Lakewood, CO – The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) today named five member ski areas as the recipients of its annual Sustainable Slopes Grant program. The ski areas winning cash grants include: Alta, Utah; Crested Butte, Colo.; Grand Targhee, Wyo.; Mt. Abram, Maine; and Stevens Pass, Wash. The grants, this year totaling $100,000, are designed to spark innovation among NSAA member resorts and provide resorts additional resources to initiate sustainability projects.n”These grants are a great vehicle for not only implementing new green projects at U.S. ski areas, but also to encourage the sharing of information of successful environmental programs and practices among our member resorts,” says NSAA President Michael Berry.

New this year are two in-kind high-efficiency snowmaking system grants provided by Massachusetts-based snowmaking equipment manufacturer Snow Economics/HKD Snowmakers. Being selected as this year’s winners, Mt. Abram, Maine and Crested Butte, Colo., each receive 10 high-efficiency snowmaking guns from Snow Economics/HKD Snowmakers, a total value of $80,000.

“HKD is committed to sustainability and we are thrilled to contribute to the greening of ski area snowmaking and support the broader Sustainable Slopes program. Both Crested Butte and Mt. Abram submitted compelling applications for our snowmaking grants and we look forward to working closely with both resorts to realize their goal of greater snowmaking efficiency,” says Snow Economics President Charles Santry.

Other winning projects of the grant program, sponsored by California energy bar maker CLIF Bar & Co., and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), include energy management and interpretive signage projects at Alta; an electric bike used for resort maintenance at Crested Butte; water bottle refilling stations at Grand Targhee; and a composting pilot project at Stevens Pass. Each of the winning programs will be highlighted in a future issue of the NSAA Journal.