A Night in the Life of a Snowmaker

10:00pm
Your day begins. You work the night shift because that was the one only shift you can get and it sounded fun. Snowmaking is an around the clock operation. You place tinfoil on your windows because veteran graveyard workers told you to since it creates absolute darkness. Waking up at this hour is horrible.

12:00am
Shift begins. You and your crew of five jump on snowmobiles and head to the Pump House midway up the mountain. The Pump House is where it all goes down. The pumps in this structure draw water from the natural lake on the mountain and push the water through the pipe system and to the "Guns" or snowmachines that are placed throughout the mountain. There are computers at the Pump House. You feel like Homer Simpson at the Nuclear Power Plant. Being the new one on the crew you don't stay here long. You put on layers upon layers and hop on the snowmobile for your first round of snow quality checking at the machines.

2:00am
Snow check number one. It does not take long to learn that the snowmobile does not perform well in artificial snow. It also does not take long to learn that getting the snowmobile stuck sucks; it really sucks of you have to call in a person on the crew to help you. Snow quality checks are very scientific. Hold up the sleeve of your coat and place it in the fume of the Gun. If the snow particles bounce of your coat, snow is good. And if they stick then some adjustments are in order.

3:00am
After a round of checking the machines you go to the pump house at the bottom of the mountain to warm up. You warm up and then you get a sleepy. It's 3 am for hell sakes!

5:00am
Things are on the up and up. You are on your last snow check round. You can start to see a hint of light in the darkness of the light.

7:00am
Things are really starting to look good. There is a biological reaction that occurs in your brain when it becomes day light. You start to feel real good. You get all William Carlos Williams when you see the morning light reflecting off the snow crystals coming out of the Guns.

9:00am
This job is great! You try not to smile as you pass the day crew checking in for there shift. They are as upset as you were about eight hours ago. The lifts open and you are the first one there. On powder days this can be truly incredible. You ski for a few hours and love every minute of it. 1:00pm Better start getting ready for bed because you have to do it all over again tomorrow.
-Mark Alder