Snow Production at any ambient temperatures

IDE – Snowmaker: Demonstration in South Africa

At the end of May 2006 everything was ready: A group of ski resort- and ski hall operators, snow experts and event organizers started a trip to South Africa to witness temperature-independent snow production at the world's deepest gold mine near Johannesburg and to check out the snow quality.

For the first time the IDE - Snowmaker makes snow production possible at plus degrees (up to +30°C), in large quantities and with low energy consumption, a development that is therefore also interesting for skiing areas.  The technology has been applied for more than 15 years and is used worldwide for cooling purposes.

In the 4 km deep South African gold mine of Angelo Gold Ashanti, the snow cools the temperature from +60° to a tolerable level. The South African snow demonstration also showed that this snow is suited for all winter sport activities.

Outstanding Winter Sport Quality

The quality of IDE's snow corresponds approximately to that of snow during the spring season in the Alps.  The snow crystals are approx. 0.5 to 1. 0 mm large, the specific snow weight lies between 500-600 kg/m³ and – in the unanimous opinion of the participants -  is best  suited for all types of wintersports (skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing,  snow tubing,  etc.)


Practice Test: Skiing in Africa.

Glacier Areas Show Great Interest

IDE's Snowmaker can be used, in particular, for covering glacier boundary regions and providing of access possibilities to stations infrastructure installations during the summer and fall. This provides the glacier ski areas with a genuine qualitative advantage and the availability of larger slopes during this period, which is also of considerable economic importance, since all other ski areas are still closed.


Representative of an Austrian glacier ski resort "Examines" Snow

Applications in Classical Ski Areas

The ideas for ski areas range from the securing of neuralgic points in the ski areas to attractions, such as the operation of a fun park during the entire year, snow parties in summer and the pre-season, or the year-round operation of a tow lift as well as the supply of snow to deeper-lying installations such as beginner's slopes or cross-country ski runs.

Ideal Technology for Ski Halls

Owing to the form of the snow production, the halls need not be cooled to low temperatures, thus there is a large energy saving. Moreover, thanks to the large capacity, outdoor areas can also be laid out alongside and snow can also be produced for events in large cities.

Main Features of the IDE - Snowmaker


Snow discussion in South Africa.


Amazement at the goings-on on the snow hill: mineworkers from Anglo Gold Ashanti

Contacts and Information

IDE-Technologies Israel, Moshe Tessel, moshet@ide.co.il

Representative for Austria, Germany, Switzerland, South Tyrol, Felix Viehauser: +43/(0)6432/3849, office@seilbahn.net

Information compiled by:

Skihalle Snowtropolis, Olaf Örtel, +49/(0)3573 36370-0, info@snowtropolis.de

Unlimited Snow Holland, Kees Albers, +31 (0)20 4714640, us@snow.biz

Interfab, Roderich Urschler, +43/(0)512/343839, snow@interfab.at

Reports of the experiences of ski areas can be obtained on request from:  +43/(0)6432/3849, office@seilbahn.net

Additional Information: www.ide-snowmaker.com