It’s early June 2004. The slopes up on the hillside are lush green, except for the bright-white patch of snow where 600 skiers and riders are plying the terrain park. The snow’s several feet deep, not uncommon for a summer camp—except this is at southern Wisconsin’s Tyrol Basin. This was Tyrol’s Summer Snowfest, the sixth in a sporadic series dating to 1993. It’s a clever publicity stunt, and it works every time.
But it has also become a popular snowsliding event in itself. Snowfest 2004 was, says GM Don McKay, “the most crowded two acres of snow anybody ever saw.” To which he adds, “This might be the first time we actually made money.”
Not that profit is the point. No, the two-acre park, seven rails, big-air jump, the ski and snowboard big-air and rail competitions and the NASTAR and cross-country races are there for publicity.
“We have an awful time convincing folks we have snow when we have a few warm days in winter,” says McKay. “This proves a point by exaggeration—thanks to snowmaking, we don’t have to worry about a couple of days of warm weather.” Or even a few months of warm weather.
Where does the snow come from? Careful snow farming. “After we close, we scrape the snow from the runs surrounding our halfpipe and fill it up,” says McKay. “We try to end up with a pile 100 feet wide by 350 feet long and 25 feet deep. We cover it with tarps to keep out wind and rain.”
In early June, Tyrol still had a pile about 12 to 15 feet deep to work with. So two days before the festivities were to begin, the area pulled off the tarps. Groomers began to shape the park and set up the rails. During the events, the staff spread salt on the snow to keep it from turning to mush. Keeping the snow hard and fast created the feel of winter all over again.
Snowfest packs a lot of activity into a four-day period. On Saturday the park hosted freestyle rail jams and big air competitions for boarders. On Sunday, it was the freeskiers’ turn. To spice up the oddity of skiing and riding in June, Tyrol offered a cash purse of $850 on Saturday and $500 on Sunday. Monday, there was a NASTAR race, and on Tuesday, an oxymoronic uphill X-C sprint.
And because it’s the only snow game in town—or nearly the country—Snowfest is as popular as a teenage party when the parents are away. “We hadn’t done it in a couple of years,” McKay says, “but people had been asking. They expect it.”
“They” includes the faithful in Minnesota and Michigan as well as diehards from across the Midwest. It includes players from Colorado, Oregon, and the East Coast. K2 sent some pro riders. The X-C sprint drew two members of the U.S. national team. Snowboard suppliers set up tents and brought their demo vans. “It’s just a big party, a chance to get together,” McKay says. “We’re not very big, but we’re big on having fun.”
And predictably, all this talent and out-of-season activity caught the media’s attention. Local affiliates of all three major networks showed up, along with snowboard and freeskiing magazines. A local paper put a story about the Nordic sprint on the AP wire.
Does anyone doubt that Tyrol Basin can make and keep its snow? Not a chance. Mission accomplished. Snowfest may not have the critical mass of the Whistler Ski and Snowboard Festival, but it’s pretty darned successful nonetheless.
