Finnish Ski Resort Unveils Massive Leftover Snow Piles Ahead of October Opening
At most ski resorts across North America, the ski season is a waiting game. You need fresh flakes or cold temperatures to make your own snow. Without at least some cooperation from Mother Nature, you’re hosed.
Not so at Levi, a Finnish ski resort that’s mastered the art of snow storage, building and covering hulking piles of snow so that the mountain can offer a season start date in October (this year, the resort plans to start the party on October 2).
These aren’t diminutive snow drifts, either. Levi, as it has for several years, is going full hog, aiming to open full fledged ski runs.
Now, the tarps are coming off. Levi shared footage of the event, linked here and shared below.
Levi’s snow storage efforts date back to 2016. In the years preceding that season, the resort had to cancel a procession of early-season World Cup ski races in 2007, 2011, and 2015. While the resort had snowmaking systems, the weather was simply too warm for the crew of racers to do their thing.
Levi went back to the drawing board and opted to try storing leftover snow throughout the summer. That first go around, which centered on the Levi Black race slope in spring 2016, worked—when it came time to race in the fall, there was enough snow for the athletes.
It also opened the door for the general public to get in on the fun, with Levi later setting a then-record early opening on October 18, 2018.
To make it all work, Levi relies on 300-plus snowguns to blow snow at the height of winter, before squirreling it away beneath insulating accordion mats made by Snow Secure.
The strategy appears to be catching on in North America, offering a potential hedge against finicky fall weather and, maybe, the uncertainty associated with climate change.
Trollhaugen, Wisconsin, has, for several seasons, stored snow to host a small rail jam each fall. Vermont’s Jay Peak has more recently started using stored snow for a summer rail jam event in June.
On a grander scale, Sun Peaks, British Columbia, announced in 2025 that it had become the first Canadian ski resort to begin use tech made by Snow Secure, aiming to support the early opening of the Nancy Greene International Race Centre by buying CAD $180,000 in covers.
The resort told The Canadian Press this year that the experiment worked so well that it invested further with Snow Secure, hoping the system could also enable an earlier opening for the general public.
Related: Early Morning Ski Commutes Aren’t Painful, They’re Glorious
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