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The Spanish Peaks Mountain Club, located in Big Sky, Montana, is looking to turn wastewater into snow for their mountain, making it the second ski area in Montana to do so. The resort follows in the footsteps of Montana’s private club, the Yellowstone Club, and more than a dozen ski areas across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Switzerland that are turning to sustainable snowmaking to help build their snow base at the beginning of their seasons.
Spanish Peaks Mountain Club is a private residential club in Montana that offers year-round amenities from a ski-in, ski-out clubhouse to golf, snowcat adventures, river camping, and fishing. Members get access to all amenities and can choose to rent or own property throughout the property. The Club gives you access to Big Sky Mountain Resort and the Spanish Peaks terrain is operated by the resort and accessible to the public.
The Spanish Peaks Mountain Club asked for a permit from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to use treated wastewater to make snow on the groomed runs on Spirit Mountain, the Spanish Creek base area, and the Southern Comfort ski area. This snow would primarily be used to build the base in the early season across the roughly 90 acres of terrain. It would be implemented in two phases: the first would use 23 million gallons of water to make 18-24 inches of snow and the second would increase the amount to 44 million gallons of water annually.
Spanish Peaks Mountain Club shares a common parent company with the Yellowstone Club. Spanish Peaks Vice President of Environmental Operations, Richard Chandler, who also oversees environmental operations at the Yellowstone Club is excited for this opportunity as turning the recycled water to snow is both safe and beneficial to the environment. It is sustainable since the overall process is using recycled water rather than spring water and the overall goal is to avoid water waste. The recycled water is safe because it is filtered two additional times — once when it is run through the snowmaking equipment and another time when it runs through the ground.
The Department of Environmental Quality has prepared a draft environmental assessment for this project and is accepting comments on the plan until June 6.
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