Saturday, January 21, 2017, NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com
A new attempt at summer skiing could be arriving in Connecticut this July, the Hartford Courant reports.
After sitting idle for over half a decade, Powder Ridge ski area was purchased by Sean Hayes and his Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park partners for $700,000. $500,000 in state grants were leveraged to help reopen the ski area for the 2013-14 season.
After restoring ski area and base facility operations, the ownership added lift served mountain biking in 2016. The next move is to offering skiing and tubing in the summer.
According to the Hartford Courant, a 750 foot long synthetic slope will be installed this year for an estimated $5,000,000. Powder Ridge is seeking tax abatements and state loans for the project. An additional 2,050 feet of slope would be added for $2 million in 2018. If successful, additional trails would be covered.
Powder Ridge plans to use a Swiss company called 365 to create the synthetic slope. 365winterworld.com was registered in February 2016 by Hans Peter Koehle, owner of Yiippi Events & Promotion. According to the company's brochure, it "offers innovatives [sic] potential for applications and marketing as well as a guaranteed foundation for
your service to your guests and new Event concepts."
365 advertises using German RS Kunststoff GmbH to produce a synthetic mat which is then installed over a BECO Bermüller & Co. GmbH Bedrain VGV 1 Fleece to allow for drainage and erosion prevention. 365's only other advertised 2017 project is a kids tubing lane in Austria.
Previous attempts at summer skiing in New England have not lasted long. Defunct ski areas such as Sawmill Hill and Mt. Whittier attempted roller skiing, while Boston Hills offered a chairlift served synthetic mat slope. In the summer and fall of 2003, Tenney Mountain operated a SnowMagic snowmaking system on a small slope. Storrs Hill in Lebanon currently uses a synthetic surface for summertime ski jump training.
