Misc

We just completed one of the coolest jobs ever! We provided a snow tubing hill for the NBA on TNT for the All Star game in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Park City Chamber of Commerce called us in January and put me in touch with Katherine with Warner Media. She told me what they wanted to do and I said “that is easy.” I ordered three brand new snow tubes from Idaho Sewing for Sports, Inc. They were able to make us a red one, a white one and a blue one (NBA colors) and print the Kia America logo in record time. Noah and I spent the week in Salt Lake City and hired Vick Byer Construction from Park City to haul the snow. He brought down 8 side dumper truck loads of good clean Park City area snow. That is roughly 200 yards of snow in 2.5 days. Warner Media provided us with a Bobcat tracked skid loader from Sunbelt Rentals. Even though a skid loader won’t groom snow as nicely as a snowcat, it did the job pretty well. The Complex site is one of three sites for the NBA All Star Game. The amount of […]

CHS Snowmakers built a snow tubing hill in Salt Lake ...

This entry was posted in Misc on by (updated 489 days ago)

Cheap Insurance for Tubing Hills (aka USED EQUIPMENT!) Stand alone snow tubing hills can be highly profitable but they can also incur considerable expenses. Liability insurance can be difficult to secure if the tubing hill is not under a ski area umbrella and to purchase it can be a higher-than-expected percentage of your budget. I will discuss liability insurance in another post at a later date.  Did you know you can insure your operation against shutting down with used equipment? This is not a policy you purchase and file a claim against, this is having a backup plan. Most start up tube hills can’t purchase all new equipment, the economics don’t always add up. Purchasing used equipment is typically the best way to open a new tubing hill. Operating with used equipment can be a gamble, so you need to have a back up plan if that equipment breaks a few days before Christmas.  When I do consulting on snow tubing hills, there are a few things I suggest. A snowmaking system should have two pumps, even if you only need one 90% of the time. If the pump breaks down, it can be weeks if not months […]

Cheap Insurance for Tubing Hills (aka USED EQUIPMENT!)

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Join us at the MSAA Trade Show August 21 – 24, 2022 – This is going to be a great trade show and I can’t wait to catch up to everyone.  Located at the Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire, MI. I will introduce two new products, a great new Joka winter glove and our line of rigid snowmaking hose options. Here is a link for information and registration. https://www.msaaevents.org/MSAA/Summer_Meeting___Trade_Show/MSAA/SMTS/SMST_General_Info.aspx?hkey=419f7b74-eb3e-471d-b300-a1e7f1d22c75

Join us at the MSAA Trade Show August 21 – ...

This entry was posted in Misc on by (updated 1445 days ago)

CHS Snowmakers is ramping up hose repair.  We recently received shipments of new cam lock fittings and parts for repairing hose. Contact us about questions if your hose should be repaired or replaced.  We have a few tips to reduce your repair and shipping costs. New hose is on order with expected delivery in early September. July 18, 2022 Thanks, Jason Sawin CHS Snowmakers

Hose Repair Season

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We are excited to announce we now offer 1.5″ rigid snowmaking hose in custom lengths for your snowmaking.  These hoses are non-collapsing with a pressure rating of 1000 psi, coupled with MNPT ends.  We spin on either 1.5″ or 2″ 750 psi cam locks and ship them out to you from Idaho. Safe working pressure of 750 psi. Contact us for a custom quote. CHSsnowmakers@gmail.com Thanks, Jason Sawin CHS Snowmakers July 18, 2022

Rigid Hose – CHS Snowmakers now offers custom length rigid ...

This entry was posted in Misc on by (updated 1473 days ago)

Attention: Ski Area Owners and Operators I am looking for old manuals for snowguns, snowcats, and lifts. If you have any taking up space in your office that you would like to donate or loan to me, please let me know. I will pay for shipping and make sure they are copied to a digital format. By donating or selling your old manuals to me, you will be helping preserve the history of the old resort equipment. I will be starting a library of all the manuals and they will be available for free, online, for future generations. Please contact me if you have any old manuals that you would like to donate or sell to me for my project!

Attention: Ski Area Owners and Operators

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June 11, 2022 update – we have hose on order for September delivery (4 to 5 month lead time).  Please send us your requests for hose as soon as possible.  Aluminum is causing the biggest delays. The last two years have been interesting with supply chain issues. It first started with hoarding toilet paper. That trickled down to many other everyday items in the grocery store and now we are dealing with larger items. Car lots have many vacant spaces and used cars are bringing a premium. Parts for your cars or tractors, at times, are hard to come by. Aluminum fittings for our Niedner Snowhose weren’t immune to the supply chain crisis.   We just received an order of snowmaking hose in February we ordered in September. Normally lead time is 4 to 6 weeks but this time it was almost 5 months. Niedner was waiting on the Red Head aluminum fittings and Red Head was waiting on the aluminum to make the fittings.  We have been told lead time is now 6 months.   Don’t procrastinate, buy or order your supplies now for next winter! We have some Niedner hose in stock, Joka gloves in stock and Drift. […]

Supply Chain Issues and Snowmaking Hose

This entry was posted in Misc on by (updated 1510 days ago)

Updated April 2023 For years, ski areas have had incidents with fires, including wildland fires, structure fires, and arson. Many ski areas are remote, buildings are separated from municipal water systems, and access is difficult. Most ski areas have snowmaking systems; some are very large snowmaking systems. A few of these snowmaking systems have been used for fighting fires, but very few ski areas have a good working pre-plan to use these systems and train with their local fire departments. Our goal is to provide the ski industry with an actionable pre-plan, along with a list of the proper equipment to adapt from a snowmaking system to fire hoses. We will recommend ways to use snowmaking equipment to construct unmanned nozzles that will create a large water barrier in an attempt to protect buildings, lifts and possibly even stop an advancing fire. Use this Fire Pre-Plan as a guideline to start a detailed plan for you and your organization. Take this and make it your own, get others in your organization involved, and go out to your community. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know. I am offering this for free and would appreciate additional input […]

CHS Snowmakers Fire Pre-Plan for the Ski Industry

This entry was posted in Misc on by (updated 1101 days ago)