Summer Snow Day: How a Nevada Ski Area Made Snow in August
It’s August. It’s hot. Winter and ski season still feel more like a mirage than something that will actually, you know, happen. We’re in the doldrums.
And yet, at a small ski area near Reno, Nevada, it just snowed.
Well, kind of. Last weekend, Sky Tavern hosted a BBQ, a live DJ, and a group bike ride. Those are all fun and great, but more interesting was the pile of snow, purpose-built for a snowman-making competition and snow play.
The snow, obviously, didn’t come courtesy of Mother Nature—Reno’s set for 90-plus degree weather this week. Instead, Sky Tavern turned to a fancy bit of tech called the SnowFactory made by snowmaking specialists TechnoAlpin. The device can blow snow even when outdoor temperatures are warm.
The capabilities depend on the SnowFactory model. The Polar works in temperatures as high as 77 degrees Fahrenheit. The Dome works even better, blowing snow when it’s as hot as 95 degrees Fahrenheit, according to TechnoAlpin’s website.
The SnowFactory isn’t billed as a total replacement of conventional snowguns. Instead, TechnoAlpin advertises it for use in resort base areas, magic carpet slopes, Nordic tracks, and other winter events, like ski jumping.
At Sky Tavern, the device allowed a diversion from the heat and some late August tubing.
Now, you may be wondering: this sounds familiar. Didn’t some ski area near Boston pull a similar stunt? Sure did.
Ski Ward, Massachusetts, is known for running its magic carpet in October, offering up a little taste of winter before the seasons change. It uses a similar but different device called the Latitude90 that, like the SnowFactory, works even when it’s warm outside.
Both the eyebrow-raising efforts join other projects that tweak the rules of nature and allow skiing (or snowman making) outside the usual winter season, like the large-scale snow storage techniques used in Levi, Finland.
As the planet warms, could they act as an insurance policy for outdoor skiing? Tough saying not knowing. But a ski resort covered in top-to-bottom groomers in late August—without a glacial assist, that is—that’s quite the image.
Related: A New Ski Resort Game Features Simulated Snow and Peaks You’ll Recognize
Leave a Reply