Prinoth snow measurement at World Cups

The GOAT Mikaela Shiffrin may have said it best when she posted on Instagram, “Probably the best surface we’ve skied on here.” The snowmakers, grooming operators, Prinoth Leitwolf and Bison machines, US Ski Team Technical advisors, and FIS officials worked tirelessly for weeks to prepare the race course. The Stifel Killington Cup was the first World Cup race to take place in North America during the 2023-24 season. There were nearly 20,000 cowbell-ringing spectators and a live TV audience of over 2 million viewers.

This year, the operations teams utilized the Prinoth Connect Snow Measurement system. Killington is one of the first resorts in North America to invest in Snow Measurement, and it took a front row seat during this year’s World Cup build. Killington has the snowmaking capability to cover the Superstar trail with snow in about 100 hours. This year, for the first time ever, the teams could read the snow depth to +/- 3cm utilizing Snow Measurement technology instead of long metal probes. This increased the efficiency for both snowmaking and grooming, making the build easier for the grooming operators, more straightforward for officials, and safer for the racers.

The snowmaking teams were able to plan and move snowmaking equipment to blow snow exactly where it was needed – helping to reduce the production of overall snow. Then the groomers came in to push out whales and track pack the course to meet the FIS specifications. In the vehicle cabins, the snow depth is shown around the machine on a display so that operators know exactly how much snow they have below them at all times. After the course was covered edge-to-edge with at least 18” of base layer, the groomers were able to build macro and micro terrain features that enhance the natural topography of the trail, which the course setters use when putting up gates. The terrain separates the racers by skill level, making the race more exciting to watch, and creating a more interesting and safer course.

US Ski and Snowboard Alpine Team Technical Advisor Tom “Cowboy” Johnson has been responsible for Olympic and World Cup Race Courses since 1998 and was responsible for Killington World Cup Course this year. Cowboy, along with the knowledgeable grooming operators who built the course, expounded the benefits of using Snow Measurement to increase the efficiency and ease of building this year’s trail as well as gathering the data to make building next year’s race easier and more efficient.

Scott Jones General Manager VP of Prinoth Snow Groomers North America is proud that Prinoth Connect’s Snow Measurement is in use at Killington “although, it’s an honor to be using our Snow Measurement for world cup events like Killington, the largest use of the system by far, is with regular ski resorts wanting to save costs, pro-long their ski season and be more sustainable. Snow measurement is changing the way slopes are prepared and we’re excited to be leading the way!”