Hi All, its good to see people like all of you enjoying the art of snow making. First off I am a professional Snow Maker I Work at Copper Mountain. As of 7:45AM on the 7th of Nov we have used 30,000,000 Gallons of water. Right now I'm flowing 1,400 GPM with 56 Guns on. (I know it makes me smile too) with a wet bulb of 19. I have Been making snow for 4 years now. I would love to help any one with any problems or just like to talk. Also any other professionals I have a question for you did you get a bad batch of snow max too?

Welcome! I used to be a pro snowmaker in the late 70's at a small resort here in Wisconsin. Ran a few Hedco fan guns (only fan guns at the time) along with a handful of Larchmont Quad air/water guns.

Once you make snow it is in your blood for life. I now do it for fun and our backyard mini snow park.

hey, its always good to have a pro on the website. Have you done any homesnowmaking?

How much air are you running (what's your a/w ratio @ 19 wetbulb)?
-from an EX Summit Co. Snowmaker!

I saw copper last winter making snow for their big air jump landing it looked like. between the pipe at the eagle lift. What air/water guns have like a checkerboard on them? I noticed that one air/water ratnik it looked like had so kind of mesh around it..but wasn't sure.

Also how long does it take for your park to be built? I saw some Ratnik II+II's going in the catalyst and they sure looked like they were pumping out the snow since it was about 5degrees.

Also why did you guys choose the viking snowtower from SMI for the superpipe snowmaking guns? I would think SMI super wizzards would produce almost double per gun since the vikings only use around 65gpm max. Or did you like the viking towers so much, they are cheaper, more reliable, and since its copper, you can bascially run them 10+ days non stop till you have enough snow for the pipe?


I was amazed at how different east/midwest snowmaking is vs western snowmaking. You've got air/water/Low-e guns there vs fanguns everywhere it seems like midwest/east.

First my air to water is 9/1. I'm not sure what gun that was most likely a baby(york snow giant 1) we paint them to look like all kinds of things and our towers are york HKD or borax with its own air. it takes about a month to build our park but I like to think of thing in Gallons. So our park takes 30-40 million gallons our super pipe takes 20 and then we have 50 million for the rest of the mountain. we demoed a viking 2 years ago the don't work very well with our system. As far as the fan gun go we have 5 but they are heavy and expensive so ground guns work much better for us. We finish trails so fast that moving them around is a pain.

oh and no I have never done any home snowmaking I dont have a yard

awesome another pro snowmaker on the board...welcome!

Have you though of fixxed tower guns? I'm sure that'd speed up the process in the park to get things done considering you could have the fanguns running around 120gpm each and then you could have additional air/water guns running on the ground. Sort of like a super blizzard...
I'm just thinking you'd like the fanguns since you don't need to pump air to them. Just water and electricity...but yes they are really really expensive. Oh well!
Too bad im not going to copper in dec. I'd have to stop by and get a tour..hehe

Oh and my friend jumped one of the hydrants! its like right in the middle of the trail at the top of the flyer I think. Right past the mini park with the mini pipe.

Also, the pipe is awesome! Except when my ski poped off at the top of the left wall and i faceplanted in the flats...that hurt. Little concussion but I was fine, nothing some starbucks could fix!

I like how you guys take it easy out there not like steamboat...I got kicked out for jumping over a no jumping sign which no one else was on the trail but of course ski patrol. First run down too... I liked going under the trails merge sign right after the medium park..that was somethin to do.

Think you could get me any deals on lift tickets around March???? I'd love to go back for some spring skiing!

Another thing. I noticed your 100% wind powered...but where are the wind mills? I see them on the pic on the front of the bars on the lifts but when I get to the top of the mountain I don't see any, in any direction...?


I envy your job!!!! I want it!!!

we have some babies on towers and hkd towers on all our lines. yeah a super blizzard is not really an option. the reason why is that the if the plums start to mix the mircoclimate changes and it takes longer for the snow to form making wet snow (unless its super cold). Yeah the hydrant in the middle of highpoint(37) is a pain. it gets bumped all the time and start to scream. tickets are no problem let me know. We buy wind credit...Its a little more expensive(when you use 6000KW for snow making) but its better then nothing

hey if you want a job we are still looking for people who love making snow

Thanks but... 8 years at Breck was enough!

Cool, I'll start planning a vacation out around March spring break! Trick is getting cheap air fair....

The rooms were nice lastyear. we stayed right behind the starbucks to the right, right behind the ice rink. Well..they were as good as they could get with like 10 people in a room fit for 6... and 2 broken beer bottles on the kitchen floor and the hair drier ripped out of the wall...but I didn't do any of that. Me and my friend both went to bed at 7:15pm..hehe

I now know to get my goggle tan going since that is the style out there..lol

sick nastially!


What do you define as "Super cold"???? -55*F...here in ohio it seems like ohioans think 40degrees is "super cold." It snows and they close roads for <1". They brine the road when it doesn't snow... Like 2 days ago...brine on the road...and no snow??? ODOT likes wasting money...

What are the high demand jobs in CO right now? I'm looking to choose my major and I'm destine to live in Colorado around copper/keystone/breck/loveland...right in that neck of the woods... Copper pay good money?

well first of supper cold for me is negative degree wet bulb around -5 to -15. Also i hate to say it but no ski area pays well. I don't do this job for the money and I'm one of the better paid. I should not say this but a major is hard i work with people that have degrees in just about every thing from sport management to electronics. I have a degree* in theater and industrial art. So do what ever makes you happy.

nice man, nice. You guys sure are getting the cold temps but where's the snow? I saw your forcast and it doesn't look like you have any snow at all. Isn't the month of November usually like 50+ inches in snowfall? You guys only have like 2" right now of natural...bummer

What precausions do you guys do at -5*F when making snow? Or do you still make snow? Anything air-less at -15*F?

Matt, I've run hedcos at 30 below. We had a trade show at afton alps one year where the warmest temp for 4 days was 5 below. Most of the air/water guys packed it in, but the fans kept crankin' as long as the lowly sales guys (I was one of the only salesmen who actually had any snowmaking experience, so MY gun was ALWAYS running!) had enough sense to keep making their nucs richer, and bleed the condensataion from their compressors. We had a Super-D there (like a giant Snowcub that ran off the hydrostatic tiller circuit of a Pisten Bully PB270, with a 270hp Mercedes Benz powerplant. It can do about 450gpm, depending on pressure, and in 4 days we literally put a new mountain on the side of their mountain. FUN!!!
But then the PB blew a left rear seal at the sprocket on the trip off the hill on the last day and we had to change it out in their parking lot before we loaded it on our trailer - do you have any idea how cold a 1" socket ratchet feels when it's 20 below zero!?!

bear with his endless amount of stories...im sure your kids love it when they snuggle up around the fire with some hotcoco on a cold winters night and you tell one of your famous snowmaker stories to them..lol

while your making snow....

-30*F...dang you run it air-less? What temp does it take for a fangun to run airless? or can it? I know usually the water pumped to em are around 35*F so it wouldn't take much more cooling to freeze the water...

I live part time in Summit County! I am doing a school project on snowmaking and need an expert to interveiw. Do you know if there is anyone at copper i could interveiw?

hey guys, real new at this, and i am looking to go big........any tips would be a big help. whats something that we can cover a 300 plus foot hill and 10 feet wide....how many guns do we need....there is a pond 50 yards wide and ten feet deep there is alot of water, any tips oh how to do the job, please let me know....if you are a pro shoot me an email @ victoranthony83@gmail....def want to pic ur brain..

Hard to answer that type of question....

Biggest question is what is your budget?

It might make more sense to purchase a commercial snow gun like JoeK has done recently.