Dobson Ice Arena

At Issue

By request of the Town of Vail, and as part of plaza improvements around the Dobson Ice Arena, dangerous conditions created by snow and ice on an adjacent main thoroughfare needed to be addressed. This busy street and walkway is a vital link between the two core resort villages of Lionshead and Vail. The villages host over two million skier visits per year and operate the second largest bus transportation system in Colorado. This street and walkway also provide access to the Dobson Ice Arena, Vail Public Library, and the Vail Valley Medical Center. An efficient and effective snowmelt system was required to alleviate the ice and snow packed conditions for both bus and pedestrian safety.

BGCE's Work

The Town of Vail approached Beaudin Ganze Consulting Engineers, Inc. (BGCE) to implement an air-side, snowmelt system concept proposed by a university professor. This concept would utilize waste energy from the ice arena's evaporative condenser fan, add supplemental heat via a gas-fired burner/blower unit, and distribute hot air under the roadway through an underground ductwork system. The Town of Vail presented strict guidelines for the project:

• Maintain the operation of Dobson Ice Arena throughout construction


• Meet the tight construction schedule


• Keep construction costs within budget constraints


• Design an energy-efficient system


• Minimize maintenance costs


• Minimize impact to existing ice rink refrigeration heat reclaim system

Client Benefits

BGCE analyzed the proposed concept, and found it to be unrealistic since it could not be built within the tight time and budgetary constraints, it would require additional heat and energy input, and would require adding a large air handling unit to the site, thus increasing maintenance costs.

Traditional snowmelt design techniques would have required shutting down the ice rink to cut into the chlorofluo-rocarbon (CFC) charged skating rink refrigeration piping. BGCE re-engineered the time-honored snowmelting concept to produce a strategic piping connection to the existing system, which eliminated rink down time and the costs and potential risks associated with cutting into the refrigeration system filled with ozone-depleting CFC's.

BGCE's innovative control strategy has resulted in minimal maintenance costs and an approximately 80% year-round reduction in the condenser system's energy requirements. The construction costs for this unique design were approximately ½ the $100,000 construction budget estimated for the proposed concept.