After a strong start to the season, the Camden Snow Bowl will be closed until Friday due to broken snowmaking equipment and less-than-wintry weather conditions.
The temporary closure, which was announced Sunday, came after an early opening to the season on Dec. 14. It was aided by an aggressive snowmaking plan that included more snow guns, an additional on-mountain booster pump and the low temperatures early in the month. That put a historically high volume of manufactured snow on the mountain.
But just a few weeks into the season, the ski hill had a water pump failure that caused a 75 percent loss of snowmaking capacity. That left insufficient snow in crucial spots on ski trails, overseer Jeff Nathan wrote.
Monday’s rainy weather paired with Tuesday’s forecasted sunny skies and higher temperatures added to the problems. Four days off will allow for the precipitation to drain out of the snow and let it dry. Freezing temperatures are expected to return across Maine at the end of the week.
“All it takes is one or two exposed areas of dark ground to attract the sun, melting the snow around it and creating an even larger area devoid of snow,” Nathan wrote in a communication to customers.
Mountain crews will be working overnight Thursday to move snow from higher elevations, if necessary, so the trails will be eligible to reopen by Jan. 3 at 10 a.m., Nathan said.
“If we had not lost the water pump, we are confident we would have been able to ride out the impending weather over the next few days,” Snow Bowl’s website states. “But that also gives us confidence to move forward.
