Beaulac's passion for making snow has helped save the season for area skiers

This is the month Tad Beaulac starts his ski season every year.

While New England has had a rough go of it this season until now with near constant warm temps, rain and sparse natural snow, March is usually pretty reliable for snowfall and even the most snow-challenged ski areas are able to put together and preserve a workable snowpack for spring sliding.

That's thanks to the work of Beaulac and his fellow snowmakers at Wachusett Mountain – including Joe Borelli – and across the region. Without them, we would not have had any ski season at all, despite the much-appreciated late winter snowfall we're seeing.

The reason Beaulac starts skiing in March is most of his snowmaking work is done by now – and he finally has time to ski.

Beaulac, 57, of Hubbardston, is more than just a snowmaker, though.

He's also a maker of snowmaking machines.

Beaulac is the owner of and chief tinkerer at Snow Realm, an independent snowgun manufacturing company he started after making snow in his yard for his three daughters when they were young.

Snowmaking a passion

"I don't do it for the money. I do it more for the love of making snow. It's that simple," Beaulac said.

Since my former Worcester Telegram & Gazette colleague Paula Owen wrote this great story about Beaulac in 2016, just after he quit his day job and founded Snow Realm, some things have changed for him and the company.

On the good side, Beaulac has sold some 35 of his machines to Wachusett, where they co-exist and pump out snow next to several hundred snowguns from HKD, the international snowmaking powerhouse with a major plant in Natick.

Three big companies – HKD, SMI and TechnoAlpin – dominate the world market for snowmaking equipment.

Amid that oligopoly, small manufacturers like Snow Realm can only hope to make small inroads, in large part because snowmaking equipment is durable and lasts years and ski area operators tend to stick with what they have.

For his part, Beaulac, a tool and die maker by trade, went back to work full-time, at Banner Mold and Die Co. in Leominster, and picked up steady late afternoon-night shifts at Wachusett, where he's been part of the snowmaking crew for seven years.

Local ski area a testing ground

But he stuck with Snow Realm and continues to build and test his machines at Wachusett, which serves as a sort of laboratory and proving ground for his tower and fan guns. And he's added Butternut, the family-oriented ski area in Great Barrington, as a customer.

Beaulac makes a point of acknowledging the support of the Crowley siblings who own and run the Princeton ski area.

Testing his handiwork at Wachusett "benefits the mountain because when I'm doing that they're getting free snow," Beaulac said.

"But I appreciate all their support and everything they've done for me," he said. "They're great people to work for. I thank them dearly for supporting small business and me and letting me do my hopes and dreams here."

Meanwhile, in his Snow Realm shop at home, Beaulac specializes in designing and making snowguns that spit out high-quality snow in the highest temperature conditions, usually a maximum of 28 degrees.

If you’re looking for some of these, drop him an email.

"My passion is obviously making snow, period, whether with my equipment or with someone else's," he said. "But when I use other people's equipment, I see what could be improved and where the downfall is.

"So I'll go back to my drawing board and draw something up with 3D software, come up with a model," he continued. "Then I'll go to my shop and I'll make something and spit out a new prototype, bring it up to the mountain, give it a shot and hopefully it's a seller."

It's race time at the local hill

Wachusett's biggest weekend of adult racing starts Friday with the venerable Ralph Crowley Classic open race; following on Saturday is the Great Race featuring the top 25 teams from the ski area's 18-and-over Race League, which boasts nearly 1,000 participants.

That is, weather permitting. Yes, snow is good for ski racing. But when you combine it with rain, and then a lot of new snow, things can get tricky so stay tuned for a possible reschedule.

Both races are in the giant slalom format and held on the Smith-Walton trail.

I asked Luke Hanlon, a Wachusett race department course-setter and race official who will also be competing in both events this time around as per usual in March, about what to look for in these races.

He should know. At 23, the Worcester resident is a former state high school ski race champion and two-time Crowley Classic (he's two for two in that one) and one-time Great Race winner. Two years ago he won the Crowley and the Great Race on successive days.

Hanlon's tips for skiing fast

A former elite F.I.S.-level (International Ski Federation) racer who competed at the regional and national levels with appearances two years in both the junior and regular U.S. National Championships, Hanlon is still the fastest skier at Wachusett (He also does private coaching, so book a session.).

But he, and other racers, still need to work hard to do well on these courses, he said.

"The best way to get ready is just getting out on the mountain and having a lot of miles on your skis," Hanlon said. "And just continuing to push yourself."

As for the Great Race in particular, Hanlon stressed that it's a team event. He and his team, Double Denim (of which I am a member, though I missed half the season's weekly qualifying races due to health reasons, plus I'm slow), are in a good position going into the event.

"I'm definitely look forward to some good skiing and a lot of bright smiles and team bonding between friends and family," he said.

(Hanlon's 27-year-old brother, Brandon, a ripper too, is also on Double Denim.)

I should note here, by the way, that while the younger Hanlon is the favorite at these big end-of-season races at Wachusett these days, he also has to work the races. That means getting up early and to the ski area well before the race to set the course, put up fencing and do other physically demanding chores.

Meanwhile I asked another Wachusett race department guy who helps run the Race League, David Giammatteo, of Westminster, a 35-year veteran of the Race League, if he would bet on Hanlon to repeat the double victory from 2021 this year.

"If I were a betting man, I would," he said with a chuckle.

Quebec trip

Incidentally, Giammatteo, who organizes travel excursions, has a really good one scheduled for March 26-31 to Le Massif, Quebec.

I skied Le Massif last year and it's massively great, with the most vertical feet of terrain in Canada east of the Rockies.

The all-inclusive trip includes vans to Le Massif, plus five nights of accommodations at the fabulous Club Med Charlevoix at the foot of the mountain overlooking the Saint Lawrence River, including all meals and drinks, plus four-day lift ticket and daily guides or lessons, and more.

Reserve one of the last four open slots and check out the great price by e-mailing Dave@golfandskitours.com.

Late season snow

It's finally happening.

Winter is back.

If you live in Central Massachusetts and have looked out your window in the last few days, you've seen beautiful fat snowflakes drifting down, the kind of natural product that nicely complements the product of human snowmakers like Beaulac.

As I wrote this on Tuesday, it snowed all day in my Worcester neighborhood.

Enjoy it while you can.

—Contact Shaun Sutner by e-mail at s_sutner@yahoo.com. 

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Hubbardston native's passion for snowmaking has benefited area skiers