Snow levels in the Chippewa Valley have been low the past few seasons. Manmade snow provides snow when the weather doesn’t cooperate, so skiing can happen.

The closest places outside the Chippewa Valley with manmade snow for Nordic skiing are an hour’s drive, minimum. While we love these places, we want to provide a place in our community for a local option.

Our trail is small and limited by how much hose we have. With new infrastructure, we can cover more ground and have more loops for skiing.

Snowmaking is hard work; right now it requires heavy hoses, snow guns and 3-5 days of around the clock work from volunteers for even 200m worth of snow. With piping laid in, we would be able to make more snow, more often.

While there is now lighting available, it’s minimal and they don’t automatically turn on, thus limiting the use of the trails unless you know how to turn them on. With improved infrastructure, we can add more lights for more trail that we snow, thus extending opportunities to get out and ski on those short winter days.

Community youth ski programs, such as Kickin’ Kids, need reliable snow to be successful. Manmade snow trails at Silvermine can better support youth programs in low snow winters so the ski community continues to grow.