Snowmaking at Loveland Ski Area

Signs of winter are starting to appear at Loveland Ski Area. The resort’s Trail Maintenance and Snowmaking teams were out on the mountain today performing maintenance and testing snowguns in preparation for the upcoming snowmaking season.

Trail Maintenance/Snowmaking Manager Bobby Babeon and his crew ran water through the snowmaking system, performed maintenance on the snowguns and tested equipment to make sure everything is ready when snowmaking conditions arrive.

Loveland Ski Area did not make snow today. Temperatures are still too warm for snowmaking, and today’s activity was strictly maintenance and testing in preparation for the season.

Loveland typically begins making snow around the beginning of October, once temperatures and humidity provide consistent favorable snowmaking conditions. This year, the start of snowmaking will mark a special milestone: 60 years since snowmaking began at Loveland Ski Area.

Small-scale snowmaking began at Loveland in 1966, and during the 1967–68 season, Loveland became the first major ski area in Colorado with snowmaking capabilities, using diesel compressors from the construction of the Eisenhower Tunnel.

A lot has changed over the past six decades. Snowmaking equipment and technology have evolved, and Loveland’s system has grown to cover more than 240 acres of terrain. But the people behind the snowguns remain at the heart of Loveland’s snowmaking operation.

For 60 years, generations of Loveland snowmakers have worked through cold nights, early mornings, high winds and challenging mountain conditions to prepare the slopes for skiers and riders.

At Loveland, the start of snowmaking marks the true beginning of winter. Once conditions cooperate, the snowmaking team works around the clock to prepare the mountain for opening day.

The team’s first priority is building a top-to-bottom run covered tree-to-tree with an approximately 18-inch base of packed snow. Loveland’s high elevation and experienced snowmaking crew have helped the ski area establish a long tradition of early-season skiing and riding.

Snowmaking typically continues into early to mid-December as crews expand coverage across the mountain and supplement natural snowfall.

Loveland is targeting a mid-October to early-November opening, weather and conditions permitting.