Todd Fahey is fundraising
The Brattleboro Ski Hill Snowmaker Fund
To our beloved Brattleboro Ski Hill community,
As you read this, skiing and snowboarding may not be top of mind. We are blessed to be able to enjoy our amazing Vermont summers, which while fleeting - enable us to hike, swim, kayak and enjoy the truly Green Mountains.
While the ski hill board enjoys the same things, we are also hard at work preparing for next year. As you may know, last year we underwent significant capital improvements to build a new pumphouse. To all those who donated to the capital campaign, we can't thank you enough. Your generosity helped to allow us to do some amazing things at our little ski hill, including:
- Ski earlier than expected (even with lackluster snow)…starting on Christmas Eve!
- Ski 68 days (or over 425 skiing/riding hours)
- Turn approximately 6,750,000 gallons of water into glorious snow (for you math nerds, that’s the product of 450 hours of snowmaking with a pump delivering 250 gallons per minute).
Contribute to some amazing events:
- Thursday night ski lessons
- The Brattleboro World Cup ski/snowboard race
- Family Fun Day
- Season Closing Pond Skim (did we mention snowmaking? Because without it, we’d have no pond (or water) to skim!)
- Enable us to help our friends and neighbors at Harris Hill Nordic to make snow on their junior ski jump
This year, we again ask for your support...despite the herculean efforts of our all-volunteer crew, our infrastructure and equipment continue to age. As you likely have witnessed we run three early 90's era Lenko Northwind fan guns (as a side note, although these guns are old - they are efficient in snowmaking terms...they are "water only" guns. These utilize significantly less energy than the more common water/compressed air guns you see at many mountains). Unfortunately, our equipment is getting very old, tired and expensive to maintain. As of this writing, we are down to two operable units and need to make a significant capital investment in additional equipment.
Our number one focus at the moment is to be able to provide the level of skiing and riding next season as we just did, but without a third (or ideally a fourth or fifth) gun, this won't be possible.
To be as fiscally responsible as possible, we are exclusively looking at the used snowmaker market. By the time you read this, there is a good chance that our team has traveled to a number of smaller hills in New England (largely Massachusetts and Connecticut) to scope out used equipment. While certainly a fraction of the price of new, it is very common to have the price of a single, operating fan gun be $8-10k. In a perfect world, we would have 4-5 fan guns available...this would allow for simultaneous operation to build a base of snow faster and allow more consistent skiing and riding. It would also allow keeping a unit in "reserve capacity" should another unit have a mechanical issue.
While we have continued to maintain a low-cost opportunity for skiing and snowboarding for the last 26 years, it is the support from the community we serve that allows us the honor of doing this. If it is within your financial reach, we ask that you consider a targeted donation to our Snowmaker Campaign. Every dollar raised will be used directly for the acquisition of quality, used snowmaking equipment.
If you would prefer to make a donation by mail, cash or checks payable to LMPSS, Inc. can be sent to PO Box 1945, Brattleboro, VT 05302. Donors interested in matching donations or who have other fundraising ideas can email us at [email redacted]. Donations can also be made through Paypal on our website.
Our mission:
Brattleboro Ski Hill, operated by the volunteer Board of Directors for Living Memorial Park Snow Sports, Inc., focuses on providing quality, affordable, and beautiful skiing and snowboarding to our community's youth. Keeping children and teens busy with snow sports keeps them motivated and active. Operating as a Non-Profit 501 (c) (3) and only with volunteers makes us unique to other areas like ours. We offer a Lift Ticket for only $5.00.
Thank You.
The Brattleboro Ski Hill Board (and Snowmakers!)
- E
- P
- T
72 supporters
guidestar.org/profile/04-3370140
charitynavigator.org/ein/043370140