Snow at the touch of a button

On Saturday, December 18, 2021, the Moosalpregion starts the winter season. With forests covered in deep snow. The slopes are prepared for our skiing pleasure - also with artificial snow. Shortly before the start of the season, we take a look behind the scenes of the silent makers of the white artificial snow carpet.

One person alone would never manage to make snow in an area like the Moosalpregion, says technical manager Benjamin Bayard. "It's a collaboration between team, machine and weather." But when we ski down the slopes for the first time, each of us takes pride in our homemade snow, Bayard says.

Winter thoughts in warm late autumn

The team at Moosalp Bergbahnen begins preparations as early as the fall so that a glorious white carpet ensures the best piste conditions just in time for the start of the season. "In the fall, when it is still dry, we place our snow cannons in the ski area with a transporter," says Bayard, describing the first steps towards the white piste. Most of the time, they would do this at a time when no one is thinking about skiing yet. "But we snowmakers are then already in the starting blocks for the winter season."

Once the guns are in place, they are connected to the power and water supply. Then it's wait, wait, wait for the snowmakers. And that's for the conditions that snow cannons love. "To produce snow, there has to be a good mix of temperature and humidity," Bayard says, explaining the science of snowmaking. "As winter approaches, my eyes go to the thermometer almost hourly. As never before in the year, I watch the weather and its forecast," he adds.

The fact is: ski resorts up and down the country see snow cannons as an insurance policy for a guaranteed opening of the season. The technical staff at Moosalp Bergbahnen are therefore also under a certain amount of pressure to have the slopes prepared on time. Benjamin Bayard and his team, however, are not bothered by this pressure. "We can only snow when the weather permits. But we are burning for this moment, so that the winter in the Moosalp region will be perfect."

Let there be snow

Thursday evening, it's already dark. And cold. A certain tension is in the air. And yet the team is calm and deliberate. The moment to press the start button of the snow gun has come. The engines start to run. A hiss can be heard. A few more adjustments to the cannon. Then the time has come. Snow sprays into the sky in the light of the spotlights. "We've done all the preparations right," Bayard says with relief. And on it goes to the next cannon. "It does take time to get all the snow guns running." But the real work comes to the team in the coming days and weeks.

Once the snow guns are running, they have to be monitored regularly. During the day, the technical service combines these monitoring tasks with the work that needs to be done. At night, there is a work schedule so that everyone on the team gets enough sleep. "It does happen that you have to check the guns every three hours at night," Benjamin Bayard describes the nighttime operations. "You have to be an outdoorsman if you have to go out in freezing cold, at night and in a storm."

Alongside excessively warm temperatures, wind is the snowmaker's biggest enemy. "When there's a storm, it blows all the artificial snow into the forest instead of onto the slopes," says the technical manager, explaining the problem. "By turning the cannon, we can often fight the storm." And so it snows until artificial snow mounds several meters high have formed. Then it's time to move the cannon. If possible by snow groomer, otherwise again by helicopter. Then the work starts all over again. Until there is enough artificial snow in the Moosalpregion and this is distributed by snow groomers as the basis for a solid carpet of snow on the slope.

Snowmakers are silent doers

Producing artificial snow is complex and costly. When the guns go off in the fall, electricity and water consumption in winter destinations increases. But artificial snow gives winter guests a wonderful time on the slopes, even if it hasn't snowed by the start of the season.

For weeks, several employees are on duty in the Moosal region. Although the hum of the snow guns can be heard from far away, only a few people see the work behind the artificial snow. That's why snowmakers are also quiet doers. "We don't need applause for our work," says Bayard, speaking for the entire team. "But for us, there's nothing better than when guests arrive in the Moosalpregion on the day the season opens, scratch their first curves in the snow, and then say: Wow, wonderful."