Snowmaking requires a great deal of energy to run the pumps, compressors and fan guns, which is much more expensive than the water and labor costs. Bear Mountain uses mostly electric power provided by the local utility company while Snow Summit produces most of its own power by diesel driven generators in big plants at both the top and bottom of the mountain. Snow Summit also has night lighting on most of its runs for both night skiing and snowmaking operations that also requires electrical energy.

The air compressors need huge amounts of energy to provide the air flow for the air guns. Each air gun uses 300 to 1,000 cubic feet of air per minute (cfm), depending upon how big the nozzle is and how much water is put in, at about 85 to 95 pounds per square inch (PSI) pressure. Not counting water pumps and hill lighting power usage, about 9,600 kilowatts are needed to run all Snow Summit’s air compressors while only about 3,000 kilowatts are needed to run all 70 of its fan guns. While the traditional compressed air guns can produce snow in marginal conditions when the fan guns can’t, we are increasing our use of fan guns because they can produce a lot more snow in most conditions for the same amount of power.