Not Enough Snow & Olympic Pins
As a long-time Olympic sponsor, York International Corporation was allowed to make Olympic Pins. This is a small sampling of those pins; shown at about twice size. Quoting from a February 4th, 1992, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper article:
In addition, the company makes pins, sought worldwide by collectors, that bear York’s name and the Olympic logo. “We must be getting 600 letters a month from collectors wanting these pins,” Ricci said.
Since 1960, YORK provided refrigeration, snowmaking, and air conditioning equipment to Summer and Winter Olympic competition sites worldwide and to several Olympic training centers in the United States. YORK equipment was provided to the following Winter Olympic sites: the 1960 Winter Games in Squaw Valley, California; the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria; the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France; the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York; the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, Canada; the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France; the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway; and the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
For much of the time of YORK’s involvement, the International Olympic Committee has required artificial snow-making systems at all Olympic ski venues. They do this to guarantee snow, if by chance there is not enough natural snow. While the snow-making systems in Sochi do not have a York connection, a majority of previous Olympics have a connection to York International Corporation. Quoting from the February 4th, 1992, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper article:
Firm makes snow for Olympics
YORK, Pa. (AP) – High in the mountains of Albertville, France, skiers going for the gold and skaters hoping to make Olympic history will benefit from the inventions of a company thousands of miles away in Pennsylvania.
York International Corp., a 118-year-old refrigeration company, will make all the artificial snow and will chill the ice for four rinks at the Games, which begin Saturday. Only speed skating events will be held on ice not touched by York International hands.
“We’re able to very closely approximate Mother Nature’s snow,” said Michael J. Ricci, director of corporate marketing for York. “We pioneered snow-making technology.”
York snow will be available for 513 acres of downhill and cross-country ski events. The International Olympic Committee requires snow-making equipment to guarantee skiing conditions.
In addition to the more than $4 million in contracts for the Winter Games, the company is providing air conditioning systems for all indoor events at the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain.
York also is providing refrigeration systems to chill ice rinks and luge and bobsled runs for the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway.
York Snow was a division of York International Corporation, based in Centennial, Colorado. Johnson Controls acquired York International Corporation in 2005. The Snow Group kept the York Snow name until an October 3rd, 2007 press release announcing a new name: Johnson Controls Snow.
Related posts include:
- York International Corporation built USA Luge Team’s Secret Weapon
- Planned Closure of South George Street for Olympians to give Luge Demonstrations
- York International & the Olympics
Continue reading for more on the YORK snowmaking connection.
Snowflakes are made up of minute ice crystals that have the physical integrity and strength to maintain their shape. When Mother Nature does not supply enough snow for skiing, artificial snow can be made that very closely approximates natural snow. If done in the proper manner and under the proper conditions, droplets of water, blown through freezing air, can be turned into frozen hexagonal crystals, i.e. snowflakes.
An article on snow making systems at the time of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, noted York Snow used 44-miles of pipe, refrigeration equipment, high-pressure pumps, snow inducers and integrated controls to give the ski mountain complete automated snow making capabilities. In 2002, “there are currently over 300 York-installed snowmaking systems operating on four continents.”
Here is the complete February 4th, 1992, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper article:
