It's magic. A gift from nature . . . leave the ski slopes cut, pitted and bumpy, and return the next day to runs as smooth as a table top. Leave snow that was ice-hard and come back to snow as soft as cotton, though not so much as a single snowflake fell overnight.
Few skiers think much about ski runs after quitting. Fewer worry. It's a given: Runs will be smoothed over and softened up for the next day.Fact is, there's little magic to the grooming process, but all resorts groom their runs. It's required, like lift rides and tickets.
A lot of time, money and research has gone into this process. It's become a very technical part of the sport. Without groomers, snow left pitted and hard at closing would be pitted and hard at opening the next day.
Today, says John Loomis, vice president of mountain operations at Snowbird, the ability to smooth runs "has improved tenfold over what it was 20 years ago."
Pre-grooming, resorts relied on skiers to pack runs, either by skiing or falling. Which wasn't all that bad because no one knew better. Skiers skied what nature dealt.
In the late 1960s, resorts began running snowcats up and down runs after a snow to pack things down and hold the snow. That started it. The next step was to drag a roller behind the cat, which helped but didn't always work and was sometimes difficult because the two - cat and roller - weren't meant to work together. Early snowcats were made to travel, not to groom.
Next step in grooming was to use chain-link fencing pulled behind the cat, complimented by an occasional pass of a roller. The next revolutionary accessory was called the "powder maker." It is similar to a roller, only it was made of a heavy metal mesh that chopped up the surface and made hard snow softer.
Better snowcats followed. Newer cats were made to pull the roller, both uphill and downhill, and to run longer hours.
And now? Skiers get the smooth runs they've come to expect.
According to Loomis, Snowbird has 10 grooming cats that run from the time the lifts close one day until the resort opens the following morning. Grooming operations require two crews working over a 16-hour period, seven days a week.
Today's cats run a blade on the front of the machines to move and smooth snow. And, if there's new snow on the runs, a compactor bar is pulled behind. And, if the snow has been skied or is wet, then a power tiller is used.
"What we're looking for is what they call in the industry the `corduroy' look," says Loomis. "Sometimes you can make one pass and get it, when the snow is soft, but other times it may take several passes. Sometimes, when the moguls are big, it may take several passes to smooth things out."
The newest addition to the grooming market is called the "wench cat."
"It allows us," says Loomis, "to groom steeper runs we would never have been able to groom before."
There are two types of wench cats. With one, the wench is hooked to one cat that then lowers a second cat up and down the run. The second employs a wench on the cat that rotates, which allows the cat to pull itself up and down runs.
All this smoothing of runs does not come cheaply. Loomis points out that aside from the cost of the crews, a new cat can cost between $125,000 and $150,000, and a new wench cat close to $240,000.
"Usually a cat will last us three or four years, then we need to turn it in for a new one. Then you figure everything in, it becomes a pretty costly service," he notes. "But it makes for some very nice skiing."
All runs, of course, aren't groomed. Some runs are left to become moguls, and some are simply too difficult to reach. About 70 percent of Snowbird's are groomed on a regular basis . . ."Starting with the beginner and intermediate runs first, then going to the more difficult areas."
It is impossible for a resort these days not to have groomers working the mountains after hours. The fleet of grooms based on the number of runs grooms on a regular basis.
Grooming has, indeed, changed skiing. Smooth runs make it easier to ski, especially for the beginners and intermediates. It's hard enough worrying about weighting and angulation without also having to lookout for bumps.
So, when skiers leave the grooming show up, and went the skiers return the next morning, as if by magic, runs have been smoothed out and softened up.