decades.
“This is the 85th season for us.” The first time we made snow was in 1976, so when you think about how far we have come from 1976 to 2024, it is really exciting.
The resort thinks this will put them in the running to be the first to open, if Mother Nature also helps them out.
Resorts like Arapahoe Basin, Loveland, and Wolf Creek usually win the first-to-open prize. This year, Wolf Creek won, but Winter Park thinks it could be in the running.