SAM Coverage
Snowmaking
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No System, No Season
Why ski areas need to rethink snowmaking infrastructure, workforce development, and capital planning for the next 20 years.
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Smugglers’ Notch Undergoing Major Snowmaking Improvements
SAM Magazine—Jeffersonville, Vt., Sept. 2, 2026—Significant snowmaking equipment and infrastructure upgrades are underway at Smugglers’ Notch Resort, aimed at improving efficiency and production ahead…
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The Cool Sh*t Compendium
From fan guns and hydrants to filtration systems and all-weather tech, the snowmaking world is loaded with neat products. There are a lot of…
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Making the Case
What’s the best snowmaking system a ski area can deploy? Depends on who you ask. So we asked an owner/operator, a mountain ops leader,…
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System Upgrades
A collection of unique case studies about ski areas that are making transformational investments in their snowmaking systems. PAJARITO MOUNTAIN, NM: MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL PARTNERSHIP…
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Snow Plan
A guide to understanding the various elements of the snowmaking master plan, your roadmap to long-term flake-making success. “The secret of getting ahead is getting…
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Maximizing Every Flake
When winter doesn’t deliver on schedule, ski areas adapt surface management strategies to get open and stay open. In case you hadn’t heard, a prolonged snow…
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Storing Snow Through the Summer
Once an oddity, storing snow from one season to the next is becoming a viable strategy. By the time the mound of snow at…
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Betting on Snow?
More snowmaking after a snow drought? By mid-February, winter in the West felt upside down. Rain had fallen at destination resorts in Colorado and…
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Pats Peak Snowmaking Expansion Includes Multifold Increases to Pumping Capacity, Water Storage
SAM Magazine—Henniker, N.H., March 3, 2026—Pats Peak will undergo a significant expansion of its snowmaking system this summer that will allow the ski area…
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The 2026 I Am a Snowmaker Contest Winner
SAM Magazine—Killington, Vt., Feb. 3, 2026—Nearly 7,500 total votes were cast for the six competing snowmaking teams during the 13-day voting period of the…
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2026 “I AM a Snowmaker” Voting is Now Open
SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., Jan. 20, 2026—Online voting for the videos produced by six chosen ski areas competing in the 2026 “I AM a Snowmaker”…
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Winter Widows: A Survival Guide
A look at the realities and joys of loving someone married to the mountain. I met my husband in the White Mountains of New Hampshire…
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Six Snowmaking Teams Selected for 2026 “I AM a Snowmaker”
SAM Magazine—Natick, Mass., November 4, 2025—Teams from Boyne Mountain, Mich.; Burke Mountain, Vt.; Killington Resort, Vt.; Poley Mountain, New Brunswick; Seven Springs, Pa.; and…
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Go Time: Early Season Snowmaking
The right equipment, a well-aligned plan, and an engaged team help resorts get open quickly and efficiently. Snow guns roared on Copper Mountain’s Oh…
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Early Turns and Snow Guns Signal Start of the 2025-26 Season
SAM Magazine—Shrewsbury, Mass., Oct. 22, 2025—The first turns of the 2025-26 season are in the books. Ski Ward in Massachusetts fired up its all-weather…
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Getting Trails Ready for Winter
It pays to do work during the summer so trails can open with less snow come winter. In the last decade or so, no…
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Adopting Automation
How two ski areas took the leap into automated snowmaking, and what the results have shown. In response to increasingly fickle snowmaking windows and…