Park City Mountain opened the trail Another World at Canyons at little earlier than most years — with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday to celebrate the efforts of the snowmaking and groundwork teams to improve the trail. Another World runs from the top of Tombstone Express back down to the Tombstone BBQ lodge area. Another World, along with another run, Chicane, was part of a snowmaking project that launched over the summer. Ryan Hansen is the assistant snowmaking manager at Park City Mountain, where he has worked for eight years. “It’s the most rewarding, passionate job I’ve ever had,” said Hansen. “This project was so great to see from start to finish. It’s really rewarding to be here building it from the ground up.”The long-anticipated project uses a combination of automated snowguns and fans that can be turned on and off remotely, resulting in an experience that promises high-quality snow and enhanced access for skiers, said Hansen.“There’s a sense in this team of putting out the best snow quality we can and maximize our temperature windows,” said Hansen. “The automated guns help us with that. We are much more efficient with our air and water, and it really makes our lives easier to just be able to turn on and off these guns without needing to run up the mountain to do it.” The snowmaking crews work in 12-hour shifts from noon to midnight and switch teams to work from midnight to noon to maintain snowmaking 24 hours a day. “Our goals are to get open and stay open,” said Hansen. “The pressure is always there. There are always challenges with us getting out in bad terrain, poor weather conditions, and in the middle of the night. The team effort helps with that a lot.” New snowmaking being installed at Canyons Village Another World run this past summer. Credit: Park Record file photo by David Jackson“This project has been four to five years in the making if you think about how long we’ve all been talking about this,” said Mike Lewis, vice president of mountain operations at Park City Mountain. He credited the collective efforts of crews ranging from tree-cutting to electrical and excavation teams. “This summer, Chad (Avery, snowmaking manager,) and all the support teams worked hard to pull this together. It’s going to be some darn good snow,” Lewis said. “We’re really excited about the 45 new guns here and the 14 guns on Chicane. It’s an awesome investment that’s going to be great for our guests.”Another World typically opens around the holidays, said Emily McDonald, communications manager. This opening is earlier than usual, thanks to the new snowmaking efforts, said McDonald. One of the defining features of the new run is its improved snowmaking system, which combines efficiency and precision. Logan Negley, snowmaker on the electrical team, emphasized how automated technology has transformed operations, as well as the extensive work that went into installing power cabling, connecting each snow gun, and integrating the system with remote controls.“There’s an internet gateway that allows us to remotely access the system,” said Negley. “We can operate it from our cell phones or computers. Hansen joked earlier that he could do it from the house — and he literally can.” This capability gives the team the power to maximize snow production during small windows of optimal temperatures, saving time and resources. The automated guns not only streamline snowmaking, but also adjust to real-time weather conditions. “You’ll see little white boxes — those are weather stations,” Negley said. “They constantly measure humidity and air temperature, adjusting their internal valves to add or subtract water and create the exact snow consistency we need. If we want the first 10 to be really wet and dry it out as it goes down, or vice versa, we can.” Hansen holds his team accountable to creating the best possible snow standard, he said. “Over the course of my eight years here, that progression of getting more skiers to visit, getting more people introduced to the sport, opening runs like this early and getting access to areas on the mountain is our goal — making the experience better for our people,” said Hansen. Smiles and cheers were shared across the team members responsible for the opening of Another World as they took the inaugural victory lap down the trail on Tuesday morning.  “We’re in it together, through the challenges, the ups and down,” said Hansen. “This team is a family.”Improved snowmaking infrastructure and terrain on Another World were debuted on Tuesday at Canyons Village at Park City Mountain. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordThe post Another World of skiing to be had at Canyons, thanks to snowmaking appeared first on Park Record.