Very few winter sports fans using the excellently refurbished facilities at the Midlothian Snowsport Centre on the outskirts of Edinburgh will be aware of how grateful they should be to pump manufacturer Wilo, but the company’s involvement in the centre is the key to the ski slope being as ‘snow like’ under their skis as it is!
To keep the ski slope at just the right level of ‘slipperiness’, requires a misting system that sprays water droplets onto the slope to form a thin layer of water between the skis edges and the plastic slope. Historically, the misting system in place has been difficult to keep operating effectively, so when the slope refurbishment was mooted, an upgrade to the misting system was requested from contractors Arup.
Arup asked Wilo if it could suggest a solution to the problem and Wilo’s Area Sales Manager for Scotland, Steven Walker, liaised with his technical team at Wilo HQ and came up with the perfect solution. The refurbished centre was handed over to a delighted Midlothian Council a while back and initial reports suggest the ski slope misting is operating wonderfully well and increasing levels of enjoyment to skiers significantly.
The answer to the challenge was the installation of a 25 bar variable speed booster set from Wilo which provides the misting onto the plastic ski slope. Steven Walker says it’s not perhaps the usual use these pumps are put to, but it’s an innovative way these pumps can be used that offers the ideal solution to this particular challenge: “It’s not every day we’re asked to find a solution to winter sports issues,” he says. “When Arup got in touch with me, I was sure our technical team at Burton-upon-Trent would be able to suggest a solution that would provide not just a pumping option that worked, but one which provided the vital levels of reliability that previous systems had failed to offer. We’ve delivered on this and everyone seems very happy with the outcome!”
Further details of the wide range of pumps available from Wilo can be found at www.wilo.co.uk.