It was 68 degrees and the sun glistened on the icy snow tubing lanes at Heritage Hills Resorts’ AvalancheXpress on Nov. 20 as a series of new chillers hummed during testing.
“On a day like today, it’s a home game for us,” said Jonathan Cerutti, director of fun at Heritage Hills Resort, wearing a T-shirt in the warm breeze as he looked out over the icy slopes covered in wet ice.
Jonathan Cerutti, director of fun for Heritage Hills Resort, at the top of the AvalancheXpress snow tubing course as it remains frozen in the sun on a 68-degree day on Nov. 20, 2024. The sliding surface will be about an inch thick with rollers of tubers lead to the slide.
The hope is that a new ice production system will extend and stabilize the shrinking snow season for the Springettsbury Township winter fun center.
With warmer winters becoming the norm in York, Heritage Hills Resorts has decided to cool six of their snow tubing trails. In the past, snowmaking at the resort required an air temperature of at least 70 degrees and humidity of less than 50 percent, Cerutti said.
“This is not a normal temperature for us, but it is becoming more consistent as the climate changes. You remember as a kid in the 90s having snowfalls of a few feet, we don’t have that anymore,” Cerutti said.
Cerutti describes the new system as using “skating rink technology” to freeze the lanes. Glycol is cooled to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit and pumped in a loop through plastic tubing. The water slowly drips down the slopes and comes into contact with the freezing pipes. An additional ice machine, run by an operator, blows ice flakes through a hose, filling the voids between the glycol tubes and building the base.
“As a company that depends on winter entertainment, to keep our grounds crew working, to keep our pro shop working… to keep 200 employees employed (year-round), that’s why,” says Cerutti cited the reason why the resort decided to sign on to make artificial ice for snow tubing.
The resort currently features an outdoor ice rink that is cooled using the same process, a restaurant and accommodation. The snow tubing season had become too unreliable waiting for the right conditions.
Cerutti said there are only two other places, in Florida and Tennessee, that have such a system to allow snow tubing trips in warm conditions, and he believes York’s is the longest in the country at 450 feet. There is a 90 meter path to stop tubers as they come off the ice.
In addition to the opening of the snow tube runs on November 26, there is a new arcade in the former Golf Pro Shop shopping area. There will also be a new holiday-themed village, with food trucks, fire pits and seating. New toilets will add capacity to existing facilities.
For more information see their website avalanchexpress.com.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: AvalancheXpress opens for snow tubing on November 26 – even if it’s warm
