Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort
Draft Master Development Plan

Snow Grooming Equipment

Machine grooming (snowfarming) of ski trails is an essential component of mountain operations, with new grooming techniques revolutionizing many aspects of today's ski business. Present industry guidelines recommend the regular grooming of all trails with beginner to high intermediate skill classifications, with the grooming of steeper trails on a less frequent basis using winch equipped snowcats. Swing or night shift grooming has become the rule in the industry, as it allows a longer period for groomed trails to cure (set up), while eliminating hazardous conflicts between sliders and machines. An effective summer grooming program (seeding and mulching) can save appreciable wear and tear on expensive snow grooming equipment, as well as produce earlier opening dates and lower snowmaking costs. Modern snow grooming machines come with many features and a selection of implements are available for optimizing the quality of grooming, and the time required to groom the slopes. Quick change hydraulic couplings and attachment fasteners have reduced the time and manpower required to change implements, allowing the groomer to use the right implement for the job even in changing snow conditions during a single shift. Grooming requirements change over time due to climatic conditions and the extent of slider traffic on the trail, therefore, a good selection of grooming implements such as all-way blades, power tillers and compactor bars are necessary to increase the efficiency of the grooming fleet and to provide guests with an ideal sliding surface every day.

Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort presently operates a total of 2 over-snow vehicles, as listed in Table II.14. These 2 machines have an average of 4,936 operating hours.

It is recommended that as snow grooming machines approach the 6,000-hour mark, they be traded in so that the average age of the fleet is just below the 5,000-hour level. As of 2006, it appears that the entire Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard grooming fleet is becoming old and will exceed the 6,000 hour threshold. At this level of hours, availability is reduced and maintenance costs are increased.

It is recommended that one fully operable grooming machine be available each nightly shift for every 50 acres of groomable terrain in classes 1-5 and 25 acres per shift for class 6 terrain. Based upon these criteria, grooming trails in skill classes 1 to 5 and one shift per night, the current grooming requirements can be calculated as follows:

Based upon this analysis, it appears that the existing 2 front line grooming machines are adequate to groom all of the terrain in skill classes 1 to 6 every day (based on one shift per night). It may be prudent in the future to acquire an additional grooming machine equipped with a winch to the fleet to groom the steeper slopes and provide a back-up, should one of the machines be down for mechanical reasons.

Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort has a maintenance shop/generator facility located at the base of the Rabbit Peak Chairlift. This building does not have adequate room to bring the grooming machines inside for service and repair.