How A Ski Resort Maintains Their Trails In The Summer
Summer at a ski resort tends to look quite different from the snowy scenes that we see throughout the winter. Many resorts offer summer operations like hiking, mountain biking, frisbee golf, and more, and some stay closed until the snow returns. Whether or not there are summer activities, plenty of work goes down throughout the summer. Crews can be found maintaining trails, trimming vegetation, and, in some cases, mowing large expanses of grass.
Mowing is usually done both around base areas, parking lots, lodging properties, and other developed areas, in addition to on the trails themselves. This clip from Maine’s Sunday River shows how crews use a large tractor to clean up the trails before winter rolls around.
Keeping the Mountain Ready
A lot of work goes on beyond just trail work. Lift maintenance, snowmaking projects, construction, and much more are constantly underway in preparation for the winter saeson ahead. But groundskeeping is a very important part of the process.
Grass grows quickly in the summer, especially at resorts that receive regular moisture. If left unchecked, the taller vegetation can make trails more difficult to maintain and, come winter, could make for some uneven and weird conditions. Mowing also reduces woody vegetation and tall grass on runs.
Of course not every ski resort maintains their trails the same. Some keep their runs tight cut, others let them grow free. Some mow multiple times a summer while others mow just once toward the end of the warmer months.
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