Prequel: From John Northrup, Chairman of the Board and son of HV founders Edna and Bill Northrup: When Holiday Valley first opened, grooming happened occasionally when skiers would get a free ride up the T-bar and then sidestep down the mountain to pack the snow. Then Jim Slating, Mountain Manager, built a tow behind roller made of 2x4’s, with handles like a ski patrol toboggan. He would ride the T-Bar up, packing the track as he went, then ski straight down the hill packing the snow behind him. But often the hills were ungroomed, so you just got what you got, which was often bumpy and hard packed snow/ice.
We interviewed Jay SaGurney, Holiday Valley's Grooming Manager, for his inside scoop on the details of modern snow grooming.
HV. First, what is “Modern” grooming?
JS. Thankfully, the equipment has changed drastically. Using our PistenBully hydraulic grooming tractors, we try to produce the best surface we can in the small window between the closing of the resort at 10PM until the 8:30AM opening the next morning.
HV. Give us a few facts about Holiday Valley grooming.
JS. There are 7 cats at the resort (1 at the Tubing Park). Two groomers are new this year. We have a staff of about 10. We resurface the trails most every night the resort is open. The cats leave the garage as soon as the mountain is swept and Mountain Operations gives us the all-clear. We work all night and get back to the garage before the first skiers are on the chairlifts in the morning. It’s usually a 10 hr. shift every night. When the resort is fully open it takes at least 5 cats to cover everything in that time.
HV. What’s new and different about our PistenBully grooming machines, including the two purchased for the 25-26 season?
JS. The newest machines are all computerized and quite comfortable. That allows us to do more and be more efficient. On a busy night each groomer goes through about 70 gallons of fuel. Four of our cats are equipped with LiDAR which makes it possible for an operator to see what’s ahead, beside and under the cat. That gives us the ability to know the snow depth and terrain character under and ahead of the vehicle, allowing us move snow reserves from high spots to thinner areas faster and more accurately.
HV. Do you groom different slopes differently? What is the goal for that? i.e... “Mowing the lawn” vs. shaping terrain, etc. Can/do you build moguls with a groomer?
JS. Each slope has its own personality, and you get to know them. Some of the steeper more difficult slopes you have to work in a very specific manner. The current snow conditions dictate how the slopes get maintained and how we go about it each night. “Mowing the lawn” takes place on lower-level terrain where we want a consistent flat surface. Some trails have rolls and undulations that give them character. The front blade allow us to shape the snow if we want to build something like a jump, then the back tiller smooths out the rough edges. Yes, you can build moguls with a groomer by creating rollers like we do at Morning Star. But the competition moguls are built by hand and skied in by the freestyle team.
HV. What is the general technique for winching a slope? And how do you determine what slopes we winch?
JS. The winch is used on all of the “steeps”: the Wall, Falcon, Eagle, Firecracker, Shadows. And then we sometimes hook up on other slopes when we are pushing out snowmaking piles or trying to cut a grade. A cable is attached from a special arm on the groomer to an anchor at the top of the slope and the operator basically yo-yo’s up and down, pushing snow back up on to the headwalls. Snow conditions dictate what the “free groomers” can do. There are a lot of times they can climb most of the slopes (except the Wall) but when there is a lot of fresh new snow they will spin out and the winch is required.
HV. Do you change the grooming technique based on the snow and the weather prediction?
JS. Yes. Conditions are the number one reason for how we go about our nightly tasks. We are always adjusting the settings in the cats depending on conditions. It often changes hourly.
HV. What kind of people make the best groomers?
JS. I think you need to be a little “off” to be a groomer. Well, let’s just say they’re different from the ordinary. Everyone says it looks like fun to drive around in a half million dollar machine with lots of buttons and controls, but when they find out what it entails their thoughts can change. The hours are tough to get used to and you have to be okay working alone all through the night.
HV. What do you think about all night long while you’re grooming?
JS. I just listen to music. Streaming has made it so much better. I tend to listen to a lot of concerts, (Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, Moe., etc.…)
HV. How long have you been grooming and what have you learned over the years?
JS. This will be my 10th year. Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is the amount of behind the scenes work that goes into making a ski resort. It is year-round and requires a lot of people to make it happen.
HV. Ski or Snowboard?
JS. I grew up skiing, I was never very good, just school ski clubs and such.
HV. You are also the Holiday Valley Golf Course Superintendent. Is there any crossover from that?
JS. Oddly there is a connection. My summer crew works extremely hard to prepare the golf course for people to enjoy and tries to work with current conditions to make the playing surface as smooth as possible. The winter crew does the exact same thing. And we are always trying to stay behind the scenes and out of the way.
HV. Anything else you think would be interesting for our readers to know?
JS. HV goes to great lengths to produce an excellent experience for our guests, year-round, and I’m just one of many people working towards that goal.
