Green Growth - "The Okemo Difference"

Originally founded in 1955, Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow, Vermont, has grown to be one of the truly great success stories in the ski industry. When Tim and Diane Mueller took control of Okemo in 1982, there was a lot to do. Not only were the facilities in need of attention, but the ski area was under considerable financial hardship.

Through the extraordinary efforts of the Mueller's and the dedicated family of mountain employees, Okemo has enjoyed steady growth over the last 25 years. The Resort has certainly become one of the premiere destination ski resorts in North America.

Even with their sights focused clearly on growth and the overall success of the Resort, Okemo has always remained faithful to conservation and environmental preservation. One recent example of the Mueller's environmental stewardship is the purchase of 27 million kilowatt hours of Sterling Planet's Renewable Energy Certificates from Gunnison County Electric Association, Colorado. This represents enough renewable power to fully offset the annual use of electricity by the Mueller's three resorts (Okemo Mountain Resort, Mount Sunapee Resort and Crested Butte Mountain Resort). For more information visit: www.okemo.com/okemowinter/pressroom/presskit/renewable_energy.asp.

A key ingredient to Okemo's success has been their ability to provide a quality ski surface with or without the cooperation of Mother Nature. This translates into an aggressive snowmaking strategy. It is well known that snowmaking can be the largest energy user at a ski resort. Therefore, reducing power demands and growing a competitive snowmaking operation can often be an impossible combination. Nonetheless, Okemo has simultaneously achieved success in both these areas.

Beginning in 1994 the Resort initiated its pursuit of a more energy efficient method of making snow by installing the first of many "low-energy" air/water snowmaking towers. Over the last 12 years Okemo has been adding various quantities of HKD Tower Snowguns annually and now has more than 700 units on the mountain.

The impact of the "low-e" HKD Towers has been tremendous for both the Resort and the environment. Since 1994, the demands on Okemo's already powerful snowmaking plant has increased 64%. The additional capacity was necessary to insure good coverage on the new terrain. Okemo now skis on 624 acres with 117 trails. Currently, over 60% of the water used for snowmaking at Okemo is converted into snow through energy and labor efficient HKD Towers.

Despite the growth of the snowmaking system, Okemo's fuel use for compressed air generation has declined as much as 36% since the beginning of the decade. As result of the efficiencies of the HKD Tower and Okemo's steadfast commitment to utilize the equipment over the years, it is estimated that the Resort has reduced their carbon emissions by an average of 4.8 million pounds annually during the last 5 years. This is equivalent to taking over 400 automobiles off the road each of those years. Since starting their "low-e" snowmaking strategy 14 years ago, Okemo Resort's efforts have spared the environment the burden of 45 million pounds of carbon emissions. That's the annual carbon output of 4,000 automobiles - SAVED!