All guns blazing: Perisher celebrates two decades of automated snowmaking
- 2026 marks 20 years of automated snowmaking at Perisher.
- Snowmaking at Perisher has evolved from manually adjusted air and water snow guns to mostly automated snowmaking technology. Perisher’s snowmaking team works across swing and graveyard shifts, from 4pm to midnight and midnight to 8am, to keep the slopes winter-ready.
- Snowmaking helps provide reliable early and late season cover, as well as better coverage in high-traffic areas.
20 May 2026
This winter, Perisher recognises a major milestone: 20 years of automated snowmaking technology, which has seen snowmaking evolve from manually adjusted air and water snow guns to a largely automated system, helping provide more reliable early season cover and better conditions in high-traffic areas across the resort.
“In the early days of snowmaking the process of firing and adjusting air/water mixture settings on the snow guns was all done manually. Continual improvements and investment from Perisher on our snowmaking system over the last 20 years has resulted in us now having the majority of our snowmaking terrain covered with automated guns,” explains Perisher’s Director of Mountain Operations Andrew Kennedy, who has been there from the beginning.
These guns (either lances or fans) are able to regulate their output as required to either maximise snow productivity for early season base building or be set to provide a nice dry fresh layer for an optimal skiing surface.
For Perisher’s snowmakers, the resort runs swing and graveyard snowmaking shifts from 4pm to midnight and midnight to 8am, allowing the team to take advantage of suitable evening and early morning conditions, and as technology has improved, automated guns have helped Perisher’s snowmaking team respond more precisely to changing conditions across the mountain.
“Temperatures are always varying between the top of the mountain and the valley floor so the automated guns can be adjusted to enable maximum production as the temperature fluctuates. With the old manual guns, you were reliant on a snowmaker making manual adjustments at the gun itself. Each time they would ride around doing a gun check and this manual process could mean missing production opportunities,” says Andrew.
For guests, the focus remains on providing a stronger start to the season and better coverage in some of the resort’s busiest areas.
“Snowmaking provides a level of snow cover certainty for our guests,” says Andrew “Perisher will continue to invest in the latest technology to stay at the forefront of snowmaking innovation.”
For more information, visit www.perisher.com.au
Media contact:
Dani Wright, Senior Manager Communications Vail Resorts Australia
Photos:
Photos and video of Perisher snowmaking this morning can be downloaded here.
