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The Economics of Making Winter: Does Snowmaking Pay Off?

The Economics of Making Winter: Does Snowmaking Pay Off?

Poley Mountain, a small Canadian ski area with much in common with Mid-Atlantic resorts, is investing C$2.5 million to expand its snowmaking capacity. The resort's careful financial planning raises a broader question: Do major snowmaking investments pay off? DCSki examines academic research on snowmaking economics, including studies that reach differing conclusions about the effects on skier visits, revenue, and profitability.
Road Trips "R" Us

Road Trips “R” Us

Jim Kenney recounts the beautiful, crazy, scary, lucky, and tasty moments gathered during decades of ski road trips across North America.
Mountain Weather

Mid-Atlantic Skiers' Forecast

Updated 35 minutes ago

The Mid-Atlantic remains firmly in a warm, dry pattern, with no natural snow or mixed precipitation in the forecast. Friday brings sunshine and highs in the upper 60s to mid-70s for lower-elevation areas, followed by another mostly dry weekend and highs generally in the 50s and 60s. Areas near Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia will be especially mild, including Massanutten, Liberty Mountain, and Bear Creek.

The best overnight cooling arrives in the Poconos, where Jack Frost could drop to the upper 20s Saturday night, with nearby Big Boulder, Camelback, and Shawnee Mountain also reaching the lower 30s. That may offer a limited potential snowmaking window, but warm afternoons will dominate. The higher West Virginia mountains are not much colder this round: Snowshoe, Timberline, and Canaan Valley Resort stay mainly in the 40s overnight, with some wind and clouds but no meaningful wintry weather.

Weather Fact of the Day
Snowmaking guns do not simply spray water into cold air -- they create artificial “nuclei,” tiny ice particles that help nearby droplets freeze. Some systems use compressed air, while others use specialized nucleator nozzles; the more effective those seed crystals are, the more water can freeze before reaching the slope, improving production without merely increasing water pressure.
DCSki regional outlook based on National Weather Service forecasts for Mid-Atlantic ski areas.
Around the Ski World

Elsewhere on the Web

Fresh ski and snowboard stories from around the web, selected daily for DCSki readers.

Updated 21 hours ago
POWDER Oct 28

Winter 26/27 Opening Dates for 21 Vermont Ski Resorts

Vermont resorts have released a broad slate of tentative opening targets for the coming season, led by Killington’s early-November ambitions and several mountains targeting Thanksgiving week. Dates remain weather-dependent, but the calendar offers an early planning guide for Northeast skiers.

Read at POWDER
Links open external websites. Story summaries are generated from publicly available reporting and are refreshed once daily.
DCSki Spotlight

Explore DCSki's Lost Ski Areas

Discover ski areas that once operated across the Mid-Atlantic through DCSki's growing historical archive.

Explore Lost Ski Areas →
Crystal Lake Ski Center / Mt. St. Onge
Near Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Crystal Lake Ski Center / Mt. St. Onge

Near Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Crystal Lake’s downhill area -- known as Mt. St. Onge -- operated from 1971 to 1996 with a salvaged poma lift, beginner rope tow, night skiing, snowmaking, and one of Pennsylvania’s early tubing slopes. The former lifts and largely open trails remain beside today’s Nordic center.
7 reader comments
Bear Rocks
Near Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania

Bear Rocks

Near Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, Bear Rocks was a compact ski area with about 300 feet of vertical, a wooden-seat double chair, rope tows, and a celebrated stone-and-wood lodge. Skiers recall challenging ungroomed terrain, torch-lit parades, and a final season around 1972-73 before the lodge later burned and homes spread onto the slopes.
181 reader comments
Blair Mountain
Dillsburg, Pennsylvania

Blair Mountain

Located near Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, Blair Mountain operated from about 1961 until the mid-1960s as a small, roughly 300-vertical-foot ski area served by a rope tow. After closing, its lodge found a second life as a concert venue, including a 1972 Rory Gallagher appearance, while scattered remnants survive on the wooded property.
9 reader comments
Ski Mountain
Pine Hill, New Jersey

Ski Mountain

Ski Mountain operated in Pine Hill, New Jersey, from 1965 until the Action Mountain bankruptcy ended skiing there in 1986. With snowmaking, a Summit House, extensive instruction, and lifts ranging from rope tows to a later double chair, it was a notable suburban Philadelphia ski destination remembered for challenging tows and pond-side mishaps.
2 reader comments
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