Many ski areas are upgrading older lighting infrastructure with more modern, energy-efficient systems that not only save money, but also make night skiing safer and more enjoyable. One is Vista Ridge All Season Park, which is replacing its aging network of metal halide floodlights with a type of technology called magnetic induction lights.
Vista Ridge opened in 1966 and now has 60 acres of ski runs, as well as a terrain park and a four-lane tubing park. It is owned and operated by the Municipality of Wood Buffalo, located just outside the northern Canadian city of Fort McMurray, Alta.
Vista Ridge’s new slope lighting system is called Snow-Bright and it comes from Ultra-Tech Lighting, which recently changed its name to Tesla Induction Lighting Co. A lighting manufacturer based in Warwick, N.Y., Tesla Induction Lighting makes lights that are different than metal halide or newer LED lighting systems in that they operate through a process known as magnetic induction.
According to Philip Gotthelf, managing director of Tesla Induction Lighting Co., Snow-Bright is a great fit for winter sports operations because the system is specifically designed to provide the appropriate light spectrum and intensity required for proper snow illumination.
While many ski resorts have turned to LED technology for their lighting upgrades, Vista Ridge general manager Bernice Later says her team had plenty of good reasons for opting for the magnetic induction lights. “They’re incredibly environmentally friendly. The lights we have now are old metal halides that have forever metals. [Snow-Bright] lights are environmentally safe, and they have a 100,000-hour warranty, which means they’re going to be here longer than I am. So that’s really encouraging,” she said.
A total of 241 300-watt Snow-Bright fixtures are being installed at Vista Ridge, 138 of them in the first phase of the project, which will be completed in time for the 2025-2026 ski season. Phase 2 is slated to be completed in another year or two.
Later says the Municipality of Wood Buffalo was very supportive of the lighting upgrade, adding her team secured an energy savings grant that helped pay for the initiative. “Because the lights are so energy efficient, the savings are going to be really significant. As a non-profit organization that’s funded by the taxpayer, it’s important that we’re as efficient as we can be,” she said.
We’ll be running all of the terrain under the new lights. It’s going to be a game changer for us.
Bernice Later, Vista Ridge All Season Park
For Vista Ridge, another key consideration was its proximity to the Fort McMurray International Airport, which is only a couple of miles away. “These lights are very attractive because they’re dark sky compliant. They won’t affect the airport in any way,” Later said.
Later saw the Snow-Bright lights in action at the Snowy Range Ski Area in Wyoming, which helped seal the deal. “I think that’s what sold me on the dark sky compliance, because it’s so close to a large observatory. The lights were not a factor, so I think you’re going to see these in more ski resorts all the time,” said Later. Gotthelf says the largest Snow-Bright lighting system was installed at the Steamboat Springs Ski Resort in Colorado. “Steamboat installed theirs in 2012, and they haven’t had a single failure,” he said.
Since then, Snow-Bright lighting systems have also been installed at places like the Holiday Mountain Ski Park in New York and Appalachian Ski Mountain in North Carolina. Gotthelf says his company is currently putting together slope lighting proposals for numerous ski operations, including some owned and operated by major companies like Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Company.
Game changer
One of the main reasons for the lighting upgrade at Vista Ridge was to crank up the fun factor in Fort McMurray, where – due to its location in northern Alberta – daytime skiing is in short supply. “We’ll be running all of the terrain under the new lights. It’s going to be a game changer for us for sure,” said Later.
She also says that for the coming ski season, some previously unlit areas within Vista Ridge are getting new lighting, and the park is also increasing its operating hours significantly. There’ll be night skiing until 8 p.m. three nights a week rather than one, and on other days it’s open, there’ll be an additional hour of daytime skiing. “If you’re not from Fort McMurray it’s hard to imagine, but the days are pretty short up here. In December, the sun sets at three o’clock, so the nights are long and dark. Having the opportunity to light up the whole terrain and expand the hours gives the community something to do after dark in the winter,” said Later.
“I think this is going to be very popular. We’ve started telling customers there’s going to be extra night skiing, and it’s been very, very well received because it gets dark really early. On opening weekend last year, we actually lost all the lights in the terrain park and had to rent floodlights for the whole winter, so this is very timely to get this done.”
Gotthelf said Snow-Bright lights are control agnostic, “meaning that you can use any remote-control system you like to turn them on and off. The lights go on instantly, and they don’t need a cooling down period like metal halides or sodium lights.”
In contrast, the old lighting grid at Vista Ridge assembled over many years had 14 different locations where staff had to go to turn the metal halide floodlights on and off. “The older lights are a lot of work, so this new system is great. We’ve put in sensors so that the lights just turn on automatically at dark and we don’t have to touch them,” said Later. She notes the new lights can also be used on cloudy days to increase visibility and safety for skiers by providing a clearer view of the terrain they’re skiing on. “When the light reaches a certain point, the system will turn on automatically. I think that’s going to be really efficient for us,” Later said.
According to Gotthelf, an added safety benefit of the Snow-Bright slope lighting system is the lights can be pointed uphill without blinding skiers and snowboarders. “If you point the lights uphill, it’s going to be in their faces. We solved that problem with a very rapid light dispersion mechanism that we use,” he said.
Later says the new lighting system improves safety not just for Vista Ridge patrons, but for snowmaking crews as well. “It’s going to be a lot safer for our staff early season when we’re making snow to have it lit up when the guys are working overnight in the cold with high voltage electricity and water,” she said. “I’m really excited about that as much as I am about expanding the hours.”
For more information on Snow-Bright lighting systems, go to teslainductionlightingcompany.com/product-catalogs/snow-bright.
