BEARTOOTH BASIN BECOMES FIRST SKI AREA TO OPERATE LIFTS ON BIODIESEL BLEND

[MtnRA]

We are stoked to have Beartooth Basin offer their alpine laboratory and are optimistic this could be a game changer for off-the-grid ski areas.


BEARTOOTH BASIN BECOMES FIRST SKI AREA TO OPERATE LIFTS ON BIODIESEL BLEND

RED LODGE, MT – June 1, 2018

Beginning this season, Beartooth Basin will become North America’s first ski area to be 100% powered by biodiesel, provided by Full Circle Biofuels (FCB) in Bozeman, MT. Located in the rugged Beartooth Mountains, the summer ski area has been operating off a diesel generator since the 1960’s.

Initially, the equipment will run on a B20 biodiesel blend consisting of 20% locally-produced biodiesel and 80% regular diesel. As the season progresses, plans are to increase the ratio of biodiesel up to B80, and maybe even B100, to see how the generator performs under different weather conditions as biodiesel fuel can congeal at temperatures below freezing.

“We are excited to provide an alpine laboratory at almost 11,000 feet. There are numerous ski areas throughout North America that could benefit from converting to bio-diesel for diesel generators and even snowcats when properly managed. Many thanks to STOKE Certified and Mountain Rider’s Alliance for making the connection as well as Full Circle Biofuels for guiding the transition,” said Austin Hart, Beartooth Basin Owner and Operator.

The catalyst to adopt the use of biodiesel fuel was the Summer Shredfest at Beartooth Basin, an annual event hosted by the Mountain Rider’s Alliance. Part of the event’s goal is to reduce emissions, support local businesses, and become a STOKE Certified sustainable event. “We’re grateful to FCB for making this initial step towards 100% biodiesel possible with their expertise and sponsorship of the event and to Beartooth Basin for embracing the idea from day one,” added Jamie Schectman, CEO of Mountain Rider’s Alliance.



# # # #



About Beartooth Basin: Beartooth Basin is one of North America’s oldest alpine ski areas, with a history of surface lifts and ski training dating back to the early 1960's. Montana locals purchased the ski area in 2003 with the goal to open to the public and attract a diverse array of on-snow enthusiasts, ranging from big-mountain to moguls and alpine racing. The ski area is located above 10,000 feet with weather that can turn to winter at a moments notice. Operations at Beartooth Basin are simple - there is no lodge or warming hut facilities. It's just a trailer to buy lift tickets/souvenirs, and steep platter lifts that allow our guests to experience 'the spirit of skiing'.

About Full Circle Biofuels: Based in Bozeman, Full Circle Biofuels produces and distributes high-quality biodiesel fuel and provides used cooking oil recycling services to customers throughout Montana and beyond. Biodiesel, a cleaner-burning, renewable, drop-in alternative to petroleum diesel fuel, is refined from plant and recycled feedstocks and reduces overall carbon emissions from diesel-powered vehicles and equipment. Visit werecyclemt.com/biofuels to learn more about FCB’s mission, products, and services.

About STOKE Certified:STOKE (Sustainable Tourism Operator’s Kit for Evaluation) Certified is the world’s first sustainability certification body with standards built specifically for surf and ski tourism operators, destinations, and affiliated events. Through its network of independent evaluators, STOKE verifies the legitimacy of sustainability claims and provides transparency for the riding community through its certification programs—STOKE Surf, STOKE Snow, and STOKE Events. STOKE has 21 members in 10 countries across all of its certification programs. For more information on STOKE’s members, sector-specific tools and templates, and certification process, go to http://www.stokecertified.com/.

About Mountain Rider’s Alliance: Mountain Rider’s Alliance, LLC was founded in 2010 to create sustainable Mountain Playgrounds tm and is the leading advocate for non-corporate, community and independent ski areas. MRA has previously partnered with Mt Abram, Maine and Mt Ashland, Oregon who have both installed on-site solar arrays. MRA hosts the annual Summer Shredfest at Beartooth Basin on June 15 to 17, 2018.

[mall walker]

cool

[capulin overdrive]

Circle the drums, and everybody hug!

Meanwhile in the real world, it gets harder each winter to get diesel that doesn't need the ever living crap treated out of it, to keep from gelling.

Bio is much worse for gelling, and it's more hygroscopic.

[Benny Profane]

I imagine the OP in white guy dreadlocks. And smelly.

[snowaddict91]

Circle the drums, and everybody hug!

Meanwhile in the real world, it gets harder each winter to get diesel that doesn't need the ever living crap treated out of it, to keep from gelling.

Bio is much worse for gelling, and it's more hygroscopic.

Yup. Can't imagine it being sustainable to run a ski area on biodiesel during the winter months.

[uglymoney]

Sadly soybeans contribute to soil erosion and the dead zone in the gulf even more so that corn. Every gallon of biodiesel represents soil loss. Also in Iowa some of the biodiesel plants are drawing water from non replenishable aquifers. Not to mention using biodiesel does not impact co2 output in a positive way.

Anyway, I forgive the little ski area outfit for trying to do the right thing at least. I don't expect them to be experts in clean energy. We really have a dirty water emergency here in Iowa. I wish that we had clean water certified crops. Our legislature refuses to implement mandatory clean water rules. Everything is voluntary. Our waterways are very sad and depressing representations of corporate greed and failed government policy.

Thanks biodiesel for the dirty water.

WInd and solar powered lift and I will be impressed. I would still come ski if I could. Love that place and want to ski it someday.

[Shredhead]

Illinois is a corn state. All the politicians are in AMD’s pocket, so they really incentivize B20.
We have a fleet of 150, so we tried it.
Maintenance costs and downtime skyrocketed.

[::: :::]

Gonna need a tank heater
Gelling is basically guaranteed

[bodywhomper]

Aren’t there ski hills currently running biodiesel blends with their cat fleets? <meow>

[uglymoney]

You can run low percentage blends without too many problems especially if you add an anti-gel cetane booster to each tank which is more or less standard practice in the winter everywhere anyway. High percentage blends are very prone to gelling.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[MontuckyFried]

Since they only spin that lift during the summer months, I don't think they have to worry about gelling too much. I know it regularly gets below freezing up there, but it's nothing like the winter months.

Also, while I know biodiesel certainly has a bad net environmental impact in regard to production, on the other end is it possibly better in the event of a spill than traditional diesel? Like let's say they get a leak in their fuel tank by the lift or something happens while refilling the tank. I don't know, but perhaps it does have its place in applications like this.

[MTT]

I always thought it would be cool if the big motors "Electrical generation" and Cats converted to natural gas.

We got lots of it and it's pretty clean

[GeezerSteve]

french fry! french fry!

#assuagehumanguilt

[MtnRA]

BTB ran today on the new Biodiesel Blend without incident.