Powder Ridge, in Middlefield, Conn., is the southernmost ski area in New England. (Powder Ridge Photo)
What does it take to run the southernmost ski area in New England?
“We don’t get that snow,” Powder Ridge Mountain Park and Resort owner Sean Hayes said. “We don’t even get the temperatures.”
When it snows in Connecticut, it tends to hit north of I-84. Powder Ridge, 30 miles southwest of Hartford and the closest outdoor skiing available to Manhattan, sits on the other side of that line, prompting Hayes to take climate-fighting action.
Hayes recently joined Eric Wilbur and Mike Specian on the New England Ski Journal’s Basecamp podcast to discuss Powder Ridge’s new approach to snowmaking, one that the owner says 70 percent of all resorts will need to have in five years.
