Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, Andover, New Hampshire was home to the largest ice house east of the Mississippi River on nearby Highland Lake, where ice was harvested each winter, stored in the ice house, and shipped to Boston via rail to be used in ice boxes around the city. Until 1927, The Winter Hill Ice Company utilized age-old technology of insulating large blocks of ice with sawdust to prevent melting and allow for the storage and transport of ice throughout the summer months (check out this amazing archival video). A century later, Proctor Academy is leveraging the same insulation principles to store its critical snowpack at the Proctor Ski Area in order to reduce its reliance on early-season snow-making efforts.
The practice of snow farming is a sustainable practice that involves plowing and storing snow from the end of one ski season to use as the base for the beginning of the next season under a thick layer of insulating material to protect the snow from melting during the summer months. A practice utilized across Europe for decades is now gaining traction at ski resorts around the world as climate change challenges both the environmental and economic sustainability of their operations.
Through a generous donation, Proctor is joining the ranks of snow farming ski areas in the northeast. Utilizing a system designed by Snow Secure, Proctor Ski Area Manager Steele Henderson, Assistant Manager Mac MacDuffie, and their crew have farmed much of Proctor’s snow base from this season and have blanketed it with the Snow Secure system of insulating panels. Studies show that this practice will significantly reduce the reliance on the ski area for energy-intensive snow production early next season, as more than 70% of the snow pack on 10% of the hill will be secured for the start of next season. Some resorts have reported an 85% reduction in electricity consumption, while also conserving water pumped from the Blackwater River for Proctor’s snow-making operation. Additionally, preserved snow retains its quality more effectively than artificially-made snow with a denser and more resilient quality while expanding Proctor's ability to offer early season training to other ski programs and athletes throughout the northeast.
Proctor Ski Area Manager Steele Henderson notes, “We are excited to see how the Snow Secure system keeps our pile of snow throughout the summer. Ideally, we will be able to uncover and push the pile back out in early November to get the Proctor athletes, and potentially athletes from neighboring ski programs, on local early season snow which gives them the opportunity to be weeks ahead in their training programs. It will also allow us to change our plan of attack for early season snow making so that we can attempt to be open earlier top to bottom for Alpine and our Nordic facilities.”
Proctor Alpine Director, Jason Nelson adds, “Proctor Academy is always striving to have one of the best snow surfaces in the East. If you have the snow surface you can do anything. You can set up B net for protection and train any discipline you want in addition to hosting high-quality races. Proctor skiers, as well as college athletes from Dartmouth, Harvard, Boston College, Babson, UNH, and Colby Sawyer College, come to Proctor because of the great training and the snow surface that they can rely on. By partnering with Snow Secure and their snow storage solutions, Proctor is ensuring that this surface will stay consistent even earlier in the season and allow us to get the whole mountain open in a shorter snowmaking window. This past winter, the Western US experienced an unusually warm winter. This is one way for us to stay ahead of the curve and to continue to provide that surface to all of our student athletes who use the Proctor Ski Area.”
Learn more about the Proctor Ski Area!
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