KITCHENER —Chicopee Ski Club is going high-tech to step back in time.
The area’s only downhill ski and winter tubing centre is testing 30 new, high-pressure snow-making guns that could turn the landmark hill white sooner and keep snow around longer — just as the Kitchener ski runs would have looked like in the predictable winters of the 1970s. 
“It’s all about getting up and running before Christmas, which we haven’t done in the last years,” said Bill Creighton, executive director.
“It’s a huge piece of our business. Christmas week is worth 10 times what March break is worth.”
The new guns mounted high on poles can make snow at -3 C, compared to -5 C for 23 old, low-pressure guns on sleds that are now dragged around Chicopee every winter.
Creighton expects that the two degree Celsius difference buys him another 14 days of winter snow-making — more if Mother Nature delivers cold weather early.
The new guns can make snow at more than twice the rate of the old guns, while using less electricity. The snow they create is also drier, more durable and easier to groom on the hills. Eventually, Creighton wants 80 of the new snow guns installed across Chicopee, ready to pump out snow on demand. They cost $5,000 each.
It’s a smart move by Chicopee, said Environment Canada climatologist David Phillips.
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