WILDWOOD, Mo. — Folks might not think of skiing for east-central Missouri, however, nestled about 30 miles southwest of downtown St. Louis lies a ski area, Hidden Valley Ski Resort.
In its 40th season, this ski resort offers 14 trails ranging from beginner or bunny slopes to intermediate/blue ones to even advanced or black diamond slopes and even has 11 snow tubing lanes. Utah native Tony Santora took over as General Manager seven months ago and learned quickly how to work with the weather of the region.
“It’s all about the snowmaking. We have snow making guns that cover 100% of terrain. So, even if it doesn’t snow an inch, as long as we get cold temperatures, which Missouri definitely does, we’re able to make snow to open up this gorgeous ski resort.”
The process seems simple enough. “We make snow through a process with water and air, basically mixing water and air together. We use what’s called the wet-bulb temperature, which is basically an equation of humidity and relative temperature and tells us where the water will freeze in the air.”
He adds, “So, once we get a good wet bulb temperature, we mix snow and water and throw it up into the air and it freezes just like it would be coming out of the clouds, falls to the ground and we get snow.”
However, as Santora tells me, it takes a long time to create a good base, noting at the bottom it’s about three feet deep. But once stacked up, “it takes a long time for it to melt. We’ve been able to manage throughout this winter, even though it’s been warmer.”
The bitter cold snap right before Christmas is what allowed them to open. “We had 4 straight days where we had the guns running 24 hours a day and that allowed us to open on Christmas Day.”
Adding, “Which was kind of an exciting little present here for everyone in St. Louis. And since that day, we’ve been able to stay open throughout the entire winter.”
January saw little in the way of winter-like temperatures. In fact, the first part of the month had highs as warm as the 60s and 70s, but thanks to their snowmaking capabilities and a good base, they have been able to manage it. The goal is to keep the resort open into early March.
This might not be the highest hill, but it certainly has elevation. Driving south on Route 109 through Wildwood, Mo., the hills seemed to pop up out of nowhere. Turning onto Hidden Valley Drive, I began driving up a hill, even noticing my ears popping. As Santora tells it, elevation exists here.
“The top of the hill is 1,100 feet and the total elevation gained from bottom to top is about 320 feet.” This creates a fun hill to ski or snowboard down. In fact, Santora took me on the chairlift to get a view from the top.
Snow tubing looks like my style, but Santora tells me depending on the weather, could make for some fast slides down the hill. “If we get a warm day and then cold at night, the lanes can freeze up a bit and everything gets quicker.” He assured me the gravel and fencing stops people from going too far.
Hidden Valley offers lessons for skiing and snowboarding and will even rent equipment. There’s a restaurant on site that Santora says “After you hit the slopes and you are nice and hungry, you can get a burger, a chicken sandwich or have a drink at our bar.”
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