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Boyne Snowmaking: Making Winter When Mother Nature Fails

Boyne Snowmaking

Sure, Mother Nature can make beautiful stuff.

She’ll wow you when you wake up to a lovely few inches of glittering flakes as rare and precious as diamonds. But Mother Nature is an unpredictable and sometimes temperamental creature. She’ll tease you and taunt you with a mid-October four inches of surprise powder that will urge you to trade your shorts and t-shirts for snow scrapers and ice melt. And then she’ll follow up with a November that feels a little more like a June, leaving you sweating in your preemptively-donned snowsuit.

But, when Mother Nature fails to provide, it is mankind that steps in.

Man, coupled with machine, tames and harnesses Mother Nature’s processes to create winter. He utilizes the same raw ingredients as Mother Nature–water, air, and energy–to produce a winter that he can rely on. After years of growing frustration with Mother Nature’s untimeliness, a tool was invented to control what no man previously could.

Invented in 1950, the snow cannon could blast a mid-February sized supply of man-made snow. Soon after, Boyne Mountain began experimenting with the snowmaking process, even patenting their own Boyne Snowmaker which was six times more energy-efficient than most systems. While other snow guns could make snow at 28°F degrees, Boyne could make snow at 30°F.

Like mathematicians correcting a difficult equation, the Boyne Mountain Snowmaking Crew has perfected the process of snowmaking over many years to reach more complex, precise and efficient capacities. Boyne recently unveiled a new and improved snow gun called the Boyne Low-E Fan, which makes better snow, is easier and less expensive to use, and makes more snow faster with little water wasted in the process. The crew starts the process with a reservoir of water which is then forced through a pipeline up the mountain. The water is allotted to a series of valves and pipes to the areas where snow is needed.

Next, the Boyne Mountain crew adds air. In the old days, Boyne added air to their snow guns with a huge, military-grade compressor, affectionately known as “Big Bertha,” that could be heard all over Boyne City. However, today the Boyne Low-E Fan Guns take air from twin screw style compressors which save energy and completes the perfect formula at a much quieter level. Now that the process is complete, the Boyne Mountain Snowmaking Crew steps back to let the magic happen. Heavy duty snow flies through the air and falls to the ground, piling up on those dainty little flakes that Mother Nature left.

While Mother Nature can gift us with unique, magical flecks that float down from the sky, she does not always supply enough to feed the hunger for hefty loads of snow that winter-lovers require. It is then that the Boyne Mountain crew steps in heroically to rescue the season. Thank you, Boyne Mountain Snowmaking Crew!

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Snowmaking at Boyne Mountain – Photos – 2018

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Snowmaking at Boyne Highlands – Photos – 2018

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XC Ski Headquarters Snow Report

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XC Ski Headquarters On Facebook

Below are the latest postings from the XC Ski Headquarters Page On Facebook.

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Shanty Creek – Thanksgiving Harvest Buffet – November 22, 2012

 
Thanksgiving Harvest Buffet
11am-3pm

Fresh Garden Green Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette or Ranch
Traditional Caesar Salad, Shaved Parmesan Cheese & Herb Sourdough Croutons
Broccoli Salad with Feta Cheese, Kalamata Olives and Herb Vinaigrette
Smoked Whitefish Gratin with Crisp Vegetables and Crackers
Display of Domestic and International Cheeses
Peel and Eat Shrimp
Artisan Breads

From the Hot Kiosk
Fire-Roasted Vegetables with Bowtie Pasta
Garlic and Herb Cod with Lemon Butter
Green Bean Casserole • Traditional Stuffing
Butter Whipped Potatoes • Candied Sweet Potatoes

From the Carver
Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey with Giblet Gravy and Cranberry Sauce
Slow-Roasted Top Round with Mushroom Jus

From the Pastry Shop
Pastry Chef’s Selection of Sweet Delights

Adults: $24 • Seniors: $22 • Children 9-12: $12 • Children 5-8: $10 • Children Under 4: Free Reservations Recommended: 231.533.8621, ext. 7100

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Short’s Brewing Company – BrewSki Bash featuring Funktion – November 24, 2012

Brew Ski Bash 2012

We love few things more than beer, skiing, and live music. That’s why we get together every year with our friends from Shanty Creek Resort for a Brew:Ski bash to celebrate the coming ski season and the unique proximity between Short’s pub and Shanty’s slopes. As it is already cold and snowy up here in Northern Michigan, we’re getting very excited for the coming winter.

The Brew:Ski Bash tradition includes free Shanty Creek lift passes for the first 100 guests, discount lift passes for everyone else, the release of our entire stout lineup, and a rockin’ night of tunes by Funktion, with special guests Circle of Heat. This year, Brew:Ski Bash falls on Saturday, November 24th and the festivities will kick off at 7:30 pm.

For 2012-13, our pub stouts will include tried and true favorites S’mores Stout and Uber Goober, plus several first time ever, pub-experimentals, including Ben’s Asthma (American Strong Stout), Yer My Boy Blue (Blueberry Milk Stout), Dirty Sturks (Double Chocolate Stout on Nitro), and Empress Catherine (Imperial Stout). We’ll have 20 total brews on tap, as always, plus other bottle selections.
Admission is $5 at the door.

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The latest from the Short’s Brewery twitter feed.


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