Ski hills embrace cooler temperatures to make snow

All right. You know, there's been snowflakes flying up north, the real ones. Unknown where the rest of the state's going to lie in terms of getting some actual natural snow. Nothing certainly in the immediate future, but the artificial snow, which is pretty close to the real thing, is already flying in some places, including in Drescher, Wisconsin at Trollhagen. And joining Joining us now, hi there, it's Marcia and Adam. Yeah. I know that you guys saved a big bunch of snow for an event that you had about a month ago. So you did have some there which is amazing. And now the snow machines are going. Yeah, we technically, the run behind us is where we have that pile, has now had some amount of snow for over two years on its surface. So we might have to call it a glacier here in Wisconsin soon. Snowfield. It's a snowfield, yeah. Snowfield, well, now how much have you been able to add to that in the last, what, is it a day or two days that you've been making snow, a couple days now? We started up about midnight last night, so maybe an eight-hour window. We put down a pretty good pile across most of the area, but it's just got to be the perfect temp and humidity, and wind's got to be right for it to really see it stack up. Yeah. We're hoping Mother Nature does us a little better in the weeks ahead. Yeah, well, better is a relative term depending on what you're hoping for. I mean, if you're still looking to rake leaves, but if you're looking to get the snow boards and the skis out, yeah. You've got a couple of nights here, which are good for making snow and then not really much a window after that it looks like. Yeah, we have as... As we say, a moment in the sun and we're gonna take every second of it we possibly can. So we're going to take advantage of this window as best we can. And maybe we'll open, maybe not. But more so this little window allows us to test our equipment, get the snowmakers back, train new snowmakers and also blanket that ground. So that when we do have snowmaking weather again, that snow will stick even better. And I do have to just let you know, it's not artificial snow. Artificial snow is what you see in a Macy's window display, this is very real snow. Yeah, I was trying to- From mother nature. Sorry about that, I was trying to find the right- It's okay, we'll forgive you. It is snow. It is not naturally falling from the sky snow. Yes, correct. There we go, perfect. It is manufactured snow. We've got some video of the snow making and we see this, I think this is what you posted. We certainly see this in a lot of ski areas here. I mean, how much water did you go through typically overnight when you're doing this? Um... Probably ran about... 800 to 1,000 gallons a minute. Mm-hmm. We've significantly increased our snowmaking fleet over the last three years. More snow guns and snow machines out on the hill where just require more water. And the goal is to be able to not necessarily use more water all throughout the season, but just use all of it that we need quicker, if that makes sense. Sure, does make sense. Yep. So, I mean, then how thick of a, I guess, the beginning of a base are you able to get down then in that time period? I'd say in the middle of some of the piles, I would guess anywhere from 8 to 16 inches, depending on how the wind was playing with it, yeah. Well, that's pretty good. Yeah. Well, that's exciting. And I see you guys are still, according to your website anyway, you've got winter jobs at the ski hill still. Are you still hiring? Yeah, we are. Seasonal work is really fun and we have so many departments. We are the land of misfit toys and we collect so many fun people here at Troll. It's such a great place to work. If you've never worked at a ski resort, it is such a fun place to be to make the most of those cold months. So yeah, trolljobs.com if you wanna come join us. Yeah, and what jobs are still available. We have a couple lift jobs, snack bar jobs. We're hiring in the ski shop, always looking for extra hands in the restaurants and down in rentals. So yeah, you name it. If you wanna be outside, we got something for you. If you wanna be inside, we got something for you. Yeah, it's a great winter gig for sure. All right, lastly here, We got to run. When do you, is there a typical kind of date range that you? You see most years that you open, and do you think you might hit that this year? It varies. I mean, like Marcia said, it's really up to Mother Nature at this point. We're ready for when she's gonna let us do this. But I mean, we like to be open at Thanksgiving week, but we gotta see what happens and how it plays out. So do your snow dances. Do those snow dances, think cold thoughts. And if you hate winter, well, Have fun in Arizona and everybody else coming over to troll because we're gonna have fun. Well, I am not gonna go get my skis waxed and prepped yet because I feel like if I did that, it would jinx it. I mean, true, true. Maybe just put on sunglasses and sunscreen and that'll start winning for us. Yeah, yeah. All right. Thanks for the time. Thanks for the update. It's always good to see the snow flying whether you like it or not, it's still a fun image. And especially for those of us who enjoy Skiing, I don't snowboard, I ski. That's okay, all are welcome. It's safer for me at my advanced age. All right, enjoy it, thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks. Take care. See you guys soon.