On the good, cold mornings as you turn the corner on to Panorama Drive, you can often see a white cloud coming off the mountain. As you get closer, the hiss of snow guns can be heard. Without a drop of natural snow on the ground, it's an extremely localized weather event just for us. 

In many ways, snowmaking is magic. We create our own snow all for the joy of sliding down it. I sat down with Dan Carboneau, Gunstock's Snowmaking and Grooming Manager, to demystify the work that goes into making snow and opening a trail. Dan grew up just outside Manchester, New Hampshire and began making snow in Vermont while persuing a mountain recreation program in college. Now in his 11th year at Gunstock, Dan runs a 24/7 operation. Whether snow is being made or trails are being groomed, he and his staff are here.

In short, snow is manufactured by forcing water and pressurized air out of machine called a snow gun. These machines come in many shapes and sizes. The majority of the snow guns utilized by Gunstock are the Impulse model by HKD Snowmakers which is a low energy, high perfomance gun with the latest technology. You can see them lined up and down the trails with their orange nozzels glistening in the sun. 19 degrees is the temperature of maximum efficiency for our snow guns; we can blow the most snow with the least amount of electricity. Under those ideal conditions, we can run an impressive 152 guns at once. With the beginning of this season characterized by ever shifting tempertures, there have been very short windows that are conducive for snowmaking. Dan is waiting for that moment whether that's at 7 a.m. or midnight. Which means Dan and his team waste no time getting out there. To help with this, Gunstock has been investing in semi-automatic Klik Hydrants from HKD which significantly speeds up the snowmaking startup and shutdown time. With a traditional hydrant setup, Dan says, "We would look at an hour and a half or so to fire a single trail up and with these Klik hydrants, we can fire a trail up in half an hour." Dan works in collaboration with Gunstock General Manager, Tom Day to asses snow depth goals which on most trails is 36 inches. 

Since Dan started at Gunstock, the mountain has invested an average of 20 snow guns year-over-year and an astounding 30 this year. This investment in efficiency is paying off. "We can get more terrain open earlier" Dan says. For comparison, he explains, "we had very similar weather conditions during the 2015-16 winter season and the day after Christmas that year, we had two trails, whereas this year on the day after Christmas, we had 25." 

Dan and his 40-person team are committed to opening every snowmaking trail at the resort and there's good, cold snowmaking temperatures on the horizon. The next time you round the corner on Panorama Drive and hear the hissing of snow guns and the white rising from the hill, think of how special it is that we get to make magic.