Record-breaking cold temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic region may have many people wondering what happened to Fall, but for skiers and snowboarders, they welcome the early freeze. The snowmakers at Pennsylvania’s Seven Springs and Hidden Valley Resorts welcomed the cold by firing up the snowguns early on the morning of November 8, 2019. The resorts plan to continue snowmaking operations as long as conditions permit, getting a head start on laying down a base for the 2019-2020 winter season.
The early cold — with temperatures dipping to 24 degrees Fahrenheit at BWI Airport on November 9, breaking a previous low record of 25 degrees set in 2003 — is allowing Seven Springs to take advantage of snowmaking improvements it made over the past summer. The resort replaced nearly 5,000 feet of aging 20” pipe with brand new 20” FBE piping. (FBE stands for Fusion Bonded Epoxy, and is a coating that protects steel pipes.) The new piping, which stretches from Lake Tahoe to Village Trail, will improve consistency in water pressure and overall snow quality.
Seven Springs also added snowmaking stations and mounted fan guns to its slopes, while replacing six older tower guns with brand new HKD tower guns.
Seven Springs and its sister resort Hidden Valley have not yet announced an opening date. The long-range forecast shows continued below-average temperatures over the next week.
M. Scott Smith is the founder and Editor of DCSki. Scott loves outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, kayaking, skiing, and mountain biking. He is an avid photographer and writer.
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