ST. CLOUD -- With the sudden burst of cold weather and lack of snow, the Nordic Ski Club of Central Minnesota has decided to get a head start on their season and make their own snow.

Head snow maker, Joe Teff says once the group starts making the snow at Riverside Park they don't stop the machines until they have enough.

"For this particular operation we try to run it [snow machines] 24/7 because it's hard to bring it all out and shut it down, not that we can't do that, it's just nice to keep it running 24/7 until we're done." -Teff

Making the snow isn't as hard as you might think, head trail groomer, Mike Spaude says it just takes the right amount of water pressure and air pressure.

"We have 300 pounds of water pressure in the hose going down to the wand [snow sprayer] and then we have an air compressor that supplies air to that wand. So there is 100 pounds of air pressure going to that wand also. So when you combine the two with the air and the water and it blows it out and what you see is the snow." -Spaude

After the snow is made, volunteers groom the trails to get them ready for skiers. The Nordic Ski Club of Central Minnesota has two different groups of skiers, racing and recreational.

"As a racing group we like to have more groomed trails, the other group [recreational] has a tendency to just go out and ski where they need to." -Teff

The snow volunteers make is not only used by the Nordic Ski Club but also area cross-country ski teams.

"We make snow for the schools, the local high schools, Cathedral, Tech, Apollo and St. Cloud State." -Teff

The group is always looking for more volunteers, if you are interested in becoming a volunteer call Teff at 320-293-5063.

(Chrissy Gaetke, WJON)
(Chrissy Gaetke, WJON)
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