CHEWELAH, Wash. — With abnormally warm temperatures over the past few days, some ski resorts are making fake snow to keep their slopes busy.
At 49 Degrees North, they have already turned about 7 million gallons of water to snow this season. Their goal is to create the best conditions for skiers and snowboarders all season long, so when there isn’t snow falling, they supplement it with some of their own snow.
The process for how they create snow is interesting. It is highly computerized. They can change the settings of how and where the snow comes out from just their cell phone.
It all starts with their reservoir that can hold just over 1 million gallons of water at a time. They get that water from nearby creeks and they hope that by bringing the water up in elevation, it will shorten fire season by keeping lower areas moist as it melts over the next few months.
Once the water is collected, they pressurize it, then run it through tiny nozzles in a big fan gun before it freezes in the air and falls onto the ground as snow.
How much snow are they willing to make? Well, it depends on the conditions.
“We’re 100% here for our guests,” said Rick Brown with 49 Degrees North. “If we get the conditions where we can make snow and extend our season and our guests continue to show up, we’re gonna keep running as long as we possibly can.”
Brown says a typical ski season goes until the end of March or early April, but by making snow they can sometimes extend that by about a month.
For more information about 49 Degrees North, head over to their website.
