Powder Ridge Still Targeting Summer Skiing for 2017

MIDDLEFIELD, CT — Delays by the manufacturer have shifted the projected opening of a year-round synthetic snow sports surface at Powder Ridge from July to August and now to a "to be announced status," but the owners of the mountain park still anticipate some type of summer launch in 2017.

The equipment is coming from Europe, staffers said on Thursday.

Powder Ridge CEO Sean Hayes has made it one of his primary projects with a "multi-million-dollar" investment.

Powder Ridge has partnered with a Swiss company called 365 Winterworld to use a high-tech "artificial snow slip mat." Right now, the goal is to get about 500 feet of trail up and running but the goal is to, by 2018, create a 2,800-foot-long slope for skiing, snowboarding and tubing, with more than 350,000 square feet of artificial snow.

"We believe we will be by far the largest in the world," Hayes said in an news release. "We would not have bought this property without knowing we were going to do synthetic snow."

Hayes and his partners bought the ski area in 2012. It had stood idle in 2007 because of major financial problems after being operated for about a half-century.

The type of artificial snow Powder Ridge is planning to use is made up of plastic grids with strands that stick up above the surface, longer versions of the plastic grass used on artificial turf fields, according to the manufacturer.

Hayes said the technology represents a dramatic advance over other types of artificial snow, in part because it doesn't require constant spraying like some other versions.

No special equipment is required, other than long pants and sleeves or knee and elbow pads during the summer to prevent mat burns during a fall.

Artificial snow can also provide the resort with an advantage during Connecticut's often mild or dry winters, according to Hayes.

"We knew we had to change the model dramatically," Hayes said of the decision to go to synthetic snow.
Hayes and his partners are also the owners of Brownstone Exploration and Discovery Park in Portland.

They bought the Powder Ridge ski area from the town of Middlefield for $700,000, and the town also provided $500,000 from a state grant that was to be used to restore utilities at the property if it was reopened as a ski resort.

The artificial snow project is planned for two stages, Hayes said. The first will cost an estimated $5 million and will involve creation of about 500 feet of synthetic slope to be ready this summer, according to a news release.

The second phase, targeted for July 2018, will add another $2 million to the project's tab and cover the rest of the 2,800-foot slope to the top of the hill.

The owners of Powder Ridge are also applying for additional state aid in the form of low-interest loans and/or possible tax abatements to the tune of $300,000 to $400,000, according to the news release.

Powder Ridge once attracted about 100,000 skiers a year, but it expects to get about 45,000 skier visits this season.

“Skiing 365 days a year has been happening all over Europe for many years,:" Hayes said.

“We are proud to partner with Powder Ridge to bring the first synthetic snow park to the Northeast
U.S.” sais Hans Peter Koehle, Managing Director bei Yiippi GmbH365, the parent company for 365. “The 365 Synthetic snow is ideal for race and freestyle teams to train on. The large amount of space between the “fingers” provides more air flow than any other synthetic snow manufacturer. That air keeps the board or ski from overheating even on the fastest racing team”