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Contents 1 Definition 2 Description 3 Process 3.1 Water and Air 3.2 The Pipes 3.3 The Equipment 4 See Also

snow•mak•ing (snō'mā'kĭng) n. Production of artificial snow in the form of granular ice particles for use on ski slopes. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Snowmaking is a relatively new technology and is constantly changing to keep pace with the growing ski industry and our ever-changing and consistently warming climate. Snowmaking is an inherently inefficient process and very expensive. Snowmaking plants require very large and expensive water pumps and air compressors that use massive amounts of electricity or diesel fuel. For these reasons manufactures of snowmaking equipment are developing more efficient ways to make snow. By doing this ski areas use less energy and get more production for the same or sometimes less money. Snowmaking has also become more technical over the years as well. Turning to computers to automatically control equipment based on the weather can decrease wasted energy and improve production. Snowmaking and Snowmaking efficiency becomes more and more important to the success of many ski areas every year. This is due mainly to the changes in the climate and the growing popularity of skiing and snowboarding. Many ski areas depend on Snowmaking to produce the majority of the snow they require to make it through a season. Mother nature simply does not normally provide enough snow to withstand the traffic a ski trail sees through a season.

Snowmaking begins with a water supply such as a river or reservoir. Water is pushed up a pipeline on the mountain using very large electric pumps in a pump house. This water is distributed through an intricate series of valves and pipes to any trails that require snowmaking.

The next step in the snowmaking process is to add air using an air plant. This plant is often a building which contains electric or diesel industrial air compressors the size of a van or truck. Although in some instances air compression is provided using diesel powered portable trailer mounted compressors which can be added to the system. From this plant the air travels up a separate pipeline following the same path as the water pipeline.

The pipes that run along the side of the trail have sets of hydrants mounted on them. They are in pairs, one for air and one for water, the pairs are usually mounted 50-100ft apart all the way from top to bottom on the trails. From these hydrants you connect 1 1/2"-2" hoses are similar to fire hoses. The hoses then connect a piece of equipment that is known as a gun and the water and air is mixed to form snow.

The piece of equipment that actually makes the snow is known as a gun. There are many different forms of Snowmaking guns. But they all share the basic principle of combining air and water to form snow. For most guns you can change the type or "quality" of snow by regulating the amount of water you are adding to the mixture. For others they are simply on or off and the snow quality is determined by the air temperature and humidity. In general there are three types of Snowmaking guns: Internal Mixing, External Mixing and Fan Guns.

Internal Mixing Guns have a chamber where the water and air get mixed together and violently forced out an opening or through holes and fall to the ground as snow. These guns are typically low to the ground on a frame or tripod and require a lot of air to compensate for the short hang time of the water. Some newer guns are built in a tower form and use much less air because of the increased hang time. The amount of water flow determines the type of snow that is to be made and is controlled by an adjustable water hydrant.

External Mixing Guns have nozzles spraying water and air nozzles shooting air through the water stream to break it up into much smaller water particles. These guns are sometimes equipped with a set of internal mixing nozzles that are known a nucleators. These help create a nucleus for the water droplets to bond to. External mixing guns are typically tower guns and rely on a longer hang time to freeze the snow. This allows them to use much less air. External mixing guns are usually reliant on high water pressure to operate correctly so the water supply is opened completely and the flow can sometimes be regulated by valves on the gun.

Fan Guns are much different than all other guns because they require electricity to power a fan and small compressor. The fans propel the water into the air to achieve the hang time and the compressor creates the air needed to operate the nucleator nozzles that are similar to the ones on the external mixing guns. The compressor also allows this gun to operate in an area that has no supply of air from an air plant. Fan guns have anywhere from 12 to 150 water nozzles on a ring that the fan blows through on the front of the gun. These nozzles are usually heated and are arranged in sets or banks. These banks can be shut on or off by valves. The valves are either manual, manual electric, or automatic electric (controlled by a computer).

• Snow cannon