Ski Pond Size?

[rodecon]

I am looking at a piece of property for a potential ski lake and it looks like we can only get about 1700' in length for the pond which I know is tight.......would we have to do an 8 ball layout to make it work?

[Skoot1123]

Good news - that is doable!! I have skied at a site that is 1600' long without an 8 ball course. Either way - it works and is easy to adapt to!

[eleeski]

Make sure you don't have islands. You need the options. You can simulate islands or have a path that is more efficient. If you can dogleg the ends, that helps too. But islands can use up a lot of your available water.

 

Plus they kill and injure skiers and make lake owners lose lawsuits. Horrible things those islands.

 

Eric

[rodecon]

Cool, thanks for the feedback, I like the dogleg idea as well, would be cool if this works out!

[Web]

Anyone out there built a pond on a sloped lot? A place in mind has about a 60 foot elevation run over 1700 feet. So we would basically lower one end 30 feet and raise the other end the same 30 feet. Is that even possible?

[LLUSA]

I would keep looking way too much dirt to move, the width of a damn to hold thirty ft deep water would be near 500 feet.

[eleeski]

@Web I can't imagine that. Just the couple feet of elevation changes on my lakes was difficult enough. Of course if someone is paying you for the dirt, you will have a lot of dirt to sell. But a 30 foot dam is a huge problem in itself. Better a 60 foot cut and more dirt to sell. Might take a few years.

Eric

[thompjs]

That is a dam (a big one), many states would require permit and real engineering to keep it from busting and flooding your neighbors.

[Chef23]

@Web I ski sometimes at a man made lake that is built on a slope but it is built across the slope. It is a pretty good sized hill though. I don't know how tough it was to build but the hill is at least 30 feet.

[Skoot1123]

@web - PM me. We dug 20' and put the dirt in a field - acts like a nice wind break. Our dam is ~45' high. We had an engineering team involved as well as the state dept and Army Corp of Engineers. Its possible, doable, don't loose site of that dream!

[Web]

I agree seems very difficult. BTW I was envisioning the typical 5 to 8 foot water depth and reshaping the topography, was not suggesting a monster dam 30 ft. The berms on that end would be huge, but only 5 to 8 feet of water. Still probably too much to move though.

[Skoot1123]

@Web - we moved ~300,000 cubic yards of dirt. Very doable, and if you can find a contractor to do the work in an "off" time that should help save on costs. I would search for someone who knows the area and can take a look at it ahead of time to give you an idea of feasibility.

[rab]

@web I have seen one ski lake where there was probably a 15 foot difference. The soil there was nice clay and they took the clay from the high end and used it for the damn end.

[Marco]

@Web -Our lake land had a 1% slope (except for the 50' tall hill on the very end), and that was still a 20' change. We moved approx. 150,000 cy of dirt and ended up with a 6-7' deep lake, with a 10' high dam on one end (3' of freeboard). It worked well, but in your scenario, 60' of change is a huge amount of dirt to be moved.

 

As @thompjs pointed out, there are some criteria regarding dams that can subject you to regulation. I think the laws are federal, so they would apply everywhere, but I can't remember for sure. For our dam to be unregulated, we had to be impounding less than 10' of water from surface to lowest adjacent grade, had limits on the quantity of water, and limits on surface acreage (can't remember the numbers offhand). Even after meeting all of the requirements to be unregulated, we were still forced to have an engineered breach analysis performed to determine the rating of our dam. If you are rated too high, the insurance costs are monumental or coverage is unavailable altogether.

 

Bottom line, if you are considering building a dam, do your homework before you commit.

[Skoot1123]

@web - a lot of factors play in to what kind of dam you have. There are three "grades" of dams - Level I, Level II, and Level III. You don't want to be in a Level III dam - that is pretty sophisticated and requires yearly inspections from the state. How deep the water is - does or doesn't matter depending on how it is engineered (dam height goes from the Toe to the very top) - even if you only have 1 foot of water in there they (Army Corps) count how much Potential Water your lake could hold, strange but it is the reality (think Johnstown flood for reasoning). Go talk to a civil engineer and have them come look at the site and give you an opinion on feasibility.

[behindpropellers]

If you can find a piece of property with a gentle slope parallel with your proposed lake it will be the least costly dig. If possible, keep your elevation change less than 12'. Finding the correct topology is the toughest part.

 

 

[Skoot1123]

@behindpropellers - I agree. Another important part that not everyone thinks of is soil type. If it is clay then your good to go. If it isn't, then you'll either have to import it, or obtain Bentonite to make it waterproof.

[rodecon]

Thanks for the feedback guys, this particular parcel we are looking at has a few strikes against it: only 1700' and 60' grade change end to end. I was quoted in rough numbers that it costs $3-4/ yd to move dirt.......doing that math was sobering, @Skoot1123 is this even in the ballpark of what you experienced? The length isn't as much of an issue but we might have to keep looking for a more level parcel.

[mwetskier]

@web -radar lake built by herb obrien is essentially a dammed up creek. the earthen dam at the low end looks to be every bit of 60 feet tall so it's not like it cant be done.

[LeonL]

60' grade change over the length of the lake. RUN!!!!